May Day in the Bay
Last night on the eve of May Day, a rabble of vandals marched through San Francisco's Mission District, launching paint bombs at storefronts, smashing in car windows, and shattering the window of my favorite bakery, Tartine.
The SF Chronicle captures the reactions of devastated business owners trying to make sense of the destruction.
Jeremy Tooker, owner of Four Barrel Coffee, was wiping paint off his store's windows as broken glass crunched beneath pedestrians' feet. He said a friend had alerted him of the damage after stopping a protester from smashing the glass storefront with a crowbar - and taking a hit to his arm.
"This just seems like they're frustrated with their impotency at this point," Tooker said. "It's like, 'Look at me, I'm still here, I'm still occupying.' "
As Koskoff smoked a cigarette by the damaged Aston Martin, he said he didn't understand protesters' motives.
"They're coming through the Mission, where there aren't any corporations, just a lot of small businesses, which is what they're all about," he said. "It doesn't make sense."
[...]
"Occupy is saying it's not them, but we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Occupy, now would we?" Michelle Horneff-Cohen, a real estate broker, said as she shivered next to the broken window of her workplace, Property Management Systems.
She said she had been dragged out of bed to deal with the damage. Although her company has insurance, she said, it will have to pay for much of the cost of repairs.
"I think it's [expletive]," Horneff-Cohen said. "We are the 99 percent, and this is [expletive]."
Democrats have thus far been at least loosely supportive of the Occupy Movement, employing the populist 99 percent language for their own political aims. But the cognitive dissonance revealed here—i.e. "We are the 99 percent, and this is [expletive]"— by the San Francisco small business owners who are spending their day dealing with damage to their property, makes me wonder if Democrats will continue to treat the Occupiers as political kin going forward into this year's election. I can't imagine that would be a good move.
Meanwhile, today in Oakland a group of about 100 protesters are busy harassing the banks. One of the protesters explains his motives thus:
"We are here today because capitalism has destroyed basic human need," said a 20-year-old protester who only identified himself as Connor.
"I am sort of into the libertarian/communist thing myself," he said. "I am an advocate of human need, not monetary need.
Libertarian-communism. Only in Oakland.
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Oct '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Actually, no. There are Greek anarchists protesting in favor of government.
Apr '11
Re: May Day in the Bay
Can the Democrats, at this point, separate themselves from the Occupiers?
I don't see how, but then again they are awfully slippery when they need to be.
Aug '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Not that uncommon, really, when defined as the belief that "individuals" should be able to do whatever they want and "society" should pay for the consequences.
Utterly incoherent, but not uncommon.
Re: May Day in the Bay
Paul Snively
Actually, no. There are Greek anarchists protesting in favor of government. · 2 minutes ago
Well, "anarcho-communism" is a thing, isn't it? At least it has a Wikipedia page.
Oh, oops...turns out libertarian-communism is cross-listed on that page as being synonymous to anarcho-communism. Who'da thunk? An oxymoron of jumbo shrimp proportions.
Jul '11
Re: May Day in the Bay
It may well get worse even without the Soros and Media matters funding.
You can't keep a good Lib-Com down.
May '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
As the wonderful Kate McMillan of smalldeadanimals.com says:
"What We Really Need Is Democracy. With a totalitarian party to vote for."
Jun '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
"
Re: May Day in the Bay
I'm betting Connor sees the "libertarian-communist thing" as his best pickup line when he's cruising an occupy tent city at night.
Jun '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
I think, if you're not willing to hire homeless drug addicts (at a "living wage",) and cover for them until they show up at noon, then you're part of the evil 1%, no matter the size or profitability of your business.
Sep '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
What a coincidence. I'm into the Charles Napier schtick myself:
Dec '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Pseudodionysius
What a coincidence. I'm into the Charles Napier schtick myself:
1 minute ago
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
Mar '11
Re: May Day in the Bay
Diane Ellis, Ed.:
Democrats have thus far been at least loosely supportive of the Occupy Movement, employing the populist 99 percent language for their own political aims. But the cognitive dissonance revealed here—i.e. "We are the 99 percent, and this is [expletive]"— by the San Francisco small business owners who are spending their day dealing with damage to their property, makes me wonder if Democrats will continue to treat the Occupiers as political kin going forward into this year's election.
