"The Making of a ‘99% Spring’" ---- (Article mentions "Move On.org., Labor Unions and OWS)

[KoKo]

The Making of a ‘99% Spring’

By Jake Olzen

Next month, activists and organizers across the country are planning to train 100,000 people in nonviolent direct action for what they call the 99% Spring. But despite borrowing one or two of the Occupy movement’s favorite slogans, The 99% Spring hasn’t been called for by any general assembly. Rather, this massive and controversial effort is coming from the institutional left — a diverse coalition of labor unions, environmental and economic justice groups, community organizations, and trainers’ alliances. While some celebrate what appears to be a mainstreaming of resistance thanks to Occupy, others are crying co-option.

“This spring we rise!” write 99% Spring organizers in a letter to “America.” “We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, and one state at a time. We are the 99%. For the 100%. And this is our moment.”

In a press call organized by The 99% Spring, Liz Butler of the Movement Strategy Center affirmed the effort’s solidarity with the Occupy movement. “The focus,” said Butler, “is to give additional amounts of people the tools to take direct action around these issues, complementary to what is happening in the Occupy movement.” On the same call, MoveOn.org’s Justin Ruben explained that his organization is promoting the training for nonviolent direct action to its more than five million members.

Joy Cushman, an organizer and trainer from the New Organizing Institute, insists that the intention of the project is not to compete with the Occupy movement. Rather, it’s a framework so that existing organizations can incorporate direct action into the work they’re already doing and capture some of the Occupy spirit. “The hope is that if people are not directly connected to campaigns, they will be able to take action locally for what is affecting them,” she told me.
-snip-

Both OWS and the organizations involved in The 99% Spring encompass a wide range of views regarding electoral politics and the means for social change. MoveOn.org actively campaigns for Obama, while other participating groups like the Ruckus Society are known for more radical, issue-based campaigns involving direct action.

Still, some are skeptical that an organization like MoveOn.org must be up to something. An anonymous writer at CounterPunch has alleged that The 99% Spring is really a MoveOn.org front for the Democratic Party, here quoting activist John Stauber:

[“]In this latest case, the so-called 99 Spring, Move On is enlisting other NGOs to create the appearance of a populist uprising from the Left, when it’s all about keeping the rabble in line and aimed at the Republicans to re-elect Obama,” he continued.

As will be seen throughout this series on foundation-funded Democratic Party aligned non-profit groups poisoning the genuine grassroots, MoveOn.org is far from the only culprit playing this rotten and cynical game.

CounterPunch also cites former MoveOn.org employee Ilyse Hogue’s controversial article in The Nation, “Occupy is Dead! Long Live Occupy!”, which contends that Occupy’s modus operandi has outlived its usefulness — while having fired up the more established institutions. A 99% Spring, therefore, would seem to be Occupy’s grown-up, more institution-friendly replacement. The CounterPunch article has circulated on Occupy organizer email lists, spreading fears that progressive organizations are trying to hijack OWS’ energy or co-opt its message for their own purposes.

But, in the same issue of The Nation, historian Francis Fox Piven rejects the “false dilemma” between electoral politics and protest movements. Piven argues that movements work against politicians because they galvanize and polarize voters and threaten to cleave the majorities and wealthy backers that politicians work to hold together. … [T]he great victories that have been won in the past were won precisely because politicians were driven to make choices in the form of policy concessions that would win back some voters, even at the cost of losing others.

More at......

http://www.nationofchange.org/making-99-spring-1332774913.

[freshwest]

1. I much prefer the original OWS messages to the 99%ers. But whatever works.

I was infuriated by the “Occupy is Dead! Long Live Occupy!” article.

Even though some might argue that KO is part of some establishment. It's not a good idea to bite any hands that seek to help, goodness knows there are so many trying to harm the movement.

I still see the Declaration of the General Assembly of the Occupation of NYC as the truth of the purpose of Occupy. There is not one word in that manifesto I would want to see watered down.

