Occupy the Workforce

DFW will not stand for this Strunk & White bullsh*t

This tidbit of artistic frustration is selected from a fax to the editors at Harper's Magazine from David Foster Wallace (via the Huffington Post):

The deal is this. You’re welcome to this for READINGS if you wish. What I’d ask is that you (or Ms. Rosenbush, whom I respect but fear) not copyedit this like a freshman essay. Idiosyncracies of ital, punctuation, and syntax ("stuff," "lightbulb" as one word, "i.e."/"e.g." without commas after, the colon 4 words after ellipses at the end, etc.) need to be stetted. (A big reason for this is that I want to preserve an oralish, out-loud feel to the remarks so as to protect me from people’s ire at stuff that isn’t expanded on more; for you, the big reason is that I’m not especially psyched to have this run at all, much less to take a blue-skyed 75-degree afternoon futzing with it to bring it into line with your specs, and you should feel obliged and borderline guilty, and I will find a way to harm you or cause you suffering* if you fuck with the mechanics of this piece.)

* (It may take years for the oportunity to arise. I'm very patient. Think of me as a spider with a phenomenal emotional memory. Ask Charis.)

 We have all been there, amiright?

Occupy this 30-second spot

Bukowski on Censorship

From a letter to a library that banned one of his books:

Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can’t vent any anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere, in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.

Occupy the Infiltration

Gawker highlights a bored professional security freelancer who “infiltrated” the Occupy Wall Street movement. I put that word in quotes, you'll note. #OWS is a self-described inclusive activist community. Meaning that anyone can join. Including members of the NYPD and FBI. It did not require James Bond–like skills to infiltrate them. It didn't even require Napolean Dynamite skills. It mostly required a Twitter account, clicking Follow, and then going to Liberty Square one time to join the mailing list. And…that's about it. Well done, Cody Banks.

Occupy Citibank

I have so many questions about this, but there appears to be very little verified information available. Gather News has conflicting accounts of the incident and the intent of the activists. CBS News reports, “Two dozen people were arrested at a Citibank branch when they refused a manager's request to leave. Most were detained for trespassing. Five others were arrested for wearing masks.” The altercation between the police and the woman claiming to be a Citibank customer at the end of the video is borderline avant garde in its strangeness.

Also: Arrested for wearing masks? Is this along the lines of yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

Occupy Bipartisanship

On Glyn Maxwell's One Thousand Nights and Counting

Hey I reviewed Glyn Maxwell's new selected edition of poems at Idiom:

Glyn Maxwell is a poet of music; of the rhythm, the line, and the poem as spoken word. This is not only a point of pride for the writer but also the primary distinction of his work. Maxwell’s technical prowess has been praised in major publications by the likes of William Logan, Adam Kirsch, and Langdon Hammer. He carries a charge passed down by his mentor Derek Walcott as well as Thom Gunn, Richard Wilbur, and Joseph Brodsky. Befitting such a pedigree, his collections have been shortlisted for the Whitbread, Forward, and T.S. Eliot Awards. 

He has not, however, won any of those prizes — nor would he be placed in the pantheon with those forebears. A talent for form and music is not enough on its own. Thom Gunn was lightly praised for years before hitting late upon content that lent itself to the strict, wry strength of his poetics. Maxwell’s technê is still searching for that perfect inspiration. He arrives at the gates of poetry with all this craftsman’s skill, his place nowhere to be found.

Like it? Yeah it's alright. Check out the rest: http://idiommag.com/2011/10/what%E2%80%99s-past-is-poetry-the-reaches-and-limits-of-glyn-maxwell/

Occupy the NYT Editorial Pages

Today The New York Times editors threw their support behind the Occupation:

The country needs a shift in the emphasis of public policy from protecting the banks to fostering full employment, including public spending for job creation and development of a strong, long-term strategy to increase domestic manufacturing.

It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.

Full employment is something I'm a little bit familiar with, since my work with the Boston Review Forum, "Back to Full Employment," from earlier in the year. It inlcudes a lead essay from economist Robert Pollin and responses from James K. Galbraith, Ruy Teixiera, and Eileen Appelbaum, who offers a startling piece of anecdotal insight into today's economic problems:

Asked if employees’ wages rise with productivity, a mid-size business owner answered, “I Make it. I take it.”

