Occupy May Day Fizzle
The leaders of occupy had been hoping for a grand return on May Day. May Day is the international workers solidarity today. So as occupy hadn’t been in the news that much in months, they decided to come back with a grand reappearance on May Day. There were plans for huge workers strike, and to have students stay home to essentially shut everything down.
Unfortunately, there was no strike. Nearly everyone went to work. According to the Wall Street Journal’s May Day Article,:
“The demonstrations were bolstered by some large city labor unions, which obtained permits for the protest but didn’t support organizers’ call for a general strike. As many as 6,000 people were in Union Square in the afternoon, before marching to the Financial District, a law-enforcement official said.”
Occupiers have given numbers as high as 30,000, but in a metropolitan area of over 20 million, that is still nothing. Many of those out on May Day were unions, who have a very different agenda than occupiers. Occupy has defined itself as an anarchist movement. According to Dave Graeber, on occupywallstreet.net:
“It was only on August 2, when a small group of anarchists and other anti-authoritarians showed up at a meeting called by one such group and effectively wooed everyone away from the planned march and rally to create a genuine democratic assembly, on basically anarchist principles, that the stage was set for a movement that Americans from Portland to Tuscaloosa were willing to embrace.”
Occupy Wall Street is an anti authority movement, against any and all authority and structure, whether corporate or governmental. News media have often questioned why occupy doesn’t have specific demands. Dave Graeber explains in this statement:
“Anarchism envisions a society based on equality and solidarity, which could exist solely on the free consent of participants.”
Basically, when groups of occupiers get together, everyone has to agree on something to do something or to get a proposal passed. If someone issues a block, which is a statement that they would leave occupy due to serious moral or ethical concerns, then to move forward requires 90% consensus. If there isn’t 90% consensus, then the proposal or suggestion has failed. In the outside world, as far as governments, companies, etc. go, when do we have 100% or even 90% consensus on anything? Its part of the reason why the anarchist occupy is so directionless, because it was built on very flawed principles. It cannot come up with any specific besides “hating the establishment” because you will never get the required consensus to do anything to move forward on anything with the slightest hint of controversy. Thus occupy becomes trapped in a circle of pointless marches and events, which have steadily diminished since this fall. And its all really because anarchy is not something that the American masses, including unions, are interested in embracing. Anarchy is not for the 99% of Americans or people worldwide. Thus, for May Day there no general strike. –Justin Samuels
