Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
Occupy DC had a run-in with the law last night. Last Thursday, they had a run-in with me.
I meant to do some cutting edge reporting from the Occupy DC camp, but I was thwarted by…everyone in the city wanting to do the exact same thing. When I got there around noon—high sun, warmest in the day, figuring there would be maximum emergence of the tent-dwellers—maybe a dozen occupiers were milling about. In five minutes, I noticed that there were more people with D-SLRs “documenting” than there were people to document. I snapped a few hurried pics and stuffed my camera in my purse out of embarrassment. We can’t all look like photobloggers! I thought, nevermind, I’ll mingle and ask questions. But everyone was already being interviewed.
I skulked through the crowd listening in and then continued my undercover journalism from a bench. Here’s the best line I picked up, from a young bearded man: “I can’t be part of a system that leaves people behind.” I understand the sentiment very well, but—competition. We’re that kind of species.
It became clear within a few minutes who the ostensible leader was, a man in his 40s or 50s. Did he know he was wearing a very similar brimmed cap as Lenin? Well, he was! He and his young lieutenant were talking gravely about the expansion of the movement. Could they take over a church? No, no. A warehouse? Hm. Maybe. They agreed on one thing, though. DC is poised to become the center of operation now that Zuccotti Park has been cleared.
Moving on, around the equestrian statue of McPherson, I could see that the camp had done its best to be self-sufficient. Canteen. Clothing “store.” Med tent. Library. But I don’t think only cold-hearted capitalists would say that the free, global market does it much better. So much better that many of the occupiers were at the Starbucks across the street, using the Wifi, electricity, and running water.
Back in the camp, a large placard in the middle read:
Two Solutions:
- Urban Gardening
- Clean Energy
First question that comes to mind is “solutions to what exactly?” Second, urban gardening? That’s what you do when your city is blockaded and you have no access to a food supply. Third, let’s talk about clean energy. Does it mean the engine-exploding, taxpayer-funded Chevy Volt? Does it mean ethanol from corn we grow in our own windowboxes?
There was a large tent towards the center that had a dining room table and chairs in it. Totally necessary. Wish I had been on hand to photoblog the introduction of large furniture to the camp. On my way around to the library tent, I passed a poster that had an anarchism symbol next to a peace symbol. Oxymoronic or just moronic?
In the library, there were crates of books and pamphlets and fliers. Someone was advertising a cross-country road trip to all the occupy sites. Kind of sounds like a fun vacation minus the whole putting dirty gasoline in the car and stopping for supplies at chains owned by billionaires.
One pile of bumper stickers in the tent jumped out at me. It said not to give into the 1% and their Murdoch-controlled media. Only they misspelled it as Murdock. Okay. I know we’re all guilty of getting our facts wrong about the “other side” when making accusations, but typically we work out those kinks before we go to press.
Now, I should say a bit about the camp culture. It’s weird, obviously. But not in a terrible way. In fact it was pretty endearing when a spry older man got up to sing along with a recording that had nothing to do with politics or economy or angst or hate. But when he pointed his mic in a friendly, inclusive gesture at the people taking the diagonal across the park, they all tucked their heads in like turtles and quickened their pace. What does it mean when the entire enterprise is so off-putting? Many other movements have aimed to make the establishment uncomfortable. But when you claim to represent 99% of the populace yet 98% are unsettled by you—question your methods.
As for the message? There was a paper on one of the tents that read: “This is our permit” and it featured the First Amendment. Right to assemble? Check. Petition the government? Um, does that have to, like, be in writing? Grievances? Hang on. Just going to get a consensus here. The DC camp recently published their Declaration on their website. The most audacious complaint? The media “confines imagination.” I believe it was Sesame Street that taught me that the human mind can never be confined. Even a toddler knows that our imaginations are boundless and free. No television pundit can erase our ability to think and feel and wish and dream.
The Beatles song “Across the Universe” was playing in the Starbucks as I got my palate-cleansing coffee. The refrain “Nothing’s gonna change my world” struck me. My world is so imperfect it’s hilarious. But those imperfections are easier to handle in 21st Century America than in any other country in any other time. And I think if we gave people a choice, they’d pick here and now too. That doesn’t mean that our world doesn’t need to change. It just doesn’t need to change drastically. We don’t need a revolution, we really don’t. We can improve our social and economic circumstances bit by bit, but if the occupiers believe the system can be overhauled in a day, they’ll be camping out for a lot longer than they expected.
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Comments :
Oct '10
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
I can only assume they meant Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock of that post-Nam documentary The A-Team...
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
If only The Beatles' "Revolution" had been playing instead...
Fantastic account of the Occupy DC encampment. I had in mind to visit Occupy SF a few weeks ago, until I read numerous reports detailing an infestation of scabies and lice. Don't need that...
Mar '11
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
genferei
I can only assume they meant Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock of that post-Nam documentary The A-Team... · Dec 5 at 10:42am
Edited on Dec 05 at 10:43 am
Clearly he has parlayed his occasional guest hosting for Michael Savage into a media empire. I had no idea.
Mar '11
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
I'm pretty sure Eleanor Clift can. Just sayin'.
Jun '10
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
This whole urban gardening thing is growing by leaps and bounds in Portland. Now, these gardeners are trying to restrict development in the city so that there will be room for farming plots... because people in some areas "don't have access to quality food." Apparently, these people have overlooked the agricultural revolution that happened a century or more ago. They want to feed the world a block at a time now. This is what we're dealing with nowadays an there are actually people taking it seriously.
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
The whole trend of reversing progress because it's "cool" and "saves" things makes my blood boil. It's like everyone has decided the world needs to run on Rube Goldberg devices. Oh, look! This parakeet drops an anvil on a fork that pops a balloon that scares a granny that starts rocking her chair which powers your iPad!
Aug '10
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
Hogeez...
If urban gardening didn't pretend to be so much more than what it is, I would thoroughly enjoy it. Gardens are nice. Gardening is fun. Nothing brightens up a cityscape like a bit of garden here and there.
But no, it's not enough anymore for urban gardening to be just urban gardening. It must be part of some Grand Purpose. City dwellers are no longer supposed to garden to enjoy pretty flowers, or a few fresh herbs and veg. They've gotta be Saving the Planet instead.
Which turns an enjoyable, innocent activity into an insufferably pretentious one.
That's the problem with Grand Purposes. They suck the innocent pleasures out of life.
Edited on Dec 5, 2011 at 10:54pmDec '10
Re: Here We Are Live at Occupy DC
Maura Pennington, Guest Contributor
It's like everyone has decided the world needs to run on Rube Goldberg devices. Oh, look! This parakeet drops an anvil on a fork that pops a balloon that scares a granny that starts rocking her chair which powers your iPad! · Dec 5 at 6:51pm
Maura!!! You are a genius. I never thought of it. After watching forty years of extreme environmental stupidity there must be an explanation. Someone must be controlling the whole thing. Not Obama, not Saul Alinsky, not even Soros. Why it's a mind so diabolical that he's been right under our noses all along and we never saw it. IT'S RUBE GOLDBERG!!
Hmmm..what would Rube Goldberg's evil lair look like. Of course, I've got it! He's hiding out in a cheap condo on South Ocean Blvd. Mrs. Goldberg tries to get him to play golf or bridge or just anything but all he wants to do is invent things and whine about the environment. You are a genius Maura.