I just sent this to Joel Iwanaga of Koin fame after he interviewed some people calling themselves “the REAL Occupiers” that said we’d “lost our way.”
No one person can claim to be the real ANYTHING in this movement. We have no leaders, no official spokespersons, no one face that represents us. The varied issues we are trying to address make this a necessity! As I have said many times, to give one single face to this movement is to give one single person the ability to discredit the whole idea and that is simply unacceptable.
Everything is done by group consensus at the General Assemblies we hold daily. 7pm at Terry Schrunk Plaza, rain or shine. Period. We may all speak or post as autonomous humans with a perspective to share, but we do not take action unless the group votes on it. Personal choice plays into this as anyone is free to join us, or leave us, or disagree with us, or walk on a bridge if they feel the need. As long as every choice remains nonviolent the spirit of the Occupation and Free Speech is honored in every participant. No true Occupier will ever commit violence in our name. Black Bloc is not the Occupation because you cannot climb up on a structure you don’t claim is a structure without being a hypocrite! The 1st Amendment is the structure we stand on and it allows us peaceable assembly. Their violence betrays them as something other than Occupier.
The group of people claiming to be “real” Occupiers are just tourists trying to claim Occupier status after they couldn’t handle the massive task we took on in Chapman and Lownsdale Squares. Apparently they were expecting something more warm and fuzzy? Perhaps a clean, controlled and sanitized version of the Occupation? Welcome to the real world, we are living in the midst of those we serve and it will not always be pretty or easy. The 1st Amendment does not promise comfort in any way, shape, or form.
If you can’t stand the heat, stand aside and let those who can take it get to work.
by Angella Davis
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