There is an emerging anti-capitalist movement in the US being led by young people, politicised by the stunning injustices not only of Wall Street but the police, media and the whole capitalist system.
Why isn’t it happening here? was the question on the lips of left-wing activists throughout the US since the economic crisis hit in 2008. While places like Greece, Spain and England erupted in social protest, the American population seemed to have no limit to the abuse it would accept from big banks, the rich and politicians purchased with corporate money. Theories of a terminal political passivity abounded, despite the best efforts of a small organised left to ignite some movement. Today, things seem to be changing. A small, but determined, protest movement, calling itself Occupy Wall Street, has come together in Downtown Manhattan and has captured the imagination of millions throughout the country. I was one of 700 people arrested by the police while supporting this movement during an occupation of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Recreate 68?
A small very motley crew of demonstrators has occupied a small park in Downtown Manhattan for the past three weeks now. They have done so to denounce the rule of the rich – handmade signs talk about the debt slavery of student loans, the lack of basic healthcare and wide variety of economic issues including unemployment, underemployment and low-wages. Participants in the park tend to be young, ages 20-30 predominate, mostly white and experiencing some level of detachment from the system. The slogan from the protest movement in Spain suits this group well – “No job, no mortgage, no future, no fear.”
An ethic of mutual aid developed out of the mixing of political ideas from multiple recent movements binds participants together. You can clearly see remnants of the anti-globalisation movement of the 1990s, the militant struggles over environmentalism and, of course, the Hippie ethic of 1968. Food is shared, the needs of people are considered carefully, a relatively participatory structure is maintained and the occasional bare chested woman reminds onlookers that not all of the flower children became Wall Street types.
The daily marches that tend to be small and the bigger manifestations of the weekend are pure anarchist revelry. No permit, no permission and anything is possible. Those exercising enough influence can move a crowd one way or another. The police struggle with this and several crafty groups have managed to outfox them and end up on Wall Street. In the process, their mere presence tends to scare the dickens out of rich people dining in fancy restaurants or Wall Street bankers gliding along streets they believe they own. In short, the occupation is a near constant disruption, an eyesore in which the infection of the economic crisis and the worst features of capitalism are allowed to ooze out on a daily basis.
The Brooklyn Bridge
Saturday’s march over the Brooklyn Bridge was the latest in a series of large confrontations with the New York Police Department (NYPD). A week earlier, the police had attacked a peaceful march in the Union Square area, using pepper spray against protesters and, as a result, being dragged through the mud in the local media. It doesn’t help that the police are being directed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the City’s wildly unpopular billionaire mayor who struggles to find even a smidgen of public support. Bloomberg is, in many ways, the perfect foil for Occupy Wall Street – a once Teflon elite who has now fallen from grace and is proving to be an authoritarian every bit as ugly as the bankers and real estate owners he is defending. Bloomberg hasn’t made a popular decision in about two years and the occupation is feeding off the local hatred of him.
This Saturday’s demo was big – somewhere around 4,000 and very militant. The protests have now detached themselves somewhat from the anti-globalisation movement, preferring new chants like “We are the 99% and so are you!” to the now well heeled “This is what democracy looks like.” The demands and conversations are purely political and particularly economic. Being an organised socialist in these ranks is easy – these are the issues we have been screaming about for years and, at least the democratic versions of socialism square well with the emerging consciousness of the people here. As we approached the Brooklyn Bridge, the crowd felt united in inviting regular New Yorkers into the movement. So, we took the bridge.
Once on the roadway of the bridge the police carried out yet another in a string of tactical errors. They trapped protesters about halfway across the expanse of the bridge. The largely young crowd was new to this type of confrontation – the vast majority of people I was arrested with had not been arrested before – but preformed brilliantly in the face of repression. They maintained a non-violent position that occupied the space while presenting a determined face of resistance to police.
The police went on a near rampage. They attacked the front part of the demonstration – senselessly forcing their way into the crowd. And, as if that was not enough, they proceeded to arrest children who were taken on the march by their parents. Pictures and video of an 11-year-old girl being cuffed are testimony to both the stupidity of the police and the fearlessness of young people. The girl smiles as she is taken away, laughing off the attempt to intimidate the crowd. She is a perfect symbol of this emerging movement.
In Jail
Inside the jail, the same militant spirit existed. Each new person who was processed received the cheers of fellow inmates for the movement. Resources were shared as the ethic of mutual aid in the occupied park was extended to the prison. Check-ins with frightened or injured fellow demonstrators were the norm and the refusal to give our social security numbers out to police was an expression of solidarity with those who are undocumented.
It remains to be seen whether these mass arrests will temper or fuel the protests. Large mobilisations are scheduled for this week and those I have been arrested with are planning to participate. The web of connections made inside of jail are just now extending out as people contact each other in order to maintain a link and discuss how we can help push this movement forward.
One thing that needs to be resisted very completely is the notion concocted by the mainstream media in the US that this cccupation has no demands or has no direction. If one spends even a short amount of time with participants it is clear that this is an emerging anti-capitalist movement. All are united by the desire to curb, or reduce, or abolish Wall Street.
Most importantly, the space is allowing thousands of people directly and millions of others remotely to link the economic, social and personal problems they face with the capitalist system. Though there is no one agreed upon alternative – of course I and others are presenting democratic socialism as such an alternative – there is a courageous willingness to act. It is enough for now to realise that capitalism is preventing you from having a future. That can put people in the street and finally allow us to say – It’s happening here. Occupy Wall Street! Occupy Everything!
Billy Wharton is a writer, activist and the co-chair of the Socialist Party USA. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the NYC Indypendent, Spectrezine and the Monthly Review Zine. He can be reached at [email protected].
