Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
The beard took two months to grow. The sandals were cheap but sturdy. Add a smartphone, a bottle of water, an ironic t-shirt, and the image was complete.
It was the perfect outfit to blend in with the protesters of Occupy Tampa, a local group who took over a downtown Tampa Bay park "in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement".
The Tampa chapter previously held a rally on October 1st. Its impact was so low, our 24/7 local news station barely took notice. When I saw today's occupation would take place a few miles west of me, I drove over to see if they were any more worthwhile than their New York counterparts.
Media outlets send journalists to Tea Party rallies to play amateur anthropologist; why not borrow the idea?
All the protesters were friendly, civil, and organized. Their frustration with macro issues seemed to diffuse anger away from anything micro, local, or indeed tangible. Rage was confined to slogans on placards, while the sign carriers seemed unwilling to let it seep into their cheerful manner. There were many Guy Fawkes masks, very few children, and a good number of dogs.
(At the risk of taking a cheap shot, there was also a... certain stereotypical smell present. To be fair this was a sunny Florida afternoon of 87 degrees. "But you get used to the funk", a middle aged man informed me.)
The usual chanting factions showed up: 9-11 Truthers, avowed socialists, Marxists, the anti-war crowd, the anti-capitalists, Teamsters, the Ron Paul Revolution, Anonymous, CAIR, and some causes best described as a one-person faction.
Just about the only protest group not represented was the Tea Party, who seemed to be rejected by otherwise inclusive chanters of The 99%. (Although they did take a page from the Tea Party play book, by insisting on cleaning up the park and not breaking anything.)
Their quests were as varied as their allegiances. The most common demand was for the rich, the bankers, or the capitalist system in general to suffer. The second most common demand was for corporate personhood to be revoked.
But despite the anti-capitalism sentiment in the air, the CVS pharmacy across the street was doing a brisk business selling cigarettes and imported bottled water. Apparently CVS' corporate persona paled in comparison to dehydration or missing your nicotine fix.
(Side note: I have never been subjected to so much second hand smoke in one place before I spent the afternoon weaving between groups of protesters. Roughly 1/3 of them smoked, including the ones demanding free health care. I wondered how they felt about the anti-smokers clauses being deployed to keep health care costs down.)
Slogans ranged from the obvious (Tax the rich; Hang the bankers; End the Fed; We Are The 99%) to the utopian (Another world is possible; End capitalism now; No more greed) to the absurd (Let's evolve already; The scientific method will set us free; Re-elect Nixon). The GOP had its share of name-mangling puns; Congress was held in its usual contempt; even Obama caught some flak for supporting bankers and Wall Street. In a refreshing change of pace, George W Bush only turned up once.
Roughly 600 people showed up to march. The route took us on a scenic tour of beautiful downtown Tampa Bay, which has no distinct financial district to occupy but does have a big stone city hall that amplifies shouted chants. Organizers made sure to keep us on the sidewalks, not blocking traffic, yelling at stragglers to "hop to one side" if they paused in a driveway.
Waiting for traffic lights turned the march into several moving segments. At one point we accidentally surrounded the Tampa Theater, which was hosting the 22nd annual Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. But this was one of the few institutions the crowd was not against, and we moved on before their outdoor dinner was served.
Chants echoed nicely but were hard to maintain across multiple intersections. Handheld megaphones blared unintelligible slogans and sparked sporadic applause. The biggest cheers were reserved for any passing cars that honked in support. A handful of enthusiastic drummers injected energy wherever they danced by with their bongos, but during a long red light they formed an impromptu drumming circle and got left behind.
Undaunted, they formed a splinter mini-parade and set off on a different route, dancing and singing Bob Marley songs (they were all young enough that Marley had died before they were born). The two converged on the park, where the returning drumline was greeted with cheers before quieting down for a meeting of the General Assembly.
Lacking any actual sound system, the General Assembly relied on "the human microphone":
- One person in the middle of the park would yell "mic check!"
