Phila Unemployment Project

Homepage here: http://www.philaup.org/

Halfway between an unemployed council and a liberal coalition. Worth looking into.

Some visions for going forward

These are from various sources I respect, not by me.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/category/hedges/

http://socialistworker.org/2011/11/22/occupys-next-struggle

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/where-does-occupy-wall-street-go-here

I've had a love-hate relationship with Chris Hedges ever since he visited my school. He seems to point out all the right problems and no solutions, breeding cynicism. But even Hopeless Hedges has turned around his grumpy assessments in response to Occupy.

His column piece "Finding Freedom in Handcuffs" has good advice about how the movement should focus more on its cause(s), and less on the massive burden of maintaining an encampment. (This does not, however, imply we should abandon public spaces entirely -- mass meetings in public parks are still a great idea IMO. Just maybe not the expense of living there, which is difficult and non-inclusive for the working majority.)

Eviction Notice #2

On the news there has been talk of a 48-hour timeline being imposed, during which Occupy will have to dismantle its tent city and move across the street or probably face forceful police eviction. FYI.

Philly Eviction Notice

Alright friends and comrades, the gauntlet has been thrown down. All debates about whether we should have moved can wait for later; for now it's war. For the record, I personally am out of state and in the process of moving to Philadelphia right now, so I cannot take part in the scuffle to come. Feel free to call me chicken. :P

Urgent necessity #1: the entire GAs should dedicate 50% or more of their time to putting the entire movement through police confrontation training.

Urgent necessity #2: what is our next step if/when we lose our space? See my post about transitioning from an encampment to an organization and creating a "99% Coalition."

Don't forget that there is a march to the bridge tomorrow to underscore America's crumbling infrastructure and the opportunities for job creation -- but how exactly this will interact with potential eviction, I don't know, and I believe that if the encampment is under attack, the march should turn around and break the police line.

Reading on Anarcho-Purism for Occupy

Let me be absolutely clear -- I am happy to work with anarchists and I used to be one. I do not even view the consensus model or informal leadership as core parts of anarchist thought, but rather something embraced and pushed by a purist section of anarchists.

That being said, the following reading is extremely helpful for understanding the limitations of anarcho-purist organizing methods which are inhibiting Occupy Philly, and calmly explaining these shortcomings to others.

"The Limits of Consensus" (the most immediately relevant)

http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/10/the-limits-of-consensus

"The Tyranny of Structurelessness" (excerpts)

http://www.isreview.org/issues/19/Jo_Freeman.shtml

On a positive note, I met a member of the group "Bring the Ruckus" in the Radical Caucus, and I think a semi-anarchist group embracing the concept of a cadre organization is a clear sign that anarcho-purism is not the only form of anarchism. If libertarian socialists organize diplomatically, we can have positive collaboration with anarchists in ways which fulfill and do not compromise our own ideas. The About page of Bring the Ruckus: http://bringtheruckus.org/?q=about

Why I Supported Switching Camps

I supported switching camps for a few simple reasons.

Is it true that the reasons being given by the Establishment for Occupy Philly to move are kind of BS? Yes, absolutely true.

Is it true that the large amounts of public dollars going toward the skating rink construction project should probably be going toward, oh, helping the homeless, funding education, literally ANYTHING else? Yes, true.

It is also questionable how much job creation this project will create, and probably true that we could create more jobs for less money.

BUT, I SUPPORTED MOVING BECAUSE we need to appear that we are on the side of the unions beyond any conceivable doubt, beyond any media distortion. We have to remember that we are a broad movement of the 99%, and if we start focusing on our little campsite to the exclusion of the mass movement, we are truly lost.

All of the above points are true, but if we refuse to move from a park where union construction is about to take place, it is far too easy for the media to distort that. We can whine and cry that it's not fair that the media will distort our movement, but it will, and we have to know how to strategically operate at their level. The problem is not just the media, but the fact that the flow of information to rank-and-file union members about Occupy happens through the union leadership, which is more prone to conservatism and alliances with the Establishment than the union rank-and-file.

And also because switching spaces would have had virtually no cost on the movement.

