Join the 99% in Trenton or Jersey City Tomorrow

Occupy - next phase (0.00 / 0)

I'm hearing via activist sources that Occupy Philly had 1,000 people show up - - - just to the planning meeting for their next phase. And New York is losing no steam with the action spreading out localized bases. There's amazing coalition-building, with about 50 groups signing on, including labor, neighborhood groups, homeless groups, and community centers.

This morning, philly.com ran an article posing the question whether all this was a 'be-in' or new movement. It's not going away. And it's not a be-in.  

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 18:35:13 PM UTC

Rosi (0.00 / 0)

Please embed this.  It's a classic, and belogs to everyone.

h/t the albanyproject.

http://www.thealbanyproject.com/

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by: SmartyJones @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 19:00:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Smarty, here you go: (0.00 / 0)

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 19:05:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Refocus our priorities (0.00 / 0)

Nationally President Obama is promoting a jobs and economic recovery agenda, and the Republicans are sitting on their ass. Locally our legislature has a jobs and economy agenda, and the Republicans are sitting on their ass. Bankers and big corporations spend millions to maintain the status quo. The Tea Party is the tail wagging the dog. Occupy NJ can become a new and powerful voice helping the national and local effort to refocus our priorities.

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." - Sen. Ted Kennedy

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by: Bill Orr @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 19:55:14 PM UTC

What a waste... (0.00 / 0)

...of potential political energy.

Needless to say, I have never been a supporter of street protests.  Young people gravitate towards them, because they satisfy their need to be rebellious without requiring much real action from them.

If 1/10 of the energy and enthusiasm that is poured into street protests was directed towards political organizing, outreach, and action and progressives did not allow themselves to be diffused towards so many disparate organizations with their own agenda and brand, we might actually be able to create a progressive alternative to establishment Democrats within the Democratic Party.

However, that would require an attention span far greater than what is possessed by your average street protestor, many if not most of whom are more interested in getting laid than anything else.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 21:01:50 PM UTC

rachael'sdad (0.00 / 0)

I wish that you had greater capacity to find the spark, the fight, the genius, of whatever is actually going on, instead of so often expressing the opinion that people are wasting their time. It might make you a more effective organizer yourself, to see the possibilities in others' ideas and methods.

You don't know what this will become, and I don't know. But I do know the people down there are not fools. They're not inexperienced, and their not wastes. Coalitions are being built. Economics is being discussed (it's about time).  It will be what it will be. I think it deserves your patience.  

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 22:57:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If history can teach us... (0.00 / 0)

...anything, it can teach us where this will go.  And where it will go is absolutely nowhere.

If this was happening a year or two ago, I would think that it could conceivably blossom into a progressive version of the TPM, but the fact of the matter is that the foundation for this has been around long enough in the form of numerous progressive organizations and they have not coalesced into that.  Even if I am wrong and that is where this is heading, it is too little and too late, because we need an alternative to Obama and the Democratic establishment in NJ and the US now, not a year from now.

I am not an organizer anymore.  I am an unemployed husband and parent who is doing everything he can to become an employed husband and parent.  The only thing that I have time to do politically is express my opinion here now and then, because you make it so damn easy to do.  If you want people here to be organizers, Rosi, then demand that of them.  Most of the people here will listen to you because of who you are.  Otherwise, let me express my opinion when I choose, just like anybody else.

You and anybody else here are free to disagree with it and provide an alternative perspective, but even you admit that you don't know where this is going.  I don't claim to know either, but I think that I know enough, based upon what I have heard, read, and seen and how this information can be applied to recent historical models.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 00:00:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

So very wrong (0.00 / 0)

Being dismissive of street protests is to be dismissive of a large swath of American history which helped mold our nation. Let's start with that rowdy group that met in Boston's harbor to protest British economic injustice. "Progressive alternatives" throughout our history have included street action: abolition, the right of women to vote, civil rights, gay rights, labor rights, services for people with HIV, and multiculturalism. Even causes which today are not well viewed like temperance and American communism were involved in street demonstrations.

And lets not forget that "political organizing and outreach" are a part of street protests. It's not for nothing that people who attend a Garden State Equality event or register on line for information about Occupy NJ are asked for contact information.

It is great for progressives to talk to other progressives, however to "create a progressive alternative to establishment Democrats" let's talk to a broader group, engage them in a street protest, and get them involved.  And who cares if many of them are "more interested in getting laid?"  We should be more interested in empowering them, educating them, and gaining their support. Street protests are not a "waste of political energy." They have been and continue to be an effective tool for social and political change.

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." - Sen. Ted Kennedy

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by: Bill Orr @ Wed Oct 05, 2011 at 23:08:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

So where are the workers? (0.00 / 0)

When the workers in the financial services sector, almost all of whom are nonunion, actually walk off their jobs and join the protests then I'll be impressed. Otherwise, I agree with Rachelsdad. Besides, I'm sure the President of Bank Of America isn't losing any sleep over street protests (he may be losing sleep over other matters, but not that).

Now if all those protestors actually closed their accounts at BoA and other megabanks on Wall Street, then maybe the powers that be will start to take notice. And with legislative elections coming up, an increase in the Democratic majority will have alot more impact on the political scene than a few thousand protestors listening to the same old speeches from the usual suspects in Trenton.

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

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by: ken bank @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 00:02:00 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The Democratic majority needs... (0.00 / 0)

...a change of leadership more than an increase.  As a result of redistricting, the majority is more or less baked into the cake, but unless Oliver and Sweeney are replaced by Buono and Cryan, it really doesn't matter if the Democrats have a majority or a minority, because the DINOs who run everything will continue to deliver votes for bad legislation.  

Only progressive leadership will prevent this legislation from reaching the floor for a vote.  We're doomed for at least another two years.  The only hope is a progressive gubernatorial-legislative movement in 2013, but we would need to begin organizing this now, not a year from now.  But people would rather stand around and hold up signs, because they can feel like they are doing something without actually having to accomplish something.

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by: Bertin Lefkovic @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 00:33:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Goldman Sachs? (0.00 / 0)

Isn't that Corzine's old stomping grounds??

I'm glad to see people holding Corporations that support Obama accountable.  

More of an Old School Lefty if anything......

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by: Chubby @ Thu Oct 06, 2011 at 03:34:41 AM UTC