[freshwest]

2. If anyone doesn't want to listen to KO, here is print to share:

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011

Translations: French, Slovak, Spanish, German, Italian, Arabic, Portuguese

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.

We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

* They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
* They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
* They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
* They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
* They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
* They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
* They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
* They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
* They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
* They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
* They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
* They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
* They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
* They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
* They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
* They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
* They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
* They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
* They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
* They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
* They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
* They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
* They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/

[nashville_brook]

3. the more the merrier

personally, as someone who did our local occupation from the beginning...camping, as it is now being practiced, has little to do with the original intent of Occupy. our group is now saying their one organizing principle is to fight for the right to protest. and to spend time on the ground, really, the only organizing principle in evidence is vandalism.

As our group pushed out working people, people with kids, and anyone else who didn't feel safe camping with crack dealers, the remaining people are alienated and not doing themselves any favors with continuing senseless provacation of the local police dept. When there's 2000 people marching in a small city, that's transformative. When there's 5 people hanging out, stoned, provoking attention for all the wrong reasons, well...that's just sad.

More power to anyone picking up the slack and providing direction. As it stands, in my hometown, our group could really use a refresh. Perhaps 99% Spring will breathe new life into the movement. i welcome any postive influence at this point.

[freshwest]

4. Sorry it degenerated to that point and hope for revitalization. Although during the WTO protests in

Seattle, the majority of protestors were families, students, children and union members and treated the same as the provocateurs, so there was violence.

Also, there was a police riot and the chief later left and wrote a book about the whole thing that was very damning.

At this point, as you say, the more the merrier, whatever works. In the Vietnam era it was overwhelming numbers in the street that changed the course. Naturally half a dozen people camping out is not as effective. Thanks for your information.

[nashville_brook]

7. your point about Vietnam-era protest is one that i've been making to the group

that, the era's protests lasted for more then six years and created massive social change. the civil rughts protests ran for more than a decade, and changed our culture to the core.

now, imagine if both these movements requied that their partipants sleepover in a public park for the duration of the era. they would have limited involvement to a fraction of the people mobilized, and we'd still have "colored" drinking fountains.

the intragroup bias toward "principled camping" is stupidly high bar to set, and it self-selects for social outcasts...in our town that meant drug dealers, hobos, and seriously mentally ill people. we literally had a stabbing to deal with bc of one young man who was off his meds.

[freshwest]

11. No knowing personally what is going on the ground there, I have to take your word on that. But,

I feel that there are several things to be said for camping, as was done in NYC at Zuccotti Park last year. It was, IMHO, a statement that the Earth belongs to all of us and not the corporate masters who have wrangled their way into owning all that sustains life. By their way of thinking, soon they will own our body parts, our every waking minute, every thought. There is an internet meme of 'why should we have to pay to live on the planet we were born on?'

Sort of in line with this saying by Chief Sealth (often called Seattle):

"How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people."

What is being done to this planet is not being discussed and people are having a hard time articulating what is wrong. It is wrong to turn the Earth into nothing more than a money making grid, that takes life and exchanges it for paper. In a system that is rigged by those who have shown no respect for others, and who tell us we have no right to even ask these great questions of life, death, destiny. We are called terrorists, lunatics or irrational for demanding that we be allowed to exist outside that belief system that has been forced on the peoples of the world.
So the camping was resistance.

In Zuccotti, it was also a meeting place that was freer, still in the air, for people of all walks of life to meet up. Twitter and Facebook and all of those things are heavily monitored and harrassed. The original OWS website is virtually useless due to right wing spamming and hate posted on it. It is also limited as most of the movement, to those with the means to get online. I personally know many people who spend very little time online, know little of politics, yet when I tell them about the goals of Occupy, they are very enthusiastic and uplifted. They are seeing the world differently The push to get people out of the public eye in the physical realm is harder for TPTB than censoring these issues in the one percent owned media. And they own all of it.