We shouldn't forget that the Occupy "movement" is but a subset of a much larger stick-it-to-the-rich sentiment in America.
The Occupiers garnered much sympathy for their cause at first from many people watching at home. Just because the protestors have revealed themselves to be hoodlums doesn't mean struggling middle-class sympathizers (like the storeowner in the article) are suddenly going to support lowering corporate tax rates (or Mitt Romney).
Occupy protestors may become a problem for the Democrats, but the much more pervasive desire to soak the rich will remain a problem for all of America.
Jul '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Remember the hippy/anti-war riots of the 60s and 70s? They resulted in ten years of Republicans in the White House, and it would have been more if Nixon hadn't picked a crook as his vice president or later given in to the craziness that always heaved below the surface.
Mar '11
Re: May Day in the Bay
Misthiocracy
Not that uncommon, really, when defined as the belief that "individuals" should be able to do whatever they want and "society" should pay for the consequences.
In fact, isn't that the definition of college life?
Aug '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
My favorite quotes in the piece...
"As Koskoff smoked a cigarette by the damaged Aston Martin, he said he didn't understand protesters' motives."
You see, the "damaged party" is calmly smoking a cigarette by a damaged Aston Martin...
I also liked the thought of a real estate broker in the Mission District saying...
"I think it's [expletive]," Horneff-Cohen said. "We are the 99 percent, and this is [expletive]."
Does anyone believe that Horneff-Cohen is in the 99%?
Dec '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Nathaniel Wright: My favorite quotes in the piece...
"As Koskoff smoked a cigarette by the damaged Aston Martin, he said he didn't understand protesters' motives."
You see, the "damaged party" is calmly smoking a cigarette by a damaged Aston Martin...
I also liked the thought of a real estate broker in the Mission District saying...
"I think it's [expletive]," Horneff-Cohen said. "We are the 99 percent, and this is [expletive]."
Does anyone believe that Horneff-Cohen is in the 99%? · 1 minute ago
Haha I noticed that too. It sort of ruins his argument. Even so, I like the "We are the 99 percent, and this is bullsh*t". I think that could be turned into a good meme.
May '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
"We are here today because capitalism has destroyed basic human need," said a 20-year-old protester who only identified himself as Connor.
"I am sort of into the libertarian/communist thing myself," he said. "I am an advocate of human need, not monetary need.
Ah yes, the product of the best public education the taxpayers can provide.
The cities that still suffer this violence for violence' sake dressed up as idealism have only themselves to blame. Oakland's city government came out in support of Occupy before everything associated with it turned to mud. And yet, these municipal time-markers still refuse to do what's necessary to prevent this nonsense: meet force with force and prosecute the lawbreakers with vigor. This is the pattern now: petulant youth run amok in the streets, city officials wring their hands. See you next time.
Dec '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
Here at the Oakland Federal Building, the crowds haven't materialized yet. Even the two ladies from the MacArthur-Temescal Neighborhood Alliance who were holding up the "Occupy the Federal Building" have left. All the action is at the Wells Fargo Bank at 14th and Broadway - there were about 100 protesters there a couple of hours ago, but I don't know if their numbers have grown or shrunk since. It seems to be business as usual for most of downtown Oakland.
Jul '10
Re: May Day in the Bay
billy: Can the Democrats, at this point, separate themselves from the Occupiers?
I don't see how, but then again they are awfully slippery when they need to be. · 1 hour ago
All that is down the memory hole.
I just hope some enterprising Republicans saved video of Democrats mouthing Occupy rhetoric while they were kissing up to the movement last year.
May '11
Re: May Day in the Bay
The rhetoric is sounding more and more like 1935 Spain every day.
Will we have our Hemingway to write about the massacre in our own town squares?