I had the opportunity to visit the Occupy Seattle protest earlier this November, set up on the front lawn of Seattle Central Community College. I expected there to be a lot of angry, aggressive people with holier-than-thou (or harder-working-than-thou) attitudes, but was surprised to find a much more peaceful vibe. A fellow played a guitar decorated with visionary style art while a troupe of teenagers sang along. Some people carried signs, others clipboards with petitions. It was actually very quiet, and, despite rumors of homeless people appropriating the camp, not at all smelly. The neat arrangement of tents and canopies were reminiscent of the Burning Man tent city, particularly when you include the kitchens and public meditation tents. Seminars and yoga classes were held in beneath other canopies, and the kitchen was in the process of phasing out disposable silverware, enforcing a rule about bringing your own bowl and spoon. Everything was amazingly well-organized, and all the more surprising as the protesters maintain their stance into the late fall in chilly Seattle.
Much of the conservative media is making the Occupy movement look like a lot of shabbily clad, disorganized, bored slackers. The truth is that a physical presence is often the only way to get heard. There’s nothing quite like a real, live person – or a whole lot of people occupying a space – to get your attention. There’s a lot of debate as to whether or not the Occupy movement even means anything, leading some pundits to refer to themselves as the “98%” – neither the super-rich, nor the “lunatics out there in the streets”. It’s so much easier to discount- even attack- protesters aren’t blending in to what counts as “proper behavior” than to address the serious economic injustices done in recent years from which we all are suffering. Why don’t they just go home? They look like such idiots. However, it’s important to remember that the most momentous advances in civil rights have been accomplished exactly by such civil disobedience. Whenever we feel uncomfortable that relatively minor laws are being broken about camping out in a space, perhaps they should recall how trillions of tax dollars were swindled out of our collective pockets without anybody going to jail for it. It certainly sounds trite to put it that way, but we’ve all got better things to do than to put down the Occupy movement.
There is tension now between the college – who wants the Occupy tenants out, claiming costs of $20,000 a day to the school in extra security guards and cleanup fees (it seems an absurdly high number) and the Farmers’ Market, located less than 200 feet down the block. The Farmers’ Market is concerned with revenue loss, caused by people, oh, I don’t know, frightened away by the protests.
Yet even with these issues, the City of Seattle has shown solidarity to the Occupy movement, today passing Resolution 31337 (http://clerk.seattle.gov/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=RESF&s1=31337.resn.&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/resny.htm&r=1&f=G) , containing passages such as:
“Section 2. The structural causes of the economic crisis facing our society require decisive and sustained action at the national and state levels. Cities are harmed by the crisis and must play an important role in the development of public policy to address it. By adoption of this resolution, the City Council commits to the following steps to minimize economic insecurity and destructive disparities:
1. The City will review its banking and investment practices to ensure that public funds are invested in responsible financial institutions that support our community. The Council may also consider future legislation to promote responsible banking and provide an incentive for banking institutions to invest more in our City, particularly with regard to stabilizing the housing market and supporting the creation of new businesses. This review should include evaluating City policies on responsible depositing and management of City funds.”
Though a dance party planned by the protesters was not able to acquire a permit, official recognition in Resolution 31337 is far more than the peaceful protesters in Oakland, Portland, or New York received. It is a symbolic victory, and though we don’t know what the resolution will accomplish in the coming months, there is at least a modicum of comfort that in one city, the mayor was listening.