- Everyone in earshot would respond "mic check!"
- The speaker would deliver a short message, a few words at a time
- Everyone in earshot would yell out the words, letting people at the outskirts of the crowd hear the message.
It was a surprisingly effective method, though the messages themselves were less than impressive. Since anyone who wanted to speak was allowed to activate the human PA system, organizing time was occasionally spent relaying messages such as "I would like... all of you... to visualize... the good outcomes!"
Around 4:00 PM, the police informed the organizers that, because they saw two camping tents set up in the park, they believed the crowd intended to occupy the park, and would be arresting people at dusk. Upon hearing this, the owner of one tent immediately began packing it up, and the only other tent soon followed.
The question of potential arrest was put to the legal working group, who convened and activated the human mic to announce their findings: "It is the opinion... of the legal working team... that THAT SUCKS."
The organizers took their chant of "This is what democracy looks like!" seriously. Everyone was called to the center of the park, where the decision to stay or leave was put to a vote. By a show of waggling hands, the crowd decided to bravely retreat and return at a later day. The definition of the word "occupy" was not put to a vote; apparently solidarity with the NYC protest did not require mimicry.
(Maybe it was a function of voting via human microphone and waggling hands, but the General Assembly's voter participation rate seemed to be lower than that of a mid-term Congressional election. People between the center and the outskirts of the park tended not to cast a vote. The drummers had decamped to a grassy triangle and never bothered to cast a single vote.)
The whole occupation broke up by 8:00 PM, with organizers vowing to return another day... but not to that park, because a "locally sourced farmer's market" already had permits for tomorrow, and the police station across the street had a memorial service scheduled for the day after. The police never bothered to show up to enforce their dusk deadline, although their friendly loitering and chatting outside their own station was enough of a reminder.
As the crowd dispersed, spirits were high; an undefined moral victory had somehow been achieved. Walking back to the parking lot, two women ahead of me reviewed the day's success:
"I'm proud to be an American, finally!"
"It can only get bigger from here, it will only keep growing."
"Now where did we park? ...Oh great, I think we lost the car."
- Comment (17)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
Feb '11
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
We appear to be having a pandemic outbreak of the stupid virus.
Sep '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
wow. just wow. can't tell if this is a good or a bad thing.
Sep '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
If one wishes to ridicule OWS the participants provide ample ammunition. But one fairly obvious sentiment is that they think the system is rigged and this sentiment is shared by a vast majority of Americans. Peter Orszag has joined an extremely long list of ex-high government officials of both parties working on Wall Street. He will pocket $5 million or so as a vicechairman at Citi, a bailed-out bank that cost many their life savings. The same story is repeated in Fanny and Freddie and numerous other financial institutions. We are asked to believe they did nothing to earn their current positions while in government and will be given no preferential treatment by the agencies they once worked in. Pretending the odor of unwashed bodies and pot is the only thing that stinks is not an accurate description of reality. I guess you are supporter of the revolving door legal bribery system that has characterized the Wall Street/DC relationship for several decades. Care to explain why?
May '11
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Has Zombietime joined Ricochet?
Mar '11
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Is that John Kerry in "uniform" wearing a V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask?
---
Also: I'm all in favor of witty protestors and signs dripping with irony, but the "This is a Sign" sign somehow strikes me as the Waiting for Godot of protest statements. Say what you will about 60's Utopian Socialism, at least it was an ethos.
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Funny. I saw "End the Fed" (and "Audit the Fed") signs at many a Tea Party. Wonder if some Tea Partiers are doing double time.
Nov '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
1. Isn't this a (sort of) anti-Wall Street protest? If so, then doesn't that make it an anti-Obama protest?
2. Isn't "locally sourced farmer's market" a redundancy?
Oct '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Great report, BA.
I wonder how many cheers would greet someone in a beanie reading out a recent Sarah Palin speech castigating the political-industrial complex. Until they let on it was a Sarah Palin speech, of course.