I'm going to call a spade a spade. Most of the time I support the Radical Caucus, but in this case, it seems they decided to forgo nuance and instead acted as a Purist Caucus. It seems like everyone at Occupy wants to be a rebel, but doesn't necessarily have a sophisticated view of what that means, so when given a choice between a "Radical" option and a "Reasonable Solution," there was naturally a herd reaction to go with the first choice.

I also have issues with the consensus process which forced the decision about the move to go on until midnight, during which the decision was clearly left to the purism-biased hardcore elite, rather than the working population that has to wake up early the next morning.

However, this is for clarification. We have other important tasks ahead of us, rendering a continued focus on this debate less productive than it used to be.

Occupy: From Encampment to Coalition

A brainstorming document/proposal for the future direction of Occupy Philly. The working title is the 99% Coalition though there are certainly other possibilities. Feel free to write or call me with ideas, or especially if you want to help make it happen.

The goal here is not to start a brand new group, but to turn Occupy from an encampment into a new group. Starting a new group from scratch completely misses the point -- the point is to give a practical next step for Occupy, not to start a coalition for the sake of it.

Demands:

• A massive federal job creation program
• Tax the rich, heavily
• Universal healthcare
• Cancel student debt
• Free higher education for all
• This list can get longer, and probably should-and-will during our first meetings

Principles:

• We strive to be a mass movement fighting for the income group called the 99%, carrying on the spirit of Occupy in the form of an organization, with rowdy open-air meetings, democratic participation, mass marches, and occasional direct action.
• We believe in the redistribution of wealth, that we are in a class struggle, and that ordinary people should fight back.
• We believe in making it easy for the 99% to participate because this is our/their movement.
• We believe that some kind of overall systemic change is necessary, but each individual member is free to have different specific opinions about what this means.

Reasons why Occupy should support the 99C:

• We need a way for Occupy to more easily include the 99%
• We need backup plans in case we lose our space
• Endless camping imposes high costs on participants, and during cold months becomes a health hazard
• The clear purposes of the 99C help the public understand our meaning

Reasons why people outside Occupy should take Occupy seriously:

• Occupy brings together many people suffering from the recession but who lack unions or organizations
• Occupy is indisputably the force changing American politics right now
• Therefore, even if the movement has problems, you should work with it, not separately
• The purpose of the 99C is to bridge the gap between Occupy and people like you

HOW WOULD WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN?

• First, by gathering a small cluster of supporters
• handing out leaflets at Occupy or sending emails around its online networks
• talking to various radical organizations, coalitions, and Occupy working groups/caucuses and getting them to sign on to this proposal
• having outdoor meetings/speeches on city sidewalks calling for a regroupment of the movement

WHAT WOULD THE TRANSITION LOOK LIKE?

• Most of the structures of Occupy should live on
• The General Assemblies would be replaced with a weekly General Meeting
• Direct democracy and rowdy outdoor meetings can and should continue
• The caucuses and working groups can continue
• People can continue putting the same amount of time into if they want, by organizing and performing the continual soapbox orating on street corners, and by partaking in working groups and caucuses which must necessarily meet separately from the GA/GM
• If this is successful, we drag the whole Occupy scene into this organization, and do so with the approval of the Occupy GA

Dear Occupy critic: quit moaning and lead like a badass

It is true that Occupy Philly has a giant pile of problems, and many of them are not external problems imposed by circumstances (plenty of those too), but internal problems due to ideological and organizational shortcomings. However, whenever I hear people belly-aching about these issues without a bold ambition to take them on, I feel further from a solution than I do even when I encounter the movement’s weaknesses. It’s just depressing, really. It’s helpless sectarian whining.

Grow the fuck up, formulate a plan to fix the problems, and make it happen. Get out there at Occupy with your ideas. Get a clipboard, look for people who agree, sign them up, stay in touch with them. Start a working group or caucus. Hold a teach-in. Announce your thoughts at the end of a GA. Pass out leaflets explaining your viewpoint. Build support. Be open to alliances with groups or people who already support or half-support what you’re thinking. Bring your crew to a GA and have a fighting chance. JUST DO IT.

And call me if you want help. See my proposal for transitioning the encampment into an organization (the “99% Coalition) and tell me if you like it.