naked capitalism

Blunt says:

“Life finds a way.”

Time for the 99% to start looking like it.

Yearning to Learn says:

a few thoughts to the OWS haters out there.
OWS is and always was a gathering of individuals that are interested in exploring how and why things are wrong, and exploring ideas about how to correct this.

It is not and never was a monolithic organization, and that is kind of the point.

IMO the success of OWS, its Tea Party brother, or Ron Paul, should not necessarily be viewed through the lens of whether or not it elects a certain representative or if it moves a specific milestone forward.

instead OWS/TP/RP have brought forth new ideas and broadened the political conversation in America.

OWS has helped bring the massive income inequality to the fore of American Politics. It also has brought out the idea that maybe the top 0.1% DIDN’T “earn” that money. that maybe the playing field isn’t really even. That maybe there is an undue amount of corporate interest and corporate power in Amercian politics.

Although I disagree with much of the TP, there is no question that they have brought America’s debt into the fore of American Politics.

Ron Paul has raised the idea of reducing American imperialism, and looking more closely at the actions of the Federal Reserve.

this has transformed American dialogue, and thus by my estimation they are successful.

as always, converting dialogue into action is difficult. and the Dems and Repubs are doing their best to co-opt the TP and OWS movements… but R’s and D’s are having indigestion trying to do it… and the attempt is changing the parties themselves.

and if lucky this is only the beginning. Out of the TP/OWS movement you may see a new movement rise… one that is more action oriented.

but changing an entire political system often times takes time… with intermittent bursts. Everybody remembers the final straw, when it all blew out… but often the seeds were planted much earlier.

For instance, the seeds of the French revolution grew over a long time… it didn’t just spontaneously explode on Bastille day.
it started with over a decade of dissatisfaction (due to near French bankruptcy, food prices, taxes, etc) which eventually led to the Estates Generale in Spring of 1789 which then led to the formation of the National Assembly a few months later. Then a primarily symbolic raid on the Bastille was eventually the spark that led to open revolution.

but the seeds started many years before, with idealists (the Enlightenment philosphers) who knew something was wrong but didn’t know how to go about change. At the right time, Enlightenment philosophy and ideals were translated into action… and down went Louis XVI.

sound familiar?

this is not to say that the TP/OWS/RP movements can or will succeed. it is only to say that this is often how it happens, with an idealistic group present just as the timbers light… often in economically difficult times.

I personally think that we’re a few years off… but now more than ever is a time when a 3rd or 4th party could succeed given the continued slow motion depression and the disatisfaction with political leaders who represent only a handful of people. it is also a time when we could fall into anarchy or fascism or worse.

zeev k says:

heres a typical failure of ows

1) the mentality of ‘us versus them ‘
im an ardent supporter of dissidence but when i point out glaring failures and weakness to self identified occupiers , most get cery defensive and are unable to conceive that productive discussion comes from critical analysis of strategy snd tactics

2) lack of goals; most occupiers deny this is a problem while simultaenously maintain that the movement is about ‘education’ and ‘ discussion’ ; ok then it is a school not a movement.

3) identity politics . over 50% of occupiers reject ron paul out of hand pointing to his anti abortion policy. this is the height of lack of awareness and ignorance of why our system is broken systemically. it is NOT broken because of federal abortion policy or lack thereof. far worse most socialists ( the group i label myself part of) ARE TOtTALLY unaware of the historical dependece of the welfare-warfare cycle .

4) the biggest problem. occupiers dont understand they have NO power in light of the recent historical switch of loyalty by union leadership to goverment and federal policy versus producers.
HOW can you support a union when the union supports outsourcing ?

the unions , the beauracries, the doctors and lawyers’ professional guilds -the insurance ‘providers’–// all These institutions have carved their slice out of the american pie, half a percent by half a percent>>>> THERE IS 99% it is s buzzword catch phrase designed to suck in activist youth support by oversimplifying the nature of a socety that has matured into instituional lock-in.

the nature is this. when all the horses finish pulling in the opposite directions . it isnt because they got tired. its because the harness breaks. that harness is the illusion of stability. when it dissolves , that is what you call decentralization; small amounts of panic everywhere setlling finally into stability ; usually meaning everyone gets a lot more poor, desperate, and less ‘hopeful’.

aletheia33 says:

there seems to be a common tendency for organizing/planning/thinking types to push ahead, dragging everyone else with them who are slower or fuzzier or more feeling types. but on what real, human, profound basis are people participating? a huge volunteer effort came out for obama, they were goaded by propaganda and a brilliant marketing campaign to feel inspired to go beyond themselves to work for the change they wanted.

many of those young people have realized they were simply manipulated. they thought they knew what they were working for, but they didn’t. surely it’s understandable they’re more inclined to allow the movement that they themselves are now building from scratch to get established slowly on the basis of something more real, realizing it cannot be conjured into being but must be founded in an ethic of honesty and a different way of acting.

i think we are entering a new paradigm such that some of the leaders in this new generation are questioning the very basics of organization as it has been practiced for many decades, even centuries. (and let’s remember the French revolution took centuries to ripen, not just decades.) OWS are doing some fairly traditional things like protest marches and sitting down and getting arrested, making it clear to the public what they are protesting. but they are also in the process of inventing new ways to organize and act en masse and lead whole societies forward. i suspect that the way that process has been and is moving is the best way it can, with multiple nodes churning hard and cranking out both sensible and odd things and all ideas zipping around a big network where they’re getting spread and considered and tried and failing and succeeding.

no one knows how, using old or known methods, to fix the jam humanity is in now, the terrible creeping stranglehold of the neoliberal program worldwide, how to save the planet and our future existence on it from the toxicity of this dysfunctional system we’ve invented over centuries that is killing us. whatever might work is only going to arise in one way: as a new creation. it can contain lots of familiar pieces, but we’ve got to find a new way. i don’t think anyone knows better than OWS how urgent or how difficult the problem is that they have chosen to tackle. nor do i think anyone understands better than they do the need for patience and other unfamiliar virtues that must be operative for something new to emerge.

in addition, in view of the fact that workers’ collectives are probably the path forward out of capitalism’s abuses, i can’t see what could be a better way to learn how that could come about than by practicing new forms of collectivity. in other words, just start doing and being the world as you want to remake it for yourself–that’s what the occupiers very consciously do.

it’s actually rather amazing that SO MANY people have joined in this effort, considering how revolutionary (one hopes not in the violent sense) an undertaking it is. sleeping in public squares in tents and refusing to leave when ordered out? who would have predicted a year ago that SO MANY americans would be out there, committed to these actions, this actual winter night?

the youngsters who are leading the way are outrageous and sometimes appear even silly in what they are taking on. but that’s what a generation of this kind, the revolutionary kind, always does. the process of creating the next new paradigm has been repeated throughout history, and whatever the fate of “OWS”, it has begun to happen again.

we are either going to find a new way, or we are going down and going out in fire or ice. for myself, since i was born too late, and lack the courage, to join these sleepers and walkers full time, the real effort for me, along with offering what support i can, is to keep open, and to keep opening, my mind.

Breton says:

OWS will arise again in the Spring.
No doubt.
The coordinated Beat Down by the Mil-Police was a testing ground for the upcoming DNC and RNC Conventions and springtime OWS.
…that part is easy to see and predict.

Now if there is an exogenous event, a crystalizing Populist arowsing incident (like some stupid MFG thing or BAC bailout), oh goodness be alert.
If such things develop and the regular citizens AGAIN take off Saturdays and “OWS” in the major cities AND are met with another Over-reaction by the Mil-Police…whew.

Breton