No wonder unemployment remains critical while profit margins set high-water marks each quarter. We need a sea-change in values, that's for sure.

Occupy the Daily Show

Tranströmer Wins Nobel

Congratulations to Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature! Always nice to see a poet win the award. Here is an excerpt from Katie Peterson's review of Tranströmer's collected poems, from Boston Review:

 Tranströmer, a psychotherapist as well as a poet, remains one of Sweden’s most widely translated and discussed living poets. His shortest poems are his most characteristic, and they may be his best. He has perfected a particular kind of epiphanic lyric, often in quatrains, in which nature is the active, energizing subject, and the self (if the self is present at all) is the object. Off-kilter and mystical, many of these poems approach the surreal and have an American parallel with Emily Dickinson’s slant of light: “There’s a tree walking around in the rain, / it rushes past us in the pouring grey. / It has an errand. It gathers life / out of the rain like a blackbird in an orchard” (from “The Tree and the Sky”).

Occupy My Thoughts on Community

At CNN, Douglass Rushkoff writes: "Like the spokesmen for Arab dictators feigning bewilderment over protesters' demands, mainstream television news reporters finally training their attention on the growing Occupy Wall Street protest movement seem determined to cast it as the random, silly blather of an ungrateful and lazy generation of weirdos. They couldn't be more wrong and, as time will tell, may eventually be forced to accept the inevitability of their own obsolescence."

Professional media assessments of #OccupyWallSt tend to be singularly focused on the whimsical / ironic tone, subculture appearance, and crowdsource philosophy. Especially on the Left. And actually, it has been a lot uglier on the Left. The New Republic's Alex Klein even seemed to use latent homophobia to belittle the activists, describing one as “a waifish blue-eyed grad-student with expressive wrists," and another "in skinny jeans skipping by with a violin case" as a Yankees gear–clad bystander hoped for violence. The juxtaposition was unsettling, even in a piece that went out of its way to slight the occupation—Klein's report dedicated as many column inches to random angry passers-by as it did to any of the activists. Not altogether a surprise though, considering the uneven history of left-leaning media in America.

Outside the media, it is primarily the lack of planning, leadership, and well-defined demands that creates the most skepticism among otherwise sympathetic viewers. During a discussion of the Occupation's merits on Facebook, for example, one older man said: “It sounds very much like some of what we did in the 60s-70s. It helped bring about lasting changes in American mores (and it was a hell of a lot of fun), but was considerably less successful in the political goals many of us had. And that was with very specific demands, and very good planning. We managed to replace Johnson with Nixon, and the US war remained as bloody as it had been for another five years. The movement faded pretty quickly when the war, and the threat of the draft, ended.”

Let's for a moment put aside the question of goals, and focus instead on means and conditions. From the 1960s through the early 21st Century, local protests relied on professional media to gain notoriety and spread the message. Otherwise, what was local remained local. Media then had absolute power of confirmation or of obfuscation. I saw this first hand in protests against the War in Iraq, 2002-2003. Every media source reported a different number of activists present at marches and rallies. The reports focused then, as they do now, on trifling surface characterizations of the activists. The power of the movement was successfully dissolved. Marches with thousands of people were mere local annoyances. By filtering information, they were able to designate the sources of authority and undermine the movement.

Over the past two decades the pace of the news cycle has also dramatically increased, making long-term movements more difficult. What happens today leaves little lasting effect unless it somehow recurs. Even large-scale events—such as the Rodney King riots in 1992 or the Kentucky mine collapse in 2010—are pushed into a space of quasi-oblivion. It is not that the events are forgotten entirely (a localized community will fiercely remember them), but events are drained of whatever essence of living history was contained in their memory. They lose the ability to stir emotions.

The advent of various new media has changed this situation in two ways.

First, there is the capacity for universal filming. The catchphrase of #Anonymous, “Expect us,” is indicative of a culture where constant amateur surveillance is run of the mill. “Us” is the internet, crowdsourced public identity. It is the cultural SuperEgo / Id. Ignorance of this has ushered the downfall of more than a few public figures. (Which is just absurd. You're a public figure. It's like people who pick their nose in the car: we can all see you.) This is a new guiding rule of our culture: expect surveillance. Expect that someone is filming. It's not big brother, it's your little nephew.

