Feeling Like An Outsider/Insider

Submitted by Iden on

Iden's picture

I have done a good bit of joining and contributing and getting to know a lot of "insider" people here at OP. Not of course everyone. There are still a very large number of quite committed people I don't know yet. But I have made some connections and am deeply involved in making things happen. Yesterday our Regional Gathering came off rather well. That has been the main bulk of my contribution so far. I'm really pleased to have made this event possible and I know a lot of forward momentum will come out of it in the coming weeks.

I didn't notice any photographers from the media team at our event though I expected at least one. This leads me to speculate that the media people at OP are far far more interested in taking pictures of marches and especially confrontations than the less dramatic but also important work going on inside the movement. I'm not complaining. Please don't take this the wrong way. But it does make me reflect on where people are putting their energies and where they are not.

In my view, this movement has an abundance of energy for certain types of actions and less for other kinds. Thinking about the people "out there", the as yet unengaged rest of the 99% which really comprises the vast majority of our fellow citizens, it seems to me we are doing a really good job of speaking to and attracting those people who are tuned on by confrontation with authority. On the other hand, there are a very great number of people we need to get to who are turned off by that style.

I'm not saying we need to stop the confrontation style. I'm suggesting that if we want to reach the people who are not excited by confrontation we need to focus more attention on efforts other than "squeeky wheel" sort of strategies. I am saying we are doing a really excellent job being confrontational. I'm also saying we need to be a lot more than just confrontational.

The other great style we have energy for is, of course, the aspect of service to the community. Especially oppressed communities such as the homeless and the "disadvantaged" neighborhoods. That's not confrontational but it is most often delivered with a confrontational dose of ideological spin. The efforts to re-vict homeless people back into empty houses is a very potent tactic that fits right in with both confrontation style and service style. I'm not sure we are devoting enough energy to actions which are more pure service like cleaning up neighborhoods and working more closely with established community organizations.

What do you think?

10 Comments

Iden's picture

am I out of touch?

Submitted by Iden on

<p>I have done a good bit of joining and contributing and getting to know a lot of &quot;insider&quot; people here at OP. Not of course everyone. There are still a very large number of quite committed people I don&#39;t know yet. But I have made some connections and am deeply involved in making things happen. Yesterday our Regional Gathering came off rather well. That has been the main bulk of my contribution so far. I&#39;m really pleased to have made this event possible and I know a lot of forward momentum will come out of it in the coming weeks.</p> <p>I didn&#39;t notice any photographers from the media team at our event though I expected at least one. This leads me to speculate that the media people at OP are far far more interested in taking pictures of marches and especially confrontations than the less dramatic but also important work going on inside the movement. I&#39;m not complaining. Please don&#39;t take this the wrong way. But it does make me reflect on where people are putting their energies and where they are not.</p> <p>In my view, this movement has an abundance of energy for certain types of actions and less for other kinds. Thinking about the people &quot;out there&quot;, the as yet unengaged rest of the 99% which really comprises the vast majority of our fellow citizens, it seems to me we are doing a really good job of speaking to and attracting those people who are tuned on by confrontation with authority. On the other hand, there are a very great number of people we need to get to who are turned off by that style.</p> <p>I&#39;m not saying we need to stop the confrontation style. I&#39;m suggesting that if we want to reach the people who are not excited by confrontation we need to focus more attention on efforts other than &quot;squeeky wheel&quot; sort of strategies. I am saying we are doing a really excellent job being confrontational. I&#39;m also saying we need to be a lot more than just confrontational.</p> <p>The other great style we have energy for is, of course, the aspect of service to the community. Especially oppressed communities such as the homeless and the &quot;disadvantaged&quot; neighborhoods. That&#39;s not confrontational but it is most often delivered with a confrontational dose of ideological spin. The efforts to re-vict homeless people back into empty houses is a very potent tactic that fits right in with both confrontation style and service style. I&#39;m not sure we are devoting enough energy to actions which are more pure service like cleaning up neighborhoods and working more closely with established community organizations.</p> <p>What do you think?</p>

