Should Occupy Wall Street become more political?

[Dawson Leery]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/1116/Occupy-Wall-Street-Time-to-become-more-overtly-political

Occupy Wall Street should being the process of removing corporatists from office.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. They are... it is hard to explain but they are

If they mean in the TRADITIONAL sense, that too will happen. It is organic this is why it is so damn hard to put finger on it.

[lunatica]

2. All the concern about what OWS should do by people who aren't even

really interested. Even here on DU there are a lot of concern trolls trying to rename, remake, redefine OWS into something they think is important.

OWS is working on a global level, but still, it should just give up and do what the establishment thinkers say.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. It is amazing how DEEPLY unsettled this movement makes people!

It must have a leader! It must have a specific focus! It must start endorsing/running candidates! On and on, completely NOT getting what OWS is doing. :D I love the freak-out factor, and think that OWS' form is one of its greatest strengths.

[Kaleko]

9. Desperately trying to make the unknown live forces that manifest as the Occupy movement

somehow knowable, manageable, and thus getting a living entity under control.

Deserves a chuckle or two. Then onward ho, we've got more important things to do than catering to the fearful old farts who consider themselves pundits because they've studied the past.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

12. "...somehow knowable, manageable, and thus getting a living entity under control.."

+1

OWS is mercury under their thumb -- impossible to get a firm hold on, and it drives TPTB nuts. :D.

[Kaleko]

14. "Mercury under their thumb." I love that image.

Occupiers are shapeshifters. They morph into whatever form is needed next. This is spontaneous intelligence at work on a global scale.

A sense of humor and a determination to have fun while going about the extremely serious business of rEvolutionizing an entire culture are V.I.P's (Very Important Parts, not Persons) in this uprising.

[vcc]

15. not amazing at all when they're talking about shutting down biz...

...banks, biz, major thoroughfares, peoples' daily lives. Plenty of people who solidly support what OWS is supposed to stand for are also becoming unsettled. They want to know exactly what they are getting themselves pulled into and don't want to be part of something that is going in a direction or using tactics they don't support. Shouldn't be surprising at all that people want answers.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. The "answers" are already out there --

and have been from the beginning, as have been the tactics.

OWS is "leaderless" in the traditional sense, but does have many, many leaders.

OWS is about economic fairness and justice.

OWS's tactics are about occupation and non-violent civil disobedience.

That's it, right there. Not too complicated, really.

The media and pundits continue to play this game that they don't know what it's about, but they know damned wellat is going on but choose to portray it otherwise.

[TBF]

19. Bingo - and how funny that these all came out today ...

must be the memo of the week. We must be doing something right!

[shraby]

4. Doesn't need to be. Where they find egregious top down

behavior such as at the school board meeting, they simply have a mic check and voice their grievances and make the (pick your board) wait for them to speak first..and not be told how something is going to go down such as new rules etc.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. It already is.

They have raised awareness -- aware citizens make aware voting choices. :shrug:

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Uh no f'ing way, not in the sense of that article.

"Many pundits suggest that it’s time for the activists to hire political consultants and assemble a list of demands – in short, to become much more involved in electoral politicsl".

No. Hell no. That game is rigged. OWS needs to continue doing what it is doing: establishing a populist alternative on the left to the Current Regime.

In short, fuck the pundits and the corrupt oligarchic horse they road in on.

[lunatica]

7. The OWS is refusing to play by the 1% rules

So why would they join the 1% corruption? The OWS is making up it's own rules which is what we should be doing when we refuse to play by their rules. Duh!

[Fumesucker]

8. The Kiss of Death in the M$M would be for OWS to support someone..

:shrug:

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. I think they need to change their tactics.

The occupying was a good start. They got attention and changed some of the political focus. To continue doing what they are now will only cause attention to move away from them. I think the next step should be to the homes of the 1% and congress. I think this would cause the media to refocus on what they are saying and help more people tune into the movement.
It is also time for leadership that has the oratory skills to motivate the general population. It isn't enough to have a majority that agrees with their premise yet sits at home or goes about their daily lives uninvolved. Like it or not, more people have to get involved before we will see any change, if that is even possible peacefully.

[Kaleko]

11. Notice your language. "They" instead of "we".

You don't count yourself as part of the 99% and are trying to direct its movements from the position of an outsider.

Good luck with that. This living emerging global light force will not be directed by any one man.

[Bonhomme Richard]

18. I'll say "we" when I am actually a foot soldier living alongside them in the streets..

I use "they" because "they" are doing all the work right now rather than laptop rah rah.
Don't read into something that's not there.

[Kaleko]

22. Hm, I don't share this extremist "either all or nothing" view.

Hundreds of thousands can be (and are) actively involved supporting the Occupiers without necessarily camping out in the park.

We can see this involvement here on DU. So many creative ideas and contributions... and there will be many more.

[vcc]

16. people's homes, really?

I doubt many genuine supporters of OWS would agree with you, for several reasons. But especially when you're talking about something that amounts to scapegoating and invasion. And people wonder why America wants to know exactly what OWS is all about?

[Bonhomme Richard]

20. Yes homes. They already did a bit of it at the home of.....

Jeffrey Immelt of GE a couple of weeks ago. The leaders of the 1% need to feel the heat personally.
My opinion.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. New left, meet OWS... OWS meet new left

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2322087

Textbook of what I am seeing locally.

[Terry in Austin]

21. Politics is not just "electoral politics"

We used to make that distinction back in SDS days.

Personally, I'm glad to see OWS has moved beyond the "confront the government" script. They instinctively know that the power lies in the plutocracy -- Wall Street -- and that Washington-based government is more or less irrelevant.

So elections are not a good strategy for desired change. We've tried that and it doesn't work. Time to accept it and move on. I believe that's a key point of OWS. We don't have democracy any more, we have plutocracy, and we can talk about it now.