Second, community is released from locality. As I write this I see on Twitter that the #OccupySeattle protesters are being arrested and denied their right to a phone call. This report came from a person I've never met, who is 3000 miles away. I click retweet and that same message goes out to my 400 followers. They might do the same now on their smart phones, laptops, or iPads. In minutes, that message reaches millions of people, and professional mainstream media had no part in it. There is no media filter in this community to confer authority or funnel disinformation.

Not only that: like all good communities, the internet is consistent and dialogical. I always have access to it. Always. Most people usually do. Many people often do. And unlike radio or TV, I can have a dialog over the internet. I've only made it down to #OccupyBoston at Dewey Park one time, but I am in ongoing dialog with that community. The physical camp is only the visible tip of a vast network. I think this is the most difficult point for older people, who are not as accustomed to the internet. The community exists wherever I have access, and for as long as the dialog continues.

This means that almost any act can be filmed and shared by the internet community, and that act can recur over and over far from its locus. Civil disobedience has greater potential to effect change today than it did even five years ago, never mind fifty years ago.

#OccupyWallSt happens every day. The events of the occupation happen again and again. Mainstream media is unnecessary (though, undoubtedly, it is still a powerful force). Whether this means the occupation will translate into positive change, or policy changes, is another question. But the fatal practical weaknesses of past movements no longer apply.

Occupy Dissent: 5 Things They Got Right

Dissent Magazine has a piece on five things that #OccupyWallSt got right, from choosing their target well to escalating at the right moment. Nice to see some analysis that isn't completely befuddled by the inverted organizational structure. Also worth highlighting: "#OccupyWallStreet has accomplished a great deal in the past week and a half, with virtually no resources."

Missing from this is the savvy use of social media. In the 1960s the mimeograph was the tool for organization and dissemination of outsider ideas—social media is the mimeograph on HDH and Jolt Cola. But the authorities are smart enough to undermine new techniques, just as they've effectively neutered the olde-timey one-day protest march. Eventually, though, they'll use social media against the movement. Evgeny Morozov writes, in his new essay at Boston Review:

There are already companies collecting the information that law enforcement agencies want: they need only reach out and take it while those companies continue aggregating and analyzing, secure in the knowledge that users never read the terms of service.

 The message might be: digital is the activist's best tool, but back it all up in analog. Just in case.

Occupy Fox News

Occupy the Brooklyn Bridge

Saturday in New York the #OccupyWallSt protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Several protesters have report that high-ranking police on the scene (marked by white shirts) were ahead of the march itself and actually led activists onto the street. Police allege that they warned protesters specifically not to block traffic before marching. The following standoff was streamed live online. The crowd was trapped on the bridge by the orange netting of the police, and 700-plus activists were arrested one by one for blocking traffic and disorderly conduct.

The NY Times “City Room” blog reported on the march and subsequent arrests at length. The following image has been circulating, speculating that NY Times editorial and/or the NYPD influenced the reporting of this event in order to manipulate public response.

Andy Newman, the City Room Bureau Chief, responded to these implications via email: “At every point yesterday as the story unfolded, we offered the most complete account we could of a large and chaotic scene that could not be grasped by any one person. The earlier version had almost no input from the police. The later version reflected the accounts of the police, protesters and of course our reporters at the scene. The later version, read in its entirety (not just the one highighted [sic] sentence in that photo), reflected the various perspectives much more thoroughly. The final version of the piece was more thorough still.”

Unlike some previous conflicting reports between the occupation and the police, video evidence has not surfaced to support the claim that protesters were misled by the police. Any video that does come to light would likely be difficult to corroborate in any case, given the circumstances.

Fun fact: the largest mass arrest in U.S. history was at the May Day protests in Washington, DC, May 1–3, 1971. Twelve thousand protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at major intersections and across bridges.

#OccupyWallSt First "Official" Release

This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released in the upcoming days: 1) A declaration of demands. 2) Principles of Solidarity 3) Documentation on how to form your own Direct Democracy Occupation Group. This is a living document. you can receive an official press copy of the latest version by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

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Hat-tip, DangerousMinds.net