San Francisco - 15th October - Worldwide Solidarity March

Joining a protest isn't a bad way to see San Francisco.  Visit the best landmarks, plenty of room in the street, and no lack of interesting characters to meet and chat with.

That's a joke, of course, but I do feel I've seen a fair amount of the city this way.  Saturday was no exception.  The march was already underway as I exited the Bart station.  Luckily, some friends I'd made on the train had a twitter feed tracking the direction - thank you social media - and about eight of us huffed it up the hills of the financial district to join the march.

We caught up just above Union Square.  Moving downhill along Powell, the group must have gained some serious momentum, because by the time we percolated into Market St, a crowd of maybe several hundred had swelled well into the thousands, quickly becoming too large to capture in one shot.  From that point it was up Market and on to Civic Center.

As in recent Portland marches, the crowd skewed younger, but there was a sizeable turnout of all age groups.  Plenty of boomers and even senior citizens.  Interesting to note differences between marches in the two cities.  While intensity was similar, the SF rally, as usual, had its own flavor.  There was that one naked dude, as always.  You have your drag queens.  And not all chants are in English - "Si se Puede!" erupted more than a few times. There's a diversity Portland's demographics just can't match.

Together we marched, with booming chants of "Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out!", "The People, United, Can Never Be Defeated!", and "Whose Streets? OUR STREETS!"  My heart rises even at the memory.  There is nothing that brings hope to the soul like fifteen thousand united voices resonating together against the dark towers of finance.  I don't care what anyone says, it takes guts to walk in the street.

A striking feature of both this and recent protests is the rise of a new tactic during demonstrations: the General Assembly.  Basically identical to the democratic decision-making forum used daily at major Occupy sites, this phenomenon is now being applied during demonstrations.  Thus, mid-protest on the steps and plaza in front of City Hall, several thousand people gathered round - and sat down.  Speakers then took turns addressing the community, amplified by the people's mike.  To participate is a very moving experience.  The crowd becomes more centered.  News items are related.  Guidelines are reinforced.  Opinions are expressed and group decisions can be made. From what I've witnessed in Portland, Oakland, and now San Francisco, the GA is a very effective tool.

Following the Assembly it was straight back down Market St, all the way to the Embarcadero.  Before we resumed I had an interesting discussion with several union workers from assorted construction trades.  Talk centered around jobs being outsourced and what we can do to keep labor local... and keep corporations accountable.  One man expressed fear that as consumption rises in Asia and South America, even US consumers will become increasingly irrelevant to the corporations and elites that dominate our economy.  Not good news for local business!

There was also talk of holding banks accountable by moving our money.  We discussed the November 5th day of action: A national push to switch from Wall Street banks to join credit unions, which reinvest profits back into the company, and therefore can offer customers everything from lower interest rates on loans to checking accounts that pay dividends.

Lastly, we talked about the power of so called "American Spirit" - That honest sense of can-do, of our ability to remake ourselves and our society; that no matter how tough things have been, we can put the past behind us and pull ourselves up - using our communal resources and individual ingenuity to get back on track and do the right thing.  Another man, a retired construction worker, said he has faith in Americans.  That despite all the bad stuff, he believes we have it in us to wake up and make our country right.  We all agreed.

Then we were back on Market street, flanked by hundreds of onlookers.  I enjoyed watching the crowd watching us.  There were all sorts of reactions: Excited, confused, perplexed, supportive, amazed, pissed... It's all there.  The protesters began chants of "Join Us, Join Us!", and cheered when a brave soul would burst off the sidewalk and into the moving masses.

A wall of police officers flanked our march and for a time I walked at the edge, on that fine line between Citizen and State.  Couldn't help noticing the canisters of tear gas, the extra handcuffs, and the .40 caliber revolvers on every hip.  But then again, the Occupy Movement is different, and I've seen things that have blurred the lines once so firm in my mind.  So I pushed myself and struck up conversations with some of the less intimidating-looking officers.  We were, after all, walking more or less next to each other for the better part of a mile.  The silence was getting kind of awkward.

The two I spoke with were actually quite friendly (phew!).  I found out they weren't making overtime, that they'd been pulled from local precincts and had not been replaced (causing them to worry about their local areas), and even came to agreement with one officer that, being unionized, he was also part of the 99%. 

In all the protests I've been to, there has always been a very clear line between (A) protesters, and (B), the police.  A does not mix with B, nor vice versa.  Those are the rules.  A and B are on opposing sides, and there is generally a sense of hostility or cold silence between the two - often for reasons clear enough.  But, as a handmade sign at a recent Portland rally aptly noted, "The Police are also the 99%".  I am not trying to diminish, smooth over, or ignore the major and often glaring issues regarding the police or use of state force.  There are major areas that need to be addressed, injustices that need to be redressed - and we could use a general re-think of the role and use of force in society at large.

That said, there is power to be gained in notions of solidarity.  If we can focus on ways in which we're similar, there may be room for growth.  Police are union and state workers; thus they stand to lose just like everybody else.  If at some point police were to join with protesters - think of what that could mean?  Remember those soldiers in Tahrir Square, marching with the resistance?  I try to remember a point made by Noam Chomsky when he last spoke in Portland: "It's not about bad people, it's about a bad system".  Maybe I'm just daydreaming, but the more we can push for unity among "the people", the less influence we'll tolerate from the system.

The march ended at Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero, launching the new Occupy San Francisco site.  The previous location, in front of the Federal Reserve, had been deemed too small for growth. As the sun began to set and twilight ensued, the ubiquitous General Assembly was only just beginning...