Are you reading the writing clearly painted all over the wall? The writing is on the wall, the ceiling, the door, the window, the carpet, the recliner, they even got some on you. The writing is there, staring us in the face. Some of us are reading it. Some of us don't want to read it. Some of us can't read it. Some of us won't read it. Some of us are too busy watching garbage TV, or obsessing over social media to read it. But that doesn't change the fact that the writing is clearly there. The time has come for us, willingly or unwillingly, to face the writing on the wall: It's time to Occupy again.
I just recently moved back to my hometown of Portland, Oregon after a couple years in Washington, DC. Talk about a culture shock. One thing I loved about DC was how aware and involved everyone was politically (pretty hard not to be in the belly of the beast.) It wasn't until I began contacting old friends of mine in Portland again and talking to them did I realize how disconnected from reality even the good folks in Portland can be. In one conversation I had with a former co-worker I asked how the Occupy movement was going in Portland. I had seen a few yard signs about the city proudly stating "We Are The 99%." I asked my friend if he knew where I could find one of the signs to put up in the background of my studio for Filter Free Radio. His reply shocked me. "I don't know man. Isn't that over anyway?" I was speechless.
The Occupy Movement is far from over. Anyone touting similar talking points is either sadly misinformed, or completely out of touch with reality. They've been eating too much corporate owned and controlled media. Let us not forget the purpose of the corporate media is to serve it's own interests above all, and keep us distracted from the real issues. They want us to debate "Left vs. Right" or "Obama vs. Romney." That betters their ratings, which increases profit, while in the meantime completely ignoring the unmatchable assault by corporate power on We The People. The writing is on the wall, the system has become a servant of the interests of the corporate elites, rather than it's created purpose, a servant of We The People.
It's so easy to forget crucially important facts in a 24 hour news cycle mentality. Do you remember what ever happened to Occupy? It was forcefully suppressed by the Powers-To-Be. The corporate state disrupted the movement with encampment evictions, intimidation, media black outs, surveillance, infiltration, and more- all a part of the plan to silence the opposition. And it worked. Have we forgotten that part of this story? Occupy didn't go away, it was shutdown. The writing is on the wall, Occupy will return.
Occupy is an idea, it is a means. Not an end. Occupy has clearly made it's impact. Occupy helped expose the dysfunctional economy and our completely corrupted system. Political conversation has been occupied, political policy has been occupied. The Occupy Movement has showed people that they are not alone, that the real power is people power. The writing is on the wall: it's up to the people to come together, get organized, and restart the resistance movement. Grassroots activism, bottom-up.
Occupy is simply about shifting power away from the corrupted corporate state and back into the hands of you and me. We The People. Shifting the power from the 1 % back to the 99%. Now more than ever it is crucial for us to seize the timing of our existence. Don't you feel some sort of powerlessness? Don't you feel like some of the better aspects of your life are gone? Are you always worrying about making ends meat and paying the rent, when before it was worrying over which ocean beach to vacation to this summer? Our lives, our money, our power is slowly being taken away from us. The ones responsible know it, they want you to fight over Romney and Obama, fight over Left vs. Right, fight over gossip, trivia, and mindless garbage. They don't want you to wake up. They don't want you to know the truth, or to become aware and active. That hurts the profits they are sucking out of We The People. Occupy was simply just the beginning of people waking up, putting the foot down, and demanding what we once had. The writing is on the wall, Occupy is an idea, it's a means. Not an end. Occupy is a tactic. Ideas and tactics change with time to become more relevant, more effective.
How do we shift people from the power structure to our side? How do we shift the media, businesses, politics, the youth, the old, or the police to our side? It starts with being the change we hope to see. Setting the example, and doing the right thing. Stand up for your moral values, even if they conflict with current laws. At one point in history it was the law for us to be segregated, whites with whites and blacks with blacks. The people then knew that was wrong, it disagreed with their morals, even though it was "law." We The People stood up for what we felt was morally right, and eventually that became the law. Only a mass movement that is nonviolent and diverse can raise enough of us to stand up on our morals against what we know is wrong today. If we can build that, we can win.
The writing is on the wall. It might have a different name or a different face, but Occupy will return.
Jacob Dean is a producer for The Thom Hartmann Program and hosts his own program Filter Free Radio Monday nights 7-9pm ET on www.filterfreeradio.com
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