Portland, OR – Ankeny and Waterfront – Thursday, October 7, 2011
Our turn.
Cheers to the New Yorkers who got the domestic occupation movement rolling. Hats off to D.C., N.C., and Chicago for carrying the ball further.
Now, we on the West Coast shall see it through. Granted, our heads are often in the clouds. We breathe the cleaner air, drink the clearer water, brew the better beer. Perhaps as a result, we’re a little slow on the expression of outrage compared to East Coasters in closer proximity to the now-contested political power centers in this country. But followers of recent U.S. protest history know that when we do decide to protest, we tend to go all in. Examples include WTO protest in Seattle 1999, Anti-war marches in Portland 2002, Longview 2011, Eugene all the time, Earth First, E.L.F. When the hard-core agitators, persistent peace protruders, and freaky-weird dresser-uppers converge, as they have today, such a critical mass invites analytical task. Here’s what I observed in the 90 minutes I attended before I had work:
12:15pm – Hundreds of people are quickly turning to thousands, filling and spilling over the concrete bowl of steps where a couple of megaphones lead call-and-repeat messages. The scene resembles a huge 2nd grade classroom. Everyone is trying to get each other to be quiet and listen to directions.
A small group of committed-looking protesters, donning earth tone ponchos and hair suited for a hunkering down in an occupied hibernation, seizes the megaphones every few minutes to reiterate that everyone should act responsibly, keep their hands to themselves, save their loudest outdoor voices for later on, and to stay hydrated.
Those that use the megaphones slowly instruct those who can hear them to repeat what they are saying, then repeat it once more, until people out of megaphone earshot can get the messages. This method of communication quickly makes people aware of peacekeeper volunteers, police liaisons, and a lawyer hotline to call in case of arrests. It also voices, to an uplifting effect, peoples’ personal testimonials. Lines form behind the megaphones as folks wait their turn to share stories and insights; words that are repeated by everyone else. An ongoing pledge of allegiance to the spirit of cooperation, enabling a successful occupation.
I paraphrase some of the highlights:
A young man dressed in moss-colored, military-style jacket takes the mic. Oh great, I think, another Che Guevara-wannabe thinking he’s gonna spark a guerrilla movement during a lunch break in SW Portland after he gets done yelling at his unemployed stoner friends and middle-aged white people in attendance. Turns out he is an Iraq War Vet, 4 tours, has a buddy who lost an arm, another who took his own life. He thought he has no voice until today. My lingering cynicism evaporates.
A short, serious-faced, women with glasses has volunteered in health clinics for 11 years and has never seen conditions as bad as they are now.
A grey-haired man says he can’t believe he’s still fucking protesting this shit. Been at it since the 60’s. They didn’t listen to him. Now Wall St. has screwed his grandkids.
A not-quite-totally-grey haired man says he’s been a part of many protest movements. In his experience, they are most successful when those protesting are having fun. He would like to make a fairly controversial suggestion that in the event arrests do begin to occur, that everyone imitate a notorious group of Portland cyclists: get naked.
1:00 pm – Some additional circles form around the bigger circle of people. They have drums, chanting, and megaphones spouting alternative causes at their centers.
1;15 pm – Before leaving, I take stalk of some of the movement’s signs. I divide them into loose categories, allowing us to further glean what this movement’s essential messages, if any, are, or will become:
Category 1: Blunt Dissatisfaction with Banking and Taxes
Pay Taxes, Bank Of America Doesn’t
Wells Fargo Stole My Grandma’s Farm
Jail The Banksters
Pay Your Taxes! Duh
Who Caused the Recession? The Federal Reserve
End the Fed
Category 2: Unabashed Anger at Powers That Be
Neuter Fat Cats
Too Big To Jail?: Perp Wall St.
Mad as Hell
[Around a girl’s neck] This is what Broken Trust looks like
Eat the Rich
Sacrifice the Rich
If I stole 50% of your 401k, I’d be in Jail
Category 3: Presidential Campaign Sound Bite Satire
Corporations Are Not People Until Rick Perry Executes One
It’s the Greed, Stupid
Wall St. is a Ponzi Scheme
We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For
Category 4: Making Historical Parallels
Feudal Prince Pay You’re Share
Serfs Awake!
This is What a Feudal Society Looks Like
Predatory Lending=Modern Colonialism
Legislatures, Won’t You Be My Robin Hood?
I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those that do – West Point Honor Code
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. – MLK
Category 5: Keeping Portland Weird
Go Beyond Capitalism: Investigate Resource-Based Economy
[Over a rebel insignia from Star Wars] I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing
Stop Funding Israeli Apartheid
Al-Qaeda is C.I.A.
Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters
Gross National Happiness
Category 6: Proving Portlanders can be Creative and Clever
Make Signs
It’s More Fun To Share
Make Jobs, Not War
The Revolution will Not be Privatized
If This Is The American Dream, It’s Time to Wake Up
Industrial Capitalism: Drop it Like It’s Hot
Too Big to Fail is Too Dumb to Work
Category 7: Requests for Moderate Reforms
Enforce the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Pass the American Jobs Act
Good Jobs come with Unions and Laws, not Generosity of Employers
Labor Creates Wealth
Don’t be fools / Give Money to Schools
Give Me a Job
Close the Loopholes
Bring Back the Middle Class
Tax the Rich
Friday, October 7, 2011
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