I spent my day in downtown Boston in and around the Occupy Boston encampment. Appropriately, the protesters bivouacked across the street from The Federal Reserve Bank here; the image they’ve conjured is a symbolically potent one.
My main task for the day was to lead a Palestine teach-in. About twenty people – from a variety of backgrounds – sat in a circle to offer comments and ask questions. Significantly, the teach-in was organized at the request of the Occupy Boston leadership.
I have to admit that I was surprised at the new baseline that’s emerged in recent years. People took it for granted that America and Israel have been working to undermine Palestinian human rights for decades now. Anyone who remembers talking about Palestine in 2003 knows that the goalposts have shifted. I just wasn’t aware by how much.
The recession has done its part to change perceptions I think. Americans react like normal people when they read that despite everything cash transfers to Israel are unaffected by their economic straits. Moreover, the effect that Dan Levy describes here has had a domestic impact in the past two years. Finally, Israel is breaking on the Left-Right divide, but it’s also about 1% versus the 99%. The moneyed elites and the lobbyists are all about Israel.
One other thing that struck me about the Occupy movement – which saw one or two thousand people march today – were the resonances with Tahrir. The tents, the reliance on community expertise (medical services, a prayer space, etc…) the chants and the positivity all underlined the universality of the experience for me. I wonder if we overstate the impact of culture on social movements sometimes.
I left the protesters feeling good about the movement’s goals and diversity. But I do have one major concern: Unlike Tahrir, the Occupy movement runs a very real risk of being co-opted by a range of establishment Democrat bandwagoneers.
Nothing will bury this nascent American movement for social justice more effectively than the Democratic Party. I hope that enough of the leadership knows that.
Ahmed remarked on how much the goalposts have shifted to a new baseline, but failed to elaborate, it appears to me.
Think about this statement:
“People took it for granted that America and Israel have been working to undermine Palestinian human rights for decades now.”
What that says about the shared values of America and Israel makes both of them beneath contempt in my opinion.
And for some it seems to be going even further. From the Daniel Levy link:
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) has lamented a situation in which, in his words “Palestinians have the Gaza Strip and they are occupying the West Bank.”
Another Congressional clown high on ziocane. People like this can say black equals white with a straight face and are actually believed.
O I forgot the standard “God bless America” mantra and how that happens; God will only bless America when it stands with Israel. That’s what all those evangelicals never tire to intimidate with and too many others buy into it.
Perhaps Ahmed was referring to being able to be part of Occupy Boston with the Palestinian teach-in. I guess a small step is better than no step, so may it count for much more than I think it does.
the Occupy movement runs a very real risk of being co-opted by a range of establishment Democrat bandwagoneers.
I share your worry but I do not think it will happen. You mention 2003, in my experience that was the height of the movement against the Iraq War. No question then that Democratic Party activists were influencing events and preventing any mention of the Palestinians struggle. Their influence was shown that as soon as Obama was elected the antiwar movement went totally limp. Obama continued Bush’s policies in Afghanistan and Iraq without much opposition.
This OWS movement has emerged during the Obama regime and all of those Democratic Party activist that worked to stop “Bush’s” war were fully employed inside the government and did not see this new movement coming. They are now obviously trying to redirect this anger against the Republicans but I do think that they realize that that the people on the streets consider that the enemy is the system (i.e. the two party system with its corporate backers) and it is very unlikely that they will simply roll over and become mindless street walkers for Obama’s re-election campaign.
In short OWS is trying to move beyond the two parties that represent Wall Street and banking interests. The great thing about OWS is that they are not being led by some small group that can be bought off. The people on the streets have some sense for what is happening and they will not follow any self appointed “leader” back into the Democratic Party.
Nothing will bury this nascent movement for social justice more effectively than the Democratic party.
This reflects considerable political naivete. This country faces a national
election in a year. In these post Citizen United times, we can expect
millions, if not billions of dollars of untraceable, non transparent
money to be thrown into the presidential race. The Occupy protestors
represent only small fraction of the discouraged, disposessed and
financially fragile in this country for whom social justice is simply
a pipe dream. These persons are neither the bastions nor the base of
the Republican party. The Young Guns such as Cantor and Ryan, with
their Wall Street super pacs would like nothing better than an
independent liberal candidate in the tradition of Ralph Nader to split
the popular, populist vote to guarantee the election of that pillar of
compassionate consevatism, Rick Perry or his ilk. Those that do not learn from history, live to repeat it.
history live to repeat it.
hard times can create bread riots – which all these demonstrations globally are – and for Americans they are finally forced to calculate their own national self-interest and their individual role in it and israel is a clinging, controlling parasite that sucks our money, credibility, reputation, and human lives and people are aware now – this new public awareness must transform into a movement that cuts israel loose or demands accountability … the Occupy movement must grow up about messaging and move past this nascent directionless phase quickly
Whether the movement can be successfully hijacked or not, attempts will certainly be made to do so. It is both the strength and weakness of such movements that they are born out of opposition to something rather in favour of something else. It is a strength initially because it unites disparate groups in a common purpose but it becomes a weakness as its successes begin to demand a definition of what should replace what is being rejected. It is at that point the movement becomes vulnerable to hijack. We observe this in Egypt where the idealistic uprising has replaced one tyrannical system with another, or Obama who seemed to embody an aspiration that achieved his election (and Nobel Peace prize), then vanished into thin air.
The level of power exercised by financial interests today is a consequence of recent exponential growth in the global labour force, particularly in the East. This has reduced the value of labour in the West and consequently its influence and authority, and it doesn’t really matter if there is a two party system like the US, or three like the UK, or many like Germany and Israel, or indeed none at all. The influence and authority of working people functions as a counterbalance to exploitation by the rich, and as it declines exploitation increases.
It is understandable that the OWS and its associate bodies have sympathy for Palestinians but, as Ahmed Moor suggests above, it has more to do with economics than human rights. It would serve Palestinian interests best to bring economic pressure on Israel by provoking grass-roots discontent over US aid. This wouldn’t directly enhance Israeli sympathy for Palestinians but it would make them more amenable to international law and global opinion by reducing the authority of their plutocrats while restoring that of their middle class. Israel, after all, started out as a socially egalitarian experiment. Remember the kibbutz?