theLAvirgin

In the thick of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City, there is a sister movement happening in our west coast corner of the good old red, white and blue. As I cycled into work this morning I took a detour to go to (ironically) Bank of America to deposit my paycheck. As I approached the corner of Hill and 5th I saw a big neon orange 99% dancing through the sky above a sea of Angelenos.

‘HEY HEY- HO HO- CORPORATE GREED HAS GOT TO GO,’ they chanted in unison.

Followed by, ‘WE- ARE- THE NINETY NINE PERCENT!’

They marched east towards Broadway. 

photo - Carolyn Cole, LA Times

I felt the tickle in my throat and the burning behind my eyes as I got swept up into a pre-cry state. The grief of social injustice hit me in the form of weepiness rather than the prevailing emotion in the atmosphere, frustration. My ignorance to the details of this issue will keep me from speaking on it. Corporate tax structure and the influence of corporations on our government is as much a mystery to me as Katie Holmes marriage to Tom Cruise and is probably as equally complex and equally as shady. So, I can’t intelligently argue a point or suggest policy changes until I do what we should all be doing which is, know the issues. 

So to help you do that! —— Here are some helpful cyber destinations. Or you can use Google like a capable, modern person. The wiki page is really informative. Here’s a quote I extracted from it—I find it to be one of the most important points made.

‘The protest has been criticized for its lack of focus and actionable agenda. In an article that was critical of the protesters, Ginia Bellafante wrote in The New York Times:”The group’s lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to pantomime progressivism rather than practice it knowledgably is unsettling in the face of the challenges so many of its generation face — finding work, repaying student loans, figuring out ways to finish college when money has run out.”Glenn Greenwald responded to this criticism, writing “Does anyone really not know what the basic message is of this protest: that Wall Street is oozing corruption and criminality and its unrestrained political power — in the form of crony capitalism and ownership of political institutions — is destroying financial security for everyone else?”

The desire to form a more coherent agenda was evident around the 13th day of the occupation, with sentiment in the encampment generally split along two lines: those who want the protest to remain amorphous and to grow through spectacle; and those who want to draft focused demands about wealth disparity.’

Wikipedia - Occupy Wall Street

The goal of a protest is to generate action. In my hunt for information about the protest, it felt very scattered, uninformed and too abstract. How do you turn this kind of general frustration into actionable points? That is the true challenge. I think this movement needs intelligent, informed and articulate leadership. It’s quite romantic, this idea of an essentially leaderless revolution. While Adbusters seems to have ignited the fire, there is no face, there are no go to people. There’s a level of organization and mobilization necessary to get results. People are saying there isn’t enough media coverage relative to what the Tea Party movement would get for a similar event—-well, who does CNN call or FOX call to get an interview or go to for answers? They just hope to find someone who knows what they’re talking about in the midst of thousands of protestors? I understand statements have been made about protestors participating for a variety of reasons and I can see how appointing spokespersons or leaders might push certain issues to the forefront based on their priorities while putting other issues on the back burner. Someone’s got to figure out how to turn each demand into actionable points.

And for some pretty solar flare heavy footage from the streets…YouTube: Occupy Los Angeles- The Beginning. You’ll see the need for spokespeople/leadership at a few different points in this piece.

Enjoy!