Don’t Judge This Book by its Cover – And Other Lessons Learned from the Occupy Movement: Part I

Having recently visited several Occupy sites on the West Coast – including Portland, Oakland, and San Francisco - I wish to share some of my insights. 

However unseemly it may appear on the outside, the occupy encampment is in fact a powerful new model for society in the making.  It may be built of tarps, tents, cardboard, sharpie markers, duct tape, straw bales and wooden pallets,  But you’ll have to look past the surface because it’s the content that matters. 

Let me go over the basics of both camps as I have observed them, both directly and thru conversation with inhabitants:

1.      Free food for everyone. Vegetarian meals served up twice daily. Just wait your turn in line.

2.      A place to be.  Get a tent, find an open spot of ground, and settle in. It’s pretty simple.  No rent, no harassment as long as you abide group living agreements.

3.      Medic Tent.  Often with a certified nurses.  It may be basic – but it’s freely provided to all.

4.      Media and public relations tent.  Internet and website updates and maintenance, media relations.

5.      Information and activities tent.  General information.  A daily schedule of activates, meetings, and actions.  Yoga classes.

6.      Security and police relations.  In Oakland, also included an internal dispute resolution team, even counseling services.

7.      A Library tent.

8.      Art studio, at least in Portland.  Yeah, it’s messy. But its art.

9.      The General Assembly: An open, inclusive, daily democratic group meeting.  “The People’s Forum”.  Serves as the main decision-making body for the group.  Have an issue? Bring it up!  Anyone can speak.  Don’t like the way something’s being done? Join a committee or working group.  All decisions are voted on by the group.  It takes awhile… but it’s real democracy.

This is all pretty impressive, especially when you consider another factor: the camp is a real mixing pot, and far from being “one big harmonious group”. 

In other words, it’s not just for activists.  In fact, those that regularly attend the General Assembly make up but one slice of the overall populace.  There is a sizeable homeless populationliving at Occupy, including street youth, vets, and the chronically homeless.  It makes sense: the camp is safer than the streets, food and basic services provided, and there is some respite from police harassment.  In fact, local area psychiatric hospitals in Portland are beginning to use the Occupy camp as a drop-off point for their discharged mentally ill patients – knowing they will receive at least some services.

Which means that operating solely on donations and volunteer labor, the Occupy Movement is simultaneously feeding the hungry, providing refuge for the homeless, continuing to expand and improve social services for growing encampments – all while creating a revolutionary, people-powered grassroots social movement from the ground up.  No small feat, especially considering the same process is playing out in dozens of major cities simultaneously – all without any central ruling authority.

Despite great odds the Occupiers are giving rise to a new kind of social order: one that takes care of everybody.  Yeah, it’s messy.  It doesn’t always smell nice.  It appears chaotic at times.  Government and big business don’t like it, and the six o’clock news loves to focus on the strange hippies and homeless drunks. 

But underneath the conflicting images and strange sights, something truly remarkable is happening.  A new model for society is diligently being built and enacted. Very different social groups find themselves living and working together in close quarters to solve common problems.  Uneducated street kids find themselves next to recent college graduates, all the while developing democratic processes that can address issues both within camp and in the larger public arena.  Large homeless populations are being accommodated even as the community develops social and political campaigns that address major political, economic, and social problems.

The impacts of this unfolding movement are hard to predict, yet exciting to anticipate.  

 Solidarity, democracy, and action:  Don’t judge this book by its cover.  The contents within are simply too valuable to ignore.

10.25.11 Update: For an excellent expansion on some of the points I've made, please see Ben Case's article, #OWS: Not Just a Protest, But a Little Utopia