Occupy: thoughts on the whirlwinds of last week

posted by Hatty

November 2, 2011. I find myself at the General Strike in Downtown Oakland. I don’t care what you’ve heard from anyone else. This city hasn’t seen such a peaceful and powerful gathering of people, from all walks of life, with a common passion for justice. 

How the hell did I get into this beautiful mess?

We all have stories of how one deceptively tiny decision opens new worlds. May or so of my sophomore year of high school, I told myself to break out of my small town bubble— I joined the school newspaper and orchestra, got the UC Berkeley education, stayed in the Bay Area, became someone I didn’t know I could become. 

So I found myself with the people of Oakland and many others across the world. Banks on Broadway closed for the day. The port shut down for the night. Victory. But today I’m sitting at work, with less than enough for groceries. Wells Fargo goes on. Sirens go around the Tenderloin. We’ve made some loud noises and are all back to reality now. What do we think that one march will solve?  

Yes, the Occupy movement has everything to do with the broken economic and political systems. I don’t intend to pardon the government and the financial institutions responsible for this crisis. But ultimately it speaks to the culture we are in, the way we dress and spend money and think about what’s good and just. That takes longer to change than legislation. It comes down to the deceptively tiny decisions, like joining a journalism class or staying in the city you love or not buying into the Black Friday craze, leading to more decisions.

It’s the job of every artist to envision the alternate universe(s) we want to see. Moms and dads walking with their children hand in hand, maybe they will enroll them in public schools instead. The high school youth drumming to the chant, The system is about to die! Hella hella occupy!, maybe they will read Malcolm X and start writing. We don’t need a thunderous voice from the Capitol Hill to miraculously fix every social injustice overnight.

How do we change a culture? We make it.