So, even if the camping out is not going to be effective, I am thinking that mass demonstrations as in the Vietnam era will be required to get past the media blackout. There needs to be a physical presence that cannot be ignored, but it must be non-violent. I don't know where the organizing grounds for such things would take place; everything seems so fragmented now. Back then, we met on university campuses and we had what I can't deny, was a liberal media We truly did and they reported what we did, were eager to show people what we wanted. Now the media is full of people who would not pass muster on a newspaper, being overpaid to read stories they know nothing about as there is no investigative journalism anymore. Just demagoging. At least on the mass media. The time of the working class having a media voice is long gone.

Let those you talk to know movements of the past accepted almost all comers, like OWS did. I'm not sure why there has been a rejection of civil rights leaders, but this generation has grown up on Fox and Alex Jones and there is this kneejerk thing that liberals, progressives, unions and all the Democrats are all part of the problem and dirty words. Yes, the Democrats haven't done that great a job welcoming them in, either.

I gotta stop writing this book here. Get back with you if I have anything useful to add and I don't know if I do. If it's a generational thing, nothing I say will be listened to at all.

[DirkGently]

5. Amen. Everywhere's unique, but a refresh won't hurt.

And, yeah. Orlando kind of devolved into Hipster Delinquent Camping.

The whole "Get out if you don't rock hard enough to spit on cops (when the cops are acting benignly) / Anarchy Fuck Yeah" vibe turned a lot of people off.

But there's plenty of gas left in the movement. 99% Spring sounds like a step in the right direction.

[KoKo]

6. Something has to be done to hold both parties accountable. But....

"movements" for change are always open to folks who come in and take them over. OPS for Status Quo...or Ops for those who want to power to stay in their hands.

Most of us know (even though we are Democrats here on this site) that there are many issues that haven't been addressed and many prosecutions for "crimes against the people" which haven't been prosecuted.

Where do we go with this? What about the wars, endless wars, threats of wars. Wars on our Privacy, Wars on our right to earn a fair living wage, wars on our very right to exist today.

Something has to be done. The direction may evolve ....but something has to be done to change what has "refused to be changed," in our political system for the working people, the tax paying people, the ordinary of us who have a right to be Recognized ...and not Globilized or Marginalized.

Whatever it takes...it must be done... Time is growing short.

[nashville_brook]

8. completely agree. here's what i think needs to happen in florida...

we have to OCCUPY the state house, the school board, the water management districts and the county commissions.

this is a marathon, not a sprint. the conservative revolution that has rocked florida came from people strategizing in the 80s. they took the longview. it's time we did the same.

[TBF]

9. I welcome the labor involvement -

there are a lot of things I like about Occupy but absence of labor has been troubling. The past 30 years in particular have been very difficult in that low income folks were somehow convinced to vote for Reagan, and then we watched as he started the work of decimating the unions. Not that they are perfect and impervious to corruption (especially at the leadership level), but they are always important in any effort because they bring huge numbers of people. And I sure would like those blue-collar folks voting for dems. I think many do, but we've lost some to so-called "family issues". It is not only time to resist, but time to work on bringing our blue collar brothers and sisters back into the democratic party.

[nashville_brook]

10. people spoke so eloquently against this after our first confrontation...

and they were run off one by one.

as i reflect on the People's Convention, i realized that the campers were trolling it. they didn't want to see valarie succeed, so they came out and disrupted any way they could. co-opting the message to the media being the most egregious tactic.

[Zorra]

12. The link in the OP didn't access the article for me,

so I posted another link to what appears to be the same article.

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/03/the-making-of-a-99-spring/

We need to achieve critical mass. The more folks trained in non-violent resistance tactics the merrier. No person/entity is going to co-opt ☮CCUPY.

Personally, I am all for any real, positive, constructive actions that move us closer to our goals. Every little bit counts; baby steps as well as giant steps.

No matter how the media tries to label this "alliance", the heart and soul of it all will still be ☮CCUPY.

And it appears to me that we know better than to accept/acknowledge any leaders other than ourselves collectively.