Posted 4/19/2012 by the Salt City Sinner
....
Let's set the clock back just a bit.
The year was 2008, and being the news junky that I am, it was
impossible not to notice the fact that the stock market had dumped
777 points in one day. It was the beginning of “the financial
crisis.” I had no idea what a credit default swap was, nor did I
know what a mortgage-backed security was. If you asked me what
Goldman Sachs was, I would have guessed a law firm in Layton, or a
jeweler's in Ogden.
In 2008, I had never filed for
unemployment. I had half-heartedly attended a few political rallies
when I was attending a liberal arts college in Arkansas in the early
2000s, and was (I would boast) more well-informed about politics than
most of my peers – being a Political Science major will do that to
you.
In fact, I actively supported and
campaigned for a young, charismatic Presidential candidate named
Barack Obama. Both now-President Obama and then-contender Senator
John McCain soberly reflected on the financial crisis, and pledged
action. Street theater, guerilla gardening, Peter Gelderloos'Consensus, all were
unknown to me.
Indulge me, and
let's scoot forward to the sixth of October, 2011. Navigating the
unemployment system in Utah was, unfortunately, something that I was
learning on the fly. It was a nasty day – spitting snow and sleet,
and chilly rain. For the first time in my life, I took to the streets and
participated in a mass protest. All of us had heard of
#OccupyWallStreet, and all of us were there to #Occupy Salt Lake
City.
It was by far
the largest mass movement of people I had seen in Salt Lake City in
my time here (with the obvious exception of the Days of '47 Parade).
My initial
interest in #Occupy was kicked off by some ferocious journalism from
heroes like Matt Taibbi, who reported early and often on the nature
of our financial predicament and the corruption and nepotism that
were the inevitable response of our government. I
blog about Salt Lake City, and so #OccupySLC was something that I
had to experience first hand and think about.
The passion,
creativity, and energy of #OccupySLC were apparent from the start.
Like many other Occupations, #OSLC developed a “people's library,”
chock full of books of varying political and philosophical bents,
that everyone was free to indulge in. The Circle-A Cafe, a free
kitchen run on anarcho-collectivist principles, fed the masses. At
the time I wrote that it was “...[a] mass protest... one that
involves free food, free basic medical attention, and a healthy
contingent of anti-Capitalists.”
Pretty quickly,
the barrier I tried to establish between “observer” and
“participant” disappeared for me. #OccupySLC was among the more
unique #Occupations happening in the country at the time (it started
with 25 cities including Salt Lake, I believe) in that itinerant
people were an early and active part of the Occupation. At General
Assemblies and elsewhere, the itinerant population that has lived out
in Pioneer Park made their presence known, and participated in the
most pure example of Democracy that I have ever seen.
Then
came the inevitable. After the death of Mike, an iterant resident of
the camp and frequent volunteer at the kitchen, police and city
personnel cleared out the encampment at Pioneer Park.
My
blog entry from that date is entitled “Now There Is Nothing ButRuins.” I wrote:
I remember when the crazy, idealism-driven scramble of tents and structures first emerged at Pioneer Park. I remember seeing how the kitchen tent became the Circle-A Cafe. I remember watching the flow of bizarre ideas, zines, pamphlets, crankery, and poetry that would circulate around the Free School and the People's Library...Now there is nothing but ruins.
I
spoke too soon.
Asatellite camp had been established by a sub-set of #OccupySLC to
protest twenty-four hours a day in front of the Salt Lake City office
of the Federal Reserve. #OccupyTheFed, as they called themselves,
remained intact after Pioneer Park was cleared out. #OTF, now once
again sporting the moniker #OccupySLC, struck a deal with the SLCPD
to move their camp from its previous location on a vacant lot across
the street from the Fed to Gallivan Plaza, a large public square in
the middle of Salt Lake's downtown financial district. One more move
was in store for #OccupySLC – the camp is now located at the Salt
Lake Downtown Library, a beautiful structure with a spacious, lovely
commons.
To
this date, #OccupySLC has developed many facets. Working groups range
from “Occupy Community Gardens” to “the ALEC welcoming
committee” (ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is the
most corrupt lobbying operation that most people have never heard of,
and plans to hold a conference/auction of legislators in Salt Lake in
July).
Far
from crushing #OccupySLC, the police raid on Pioneer Park scattered
seeds – seeds that germinated all winter long, and now are
blossoming. #OccupySLC is alive and well – a recent march in
solidarity with slain teen Trayvon Martin was one of the biggest I've
ever seen in Salt Lake City. The coming May Day Convergence looks to
be even bigger.
What
I have taken away from my experience with #Occupy so far is that an
awakening is happening, or may have already happened – not just in
Salt Lake City, but in New York, Oakland, Portland, Greece, Russia –
throughout much of the world. The stranglehold that money has had
over politics has gone on too long. Our political life has been
dying, our civic life practically nonexistent, our “democracy” a
bad joke made by menacing cannibal clowns. That time has past. Our
thoughts are now “Occupied” with how we can live differently,
embrace actual Democracy, and fix or replace the system as it stands.
Our
time is just beginning.
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