Outreach

Submitted by Granny Nina on

<p>OUTREACH MUCH NEEDED (in no particular order of importance)</p> <p>1.&nbsp; Organized Labor:&nbsp; Occupy had positive relations to some labor unions and a strong Labor Working Group, but jeapardized some of this positive response by choosing to remain at Dilworth Plaza, despite the contradiction with some in labor who urged us to reconsider, given the union jobs promised by the construction project.</p> <p>What are we doing to reopen up a dialogue with various labor unions?&nbsp; There is much they can teach us about organizing for the long haul.&nbsp; We do not want to cut off this important progressive contact.</p> <p>2.&nbsp; The Differently-Abled, Organized&nbsp;Community:&nbsp; Many members of this community came to our General Assemblies to testify about the meaning for them of the construction project: it would give them access to transportation lines at City Hall.&nbsp; Do we know how to reach these people?&nbsp; Are we reaching out to them?&nbsp; What is the range of their thinking about the Occupy movement?&nbsp; We need to be talking and listening&nbsp;with each other.</p> <p>3.&nbsp; The Organized Peace Community:&nbsp; Many&nbsp;Peace Organizations&nbsp;showed up at the Occupy Philly site to protest.&nbsp; Some key Peace people&nbsp;show up at Occupy&#39;s General Assemblies and, more recently, at the Regional Gathering.&nbsp; Their message about the (HUGE) amount of our resources gobbled up&nbsp;by the military budget, the militarization of our schools, the militarization of the police, the big corporations with big investments in the military industry, etc. are key to any&nbsp;understanding of the 1% and the 99%.&nbsp; Are we meeting and talkiing seriously with these folks?&nbsp; Can we continue to work&nbsp;productively together?&nbsp;</p> <p>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;Communities and Neighborhoods&nbsp;with many-different People of Color:&nbsp; There&nbsp;have been (some) people of color who show up at Occupy events, there is a People of Color Working Group,&nbsp;some&nbsp;(predominantly) black&nbsp;organizations have been working with Occupy Philly.&nbsp; But, my gosh, there is MUCH more&nbsp;contact that needs to be made with MANY more black, brown, tan, beige folks in Philly.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just what are we willing to do to reach out?&nbsp; And just how are we going to do so?&nbsp; My experience is that, among&nbsp;people of color who support Occupy Philly,&nbsp;there is a certain amount of tension just under the surface, sometimes bubbling up and a certain frustration and rolling of eyes at the cumbersomeness of our process.&nbsp; Am I right about this?&nbsp;</p> <p>5.&nbsp; Progressively leaning organizations of various stripes:&nbsp; It appears to me that there are a bunch of smart, dedicated, and (oh, boy) young anarchist people who are deeply committed to Occupy Philly (and more power to them).&nbsp; But, what about the socialist, communist, progressive, liberal, and others of a sharp- or gently-,&nbsp;in some way or other left-leaning folks in Philly and environs?&nbsp;&nbsp;Do we know what they think?&nbsp; What are their criticisms?&nbsp; How do they agree and disagree with us?&nbsp; What can we learn from and teach to each other?&nbsp; Are we even willing to talk and listen?&nbsp;</p> <p>6.&nbsp; High School,&nbsp;College, and University Students:&nbsp; To be sure there are students among us.&nbsp; Occupy Philly has raised the crucial issue of the big debts students run up and the impossibility of paying their loans back with a poor economic environment without job prospects.&nbsp; Full School Debt Forgiveness is a key demand.&nbsp; But, there are some 85 universities and colleges in&nbsp;the city and suburbs around Philly.&nbsp; What connections&nbsp;have&nbsp;we made with&nbsp;which&nbsp;campus-folks?&nbsp; What is our next smart step?&nbsp; Where are the barriers?&nbsp; [For example, one problem is that students come and go.&nbsp; Another problem is that&nbsp;schools are insular and it is not easy to reach students unless we have some way in.]&nbsp; And, then, just think of all the high schools in the city, not to mention all those outside the city.&nbsp; We could exhaust ourselves just focusing on this HUGE population group.&nbsp; But to ignore them is NOT possible.&nbsp; How do we deal with this opportunity in a smart way?</p> <p>7.&nbsp; The Spanish-speaking and English-speaking, long-time resident, recently-immigrant, legal and without-documents, so-called Hispanic/Latino commuities:&nbsp; We do publicize much in Spanish as well as English.&nbsp; Do we also have good contacts with this community?&nbsp; How can we broaden what contact we have?&nbsp; How does the Occupy message resonate with this community and how does it not resonate with this community?&nbsp; Who supports us and who does not and why?&nbsp; Let&#39;s not settle for easy answers here.&nbsp; Maybe we sometimes trip over our own feet and alienate those who should (we think) be on our side.&nbsp; We need to get much feedback if we are going to get our message out in a way people respond positively to.</p> <p>OK.&nbsp; That is just seven, really big and only potentially-receptive communities.&nbsp; Admittedly, I am better at raising questions than at providing answers.&nbsp; The task at hand is ENORMOUS and we can&#39;t do it all.&nbsp; But, then, as the sages say, neither are we permitted to refrain from starting.&nbsp;</p> <p>Your thinking&nbsp;appreciated.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