Oct '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
I assume this is to distinguish it from those illegal alien farmers' markets.
Dec '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
BA: Howdy, neighbor. I considered going down there, but life intervened.
I wonder if any OWS-types have any clue that the banks have paid back the TARP bailouts, with interest. Those that haven't paid back Obama-bucks tend to be the union bailouts of the car companies and, of course, the sucking drain of green energy subsidies.
Aug '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Wall Street was the villain for the majority of the slogans. But there were only a handful of anti-Obama signs, always tying him to the bank bailout. The single George W Bush reference was actually on a sign shared with a caricature of Obama, blaming both of them for bailing out the wrong people.
Sadly no, just a 20-something college student with a low cut mohawk. I tried to see if any of his ribbons were real, but aside from the Presidential Physical Fitness Award patch on his shoulder, they all looked non-official.
Aug '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
That was their sentiment, yes. But I don't share it.
The core tenet of America's class-less system is that everyone has equal opportunity to advance economically. Some may start out richer or stronger or smarter, as nature is inherently "unfair". But anyone can take advantage of a great idea or a market opportunity, leverage it with hard work, and carve out financial success regardless of their starting point.
If the system is rigged in any way, it tends to have its roots in some government regulation. Examine most market barriers to entry and you will find a law at its root. In fact the main structural barrier to individuals accumulating capital is the income tax, which is structured to prevent savings, and a tax code that encourages spending.
Speaking personally: using publicly available data I saw the market crash coming and started saving cash, paying down debt, and avoiding leverage in late 2005. Admittedly, I got the timing wrong by a year. But if I could avoid "getting underwater", anyone can.
Mar '11
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
BlueAnt:
"I'm proud to be an American, finally!"
Was Mrs Obama there?
Great report -- good idea to infiltrate, sorry about the lung damage. I have noticed that in England, also -- the "New Age" "Ageing ex-Hippies" all smoke (various things).
Just one quibble -- I think the revolution is more coherent than it seems at the moment.
Edited on Oct 7, 2011 at 11:21amSep '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
BlueAnt
. But anyone can take advantage of a great idea or a market opportunity, leverage it with hard work, and carve out financial success regardless of their starting point.
I think we probably agree on many things. I have been debt free for 15 yrs and sitting in cash for eight waiting for the bottom. I may be wrong but I do not think we have come close to it yet. I agree with your statement, but I think it is obvious many others buy political influence, take little risk and reap substantial rewards. I have no complaints with the American system as it was designed, but believe it has been warped by the slow steady slide toward socialism and socialism at its core is a rigged system. I doubt if any of the OWS crowd would agree with me, but few would find fault with Steve Jobs. It is possible to be correct about the system being rigged and not understand how or why it is.
Jun '10
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
What do you mean Citi "cost many their life savings?" Wasn't part of the point of the bail-outs to prevent this from happening? And even without bail-outs, all bank accounts are FDIC insured.
If we were really living in the dog-eat-dog capitalism these protesters caricature then yes, when a bank failed some of its customers would lose their life savings. For better or for worse the New Deal changed all that. Now when banks fail its the taxpayers, not the customers or investors, who are left holding the bag.
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Wait, if there were Ron Paul people there, wouldn't they consider themselves Tea Partiers? Didn't Ron Paul "start the Tea Party?"
Oct '11
Re: Scenes From the Incoherent Revolution
Nice article BlueAnt, someone should really let them know they can pick up a fairly cheap karaoke mic/amp at most garage sales before their next rally however.
Of course the real question is, do the scientologists support these protests or not?... Sorry I guess very few people unfamiliar with Tampa will get that- it's worth a google search if you're interested though.
I believe Orlando is having an "Occupy" rally on the 15th. I for one am grateful for their activism, it means most of my favorite coffee shops won't be over run with hipsters for a good chunk of the weekend. Though I will miss the curmudgeonly ramblings of the various "skeptic" clubs I get to over hear most of the time.