Meet Me At The Corner of Empathy & Anger (Occupy this Book excerpt)
By Mickey Z.
12 May, 2014
World News Trust
(To follow is an edited excerpt from Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism, which can be ordered as a bound book at your local bookstore or as an e-book here.)
Yeah, yeah… I know… using the word “occupy” in the title of my latest book will result in a few accusations and condemnations, but for the record: I was a radical activist long before Sept. 17, 2011. Thus, the words I present in my book are not about a group of specific NYC-area individuals that came to be known as “Occupy Wall Street.”
Occupy is much more than any person, place, and time.
Occupy is also just a word…
Like all words, the term occupation can have as many meanings as we choose. In no way is it exclusive to the concept of indigenous displacement and near-genocide. To allow word usage to impact your opinion of and possible commitment to any activist movement is beyond counterproductive. But you don't have to take my word for it. Ask a few folks who understand the concept of occupation far, far better than I:
Let's start with some occupiers from Puerto Rico, a colony since 1898. On Dec. 7, 1969, 13 members of the Young Lords Party (YLP) were beaten and arrested inside the First Spanish Methodist Church in East Harlem simply for requesting use of the space for a free breakfast program. Three weeks later, the Young Lords returned to take over the church for 11 days -- re-naming it the People's Church.
During that time, with the help of thousands of supporters, they established free breakfast and clothing programs, health services, a day care center, a liberation school, community dinners, poetry, and films. (Sound familiar?) And oh yeah, these sons and daughters of the world's oldest colony proudly labeled the whole thing an occupation.
Just a month prior to the YLP church takeover, on Nov. 20, 1969, more than 5,600 American Indians commandeered Alcatraz Island to protest the U.S. government's economic, social, and political neglect towards their people. They held "The Rock" until June 11, 1971. They called it -- and still refer to it as -- an occupation.
Occupy is also much more than just a word…
In late March 2012, I recall making my way to Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn to attend the third edition of Occupy Town Square -- a semi-regular public gathering at which activists connected with locals in a particular neighborhood.
Although I've lived in NYC my entire life, I'd never been to that park. When I got off the subway at DeKalb Avenue, I opted to rely on the evidence of my senses and headed off in the direction of some trees.
When I saw two members of the Blue Bloc standing at a gate, I knew I'd found the right place. But once I passed them with a sneer, I had no idea where the gathering might be found within a 30-acre park.
I stopped walking, got quiet, and that’s when I heard it: the unmistakable sound of drums. Like a human may have done hundreds or even thousands of years ago, I followed the drumbeat through unfamiliar terrain until I had found my tribe.
Later, when I left, I passed several occupiers making their way to the event. When they asked me for directions, I suggested: "Just listen for the drums."
Such is the occupied life…
Two or three months later, as part of the OWS “Summer Disobedience School,” I was marching with my fellow occupiers through Times Square. While skirting the edge of the demo to take photos, I passed a group of young men in business attire. On the surface, they appeared "mainstream" -- right out of Central Casting, in fact.
One man was clearly confused by the boisterous march -- the signs, the drummers, the costumes, and so much more. "What are they doing?" he pondered aloud. The largest man in the group -- his face pinched into an expression of scorn -- bellowed: "I'll tell you what they should be doing. They should be looking for a fuckin' job."
He looked so self-satisfied with his parroting of the corporate media line that I couldn't help taking him down a notch. I stopped walking, positioned myself about three feet away -- directly in his line of sight -- and glared into his eyes.
When he looked at me and saw my "99%" button and the Red Square affixed to my tight t-shirt, Alpha Male was suddenly confronted with the uncomfortable reality that those he was mocking weren't the skinny hippie pacifists he'd read all about on the interwebs.
His eyes met mine and I held my squinty stare. In a matter of seconds, his self-confidence waned and he diverted his gaze downwards.
Mic Check: Occupying is a job and not a job for the lazy.
The lazy and selfish may allow the professional propagandists of the corporate media to do their thinking for them but here are a few things the lazy and selfish would never do:
>> Volunteer their time and energy (under constant threat of arrest) to cook organic, locally grown food to feed the homeless.
>> Give up a tenured academic position in another state to come live in a tent in a NYC park and start a People's Library.
>> Spend hours putting together websites, newspapers, working groups, jail and legal support, bands, performances, and events -- for free.
>> Face up to the myriad crises threatening all life on the planet and recognize the urgency.
>> Stand up to relentless police repression and brutality without even a hint of retreat or surrender.
>> Imagine an alternative form of human culture and begin the process of making it happen.
Several man-made hierarchies, constructs, and barriers were temporarily challenged and what OWS at its height was attempting to model was a far more cooperative, creative, participatory, tolerant, and downsized way of living -- a way of life without the spirit-crushing hierarchies and all those "jobs" we’re trained to covet and worship.
#GlobalJailbreak
Occupy/activism/dissent is not about purity. It's not about who did what or said what first. It's not about following a predetermined game plan. It's not about waiting for the ideal time to jump on board. It's a fuckin' revolution -- in the name of all life on earth -- so shrug off the excuses and get involved.
De-occupy your grad school dissertations, reject the fascism of semantics, kick the habit of cynicism disguised as cleverness, scrap the resentment and the rivalries, ditch the dated doctrines, and choose feeling over thinking.
Silence the sirens of archaic archetypes, open your minds to new configurations, and heed the call of the future. I promise it'll be a lot more fun than you ever imagined.
We need a planet with fewer reasons to grieve and far more reasons to celebrate and the good news is that there's a growing celebration meeting down at the corner of Empathy & Anger -- and what we're planning is nothing less than a global jailbreak.
#shifthappens
Note: To continue conversations like this, come hear Mickey Z. in person at the NYC March Against Monsanto on May 24.
***
Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently the novel Occupy this Book: Mickey Z on Activism. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
©WorldNewsTrust.com
Comments are moderated