More waiting, I guess

Submitted by na on

<p>This movement is based on liberal values: egalitarianism, inclusiveness, etc&hellip; ; and ideally liberal solutions: corporate accountability, enforced regulations, a general push back against neoliberalism.</p> <p>If you believe in these things; especially here in the US, you are a minority- in every sense of the word. Ever been to a party where you&rsquo;re the only _____ in a room full of _____?</p> <p>Many people really do not believe in any of these things and prefer that coporations are our dominate institution, that people are inherently bad/evil, and that everything should be based on primative competition and survival of the fitest- even if the basis of competition is always rigid...</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&ldquo;We&rdquo; simply don&rsquo;t have the numbers. I&rsquo;d put the number of people who &ldquo;truly&rdquo; support liberal values and solutions within this country at around a maximum of 15% -20% of the total population.</p> <p>So as you can see this puts us up against a whole barrage of opposition from people who &ldquo;kinda-sorta understand and agree&rdquo; to people who want to &ldquo;straight destroy everything and everyone who aren&rsquo;t them&rdquo;.</p> <p>The left has no power outside of people and we lack the numbers and all the cards are stacked against us- institutions, culture; and capital that flows through everything, are all controlled and arranged in a way to ensure that they are reproduced; which has ultimately resulted in our present day situation.</p> <p>I think we&rsquo;re just going to have to wait until people suffer more within this country and are forced to endure austerity measures and other restrictions to the material aspects of people&rsquo;s lives. Then maybe culture will change and people will be more open to working towards &ldquo;different&rdquo; solutions to the problems of our time.</p>
Iden's picture

But look at the Tea Party

Submitted by Iden on

<p>The Tea Movement also represents a minority view. We needn&#39;t be pessimistic and just counting on things growing worse to make our message audible. People will respond if we speak from our hearts and speak the truth. Enough people will respond at least. We don&#39;t need every every every one. We just need enough. We are not close to enough yet and I want to help us get to &quot;enough&quot;. The Tea Movement made a difference (for the worse) with a relatively small number of adherents. We are bigger than they are. And we have more creativity I&#39;m sure.</p>
coryvclark's picture

