OCCUPY-WICHITA FORUM

Story about the small Occupy Port solidarity protest in Anchorage, Alaska, laboring under severe cold weather. Here's the lead.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/takes-hearty-occupy-protester-soldier-brutal-alaska-winter

Alaska Dispatch
By: Amanda Coyne

This cold, largely isolated state isn’t easy on its protesters. The biggest protest in recent memory was in fall 2008 in Midtown Anchorage against Sarah Palin’s selection as a vice presidential candidate. Up to a thousand people showed up. It even caught the protesters themselves off-guard. Most of the discussion that day was about how many showed up to protest.

That protest, though, had the benefit of immediacy and a clear, rather simple message. It also had the benefit of a sun that was still high in the sky and of grass on which to stand that wasn’t covered by a couple feet of snow. And it was on a Saturday.

The protest Monday in downtown, post-blizzard Anchorage -- the one held in solidarity with the other Occupy protests at ports across the West Coast -- had neither a clear message nor a sun higher than eye level, and most obviously, not a grain of grass in site.

I came to the Occupy movement by way of Occupy Seattle.  Everything there was totally copacetic for the first week or so, but then different factions began to split off from the main group, each pursuing their own agendas.  This totally distressed me, and I tried diligently to bring the group back together as one voice.  It didn't take long before I had a DUH moment in which I came to the realization that any time you gather a group which contains 99% of the population, you will have a plethora of races, religions, political beliefs, ideals, and concerns.  Each person will have their own agenda as to what needs to be dealt with first.  While some will feel that the rape of the earth which has turned it into a vat of poisonous pollution should take priority, while others will be turning their attention to the economy and the inability of people to make a living wage, resulting in homelessness and the slow starvation of our children.  Yet others will cry out that the cuts of humanitarian programs cause the mentally ill to try to exist on the streets without proper medication or care, the aged must choose between heat, food, and the medications that keep them alive, and children go without medical or dental treatment.  All the while other groups are fighting to get corporate money out of politics and end the corruption of our political system which appears to be the root of all evil in our society.  Some are concerned with racism, police violence, excessive education expenses, animal cruelty, or whatever is close to their heart.  Each person's concern is fueled by their personal experiences and cultural background.  This is to be expected.

When I became involved in Occupy Wichita, I found that there were similar divisions.  This came as no surprise.  What did surprise me was the number of people who centered their attention on personality conflicts and power struggles.  The OWS movement is a leaderless conglomeration of people who are a part of the 99% of the population who have been subjected to the injustices propagated upon us by corporate America, and the capitalistic pursuits of the 1%.  Please take a careful look at your own agenda.  If your aspiration is to gain personal attention, or to attempt to force others to follow your "leadership" through tactics of personal attack, slander, abusive speech, or other divisiveness, then your agenda may not only be counter-productive, but destructive to those who are working to generate action for real change.

In the big scheme of things, all of our concerns are real, valid, and important.  Let's not lose sight, however, of the fact that we all agree that our world is broken, and only when we come together as one voice can we effectively promote the changes which must be made if we are to survive as a civilization.  Please respect other people's agendas, as they are all a part of the whole, and each issue will be best addressed if we can move forward together as one voice on each and every issue.  Please don't discount another person's agenda merely because you don't like that person or feel that they don't like you.  Put personal feelings aside so that we may act on each and every issue which we face in this ongoing struggle to improve our society, our living conditions, and most importantly, our future and the legacy that we will leave our children.

 

Peace,

Verna

 

Topics for the Actions group and the Media groups are coming as soon as I get the descriptions form them.  Will talk about Occubus @ next GA, but I think it's a good idea and am inclined to support it.