media team's was there, though I was not

Submitted by coryvclark on

<p>There were several media team members at the regional GA and we were on live stream as well. I know because I was online sort of moderating the event. I sort of because I was doing the mod. work but my powers had been striped from me, because of my over work in other areas of the media.</p> <p>I was not there, because I am very sick after the DC trip, where I did do alot of work because it will attract attention to other thing such as the regional GA.</p> <p>Also I know that there where a few people that have been to media team meeting that where on live stream with me, not including the mod. which are also members of the media team.</p> <p>So please do not be to critical when we can&#39;t be everywhere doing everything, yes we are journalists, but we&#39;re also only human, and prone to the same problems and issues.</p>
Iden's picture

didn't mean to sound whiney

Submitted by Iden on

<p>I really didn&#39;t mean to sound boo hoo whiny and I really DON&quot;T feel that coverage of the Regional Gathering was anything less than comprehensive, given the presence of the Livestream team. I think my error was separating Livestream in my mind from the occupyphillymedia.org site. Sorry to have made that mistake. My error. Sometimes I shoot from the hip a little too quick.</p>
mattymoo's picture

my thots

Submitted by mattymoo on

<p>the regional conference was pretty good (a bit heavy on the patience due to some facilitation/agenda quirks but thats ok, we learn and adapt - we are great at creatively evolving!)</p> <p>i liked that there was a lot of emphasis on new directions regarding direct actions - i heard a lot of talk about moving into new areas of the city and partnering with folks there to tackle issues in a positive way.</p> <p>ive also been very excited about some of the new working groups that have emerged post eviction such as the vacant lots group, the occupy spaces group, the free university group etc. loosing our little village was a blow to our ability to easily meet up and make face to face connections but it has allowed us to focus a lot more of our energy on other things besides the logistics of running a camp. its a &quot;six of one half dozen of the other&quot; sort of situation i guess.</p> <p>it was great to also get to meet folks in person from other areas and occupies outside philly and to hear their ideas and what they have been working on, how they have been adapting to various events etc.</p> <p>no outside media - yeah, that was a bummer - but the outside media is pretty much an if-it-bleeds-it-leads thing too and they follow us around at other direct actions because they are waiting for that dramatic 10 second clip too. hopefully as time progresses at least some outside media (perhaps print is best for more in depth coverage?) will start to focus on&nbsp; more than just the quick and easy footage and the one or two sentence quote from occupiers.</p> <p>all said - i am very excited about all the new initiatives and about all of the ideas discussed yesterday at the regional conference.</p>

your post is important!

Submitted by JohnHill on

<p>I just wanted to throw out that that this feeling you&#39;re describing of being on the &quot;outside&quot; of OP is a pretty important thing to call out.&nbsp; It&#39;s definitely something that&#39;s been coming up for me and I suspect a lot of other people since the Dilworth eviction.&nbsp; When the camp was still there--especially when it was thriving--Occupy Philly had a center that everything could come back to.&nbsp; More than a meeting place, it was kind of an affirmation that despite the fact that we came from different places and were doing different things as OP, we were still building something together in common.&nbsp;</p> <p>At the GA last Thursday, the vibe I got was different.&nbsp; Rather than a common movement, the vibe I felt was more a collection of smaller groups and individuals exploring different actions or directions.&nbsp; I don&#39;t think anybody in that room... no matter how plugged in they were... even knew all the actions that &quot;Occupy Philly&quot; was carrying out over the next few days.&nbsp; I&#39;m starting to think since Dilworth was shut down, everybody in Occupy Philly is kind of on the outside since the common space we share is now so much more limited (to the GA/working group meetings, what gets posted to this media site, etc).&nbsp; I don&#39;t think you&#39;re alone in wanting something more.</p> <p>This isn&#39;t a hopeless situation by any means.&nbsp; We can build the spaces we do have (like making the meetings better common space and plugging more people/groups into this site).&nbsp; We can create new spaces (physical or otherwise).&nbsp; But like I said before, I think it&#39;s important to call out feelings like this when they come up.&nbsp; Our present feelings and discontents about Occupy Philly can be an excellent source of strength and guidance.for how we can move forward together.&nbsp; Voicing concerns like this is a necessary step towards taking back some of the things we may have lost.</p>