Flotilla controversy within Occupy Wall Street shows Palestine continues to be a fault line, by Ben Lorber

Tel Aviv, but not Gaza?

“Occupy Together” has since the beginning noted solidarity with Tel Aviv. The  J14 protest movement in Israel have been problematic in purposefully not extending their solidarity to occupied Palestine. Given this backdrop, it was surprising to see a tweet earlier this month by Occupy Wall Street in solidarity with humanitarian vessels attempting to reach Gaza’s shores. Hours later, however, as Ben Lorber writes:

…Occupy Wall Street’s tweet mysteriously disappeared from its home page on Twitter. The Twitter-sphere was instantly taken aback- “didn’t realize #OWS is non-political!!” remarked one tweeter, while another insisted that “If #OWS can not support #FreedomWaves and #Gaza then they should not compare themselves to #ArabSpring or #Tahrir.” The Canada Boat to Gaza, who earlier had nodded in satisfaction, now, shook its head in disappointment, offering, in the face of Occupy Wall Street’s fear of involving itself in the Israel-Palestine conflict, a few words by Desmond Tutu: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Full post here!

Occupy Where? What’s In It For Black and Brown People? by Bruce Dixon

blackagendareport.com

Bruce Dixon of the Black Agenda Report asks what would have been the case if OWS was a heavily dominated people of color initiative from the onset (read block quote below) before looking onward towards possibilities. Based out of Atlanta, Dixon mentions how race issues are met with resistance and dismissed as ‘divisive’ while also noting how gentrification in the city can be addressed by activists who bend the influence towards the everyday concerns of black folk.

If the first occupiers in Zucotti Park had been young and black, they’d instantly have been branded a street gang and arrested en masse, with or without violence, but certainly with little media play or sympathy. If the first occupiers were black, and blathering about the ravages of finance capital and how neither of the two parties were worth a damn, they certainly would not have been endorsed by what passes for the preacher-infested local leadership of black communities. Tied as they are to corporate philanthropy, corporate financing, the corporate-run Democratic party and its corporate-friendly trickle-down black president, our black misleadership class would have run, not walked away from black occupiers who failed to identify as staunch pro-Obama Democrats.

What if the occupiers had been brown? Here’s a clue. In the last few years, hundreds of thousands of immigrants at a time have stayed away from work in near general-strike proportions to march on May Day, no less, for their human rights. The anecdotal evidence is that ICE agents raided many workplaces in California, Texas, New York, Arizona, Illinois and elsewhere, and that without much notice in the corporate media, a wave of retaliatory harrassment, jailings and deportations ensued. Certainly, the Obama administration is on track to deport a record 400,000 immigrants for the third year in a row, already far outstripping Bush’s eight year total. There are in fact, gang injunction-type laws in many states which make it a criminal offense for young people in designated (black and brown) neighborhoods to assemble in groups in public places for any reason.

Full post here!

Desis Take Action At Occupy Wall Street, with video by V.V., with video by Thanu Yakupitiyage

A great link that, aside from great conversation on video, also points out how the General Assembly’s official document doesn’t tell the full story of how it feels to be a person of color fighting for a voice at Occupy:

How many activities and movements or even conversations have I forgone, thinking that they had no space for me? How many times have I thought that some purportedly progressive activity wasn’t even considering anyone like me? How many times have I walked away, rather than saying anything, because I was bone-tired?

Full post here!

Seven Occupy Wall Street Racial Justice Roadblocks Posted, by Ernesto

As so many people of forward seeking to make sense of Occupy and move forward, Ernesto approaches some inherent obstacles, like Consciousness of History, Credibility Gaps, The Power of Political Trickle Down, Lack of Leaders Means Leaders Move Covertly, Lack of Agenda, Occupy Language, Process Issues. He concludes by addressing those people of color who engaging with Occupy:

It is the obligation of people of color who want to be involved in Occupy efforts and wish to see more political investment by communities of color to organize in a united fashion independent of Occupy actions, and to do community outreach. It is on you to meet with our communities who cannot or will not come out to these events, for whatever reason, hear openly and share their concerns with a movement you clearly wish to support. It is up to you to lead community mobilizations. If you have no relationships or credibility in those communities, beyond your skin tone, it is up to you to be honest about that and mend fences and/or build relationships.

Full post here!

Zucotti Park: A Distorted View Minus Millions of Americans, by Janell Ross

As the conversation about the intersection of Occupy and people of color gains momentum with the public, an issue that many of us have struggled with is the fact that photographers will often spot a group of people of color within a larger crowd and start shooting away. While we’re happy to see more images of people of color featured in the media, we know that this can also paint a distorted view of the struggle that remains before us to decolonize this movement. Huffington Post reporter Janelle Ross explains the irony of being photographed for the sake of multiculturalism, despite the fact she was working on a story and not demonstrating:

I wasn’t carrying a placard decrying the evils of corporate greed or growing income inequality, just my standard equipment — a notebook, my oversized purse and a pen. And, I was there.

“Oh, well, that’s OK,” one photographer said when I told him that I was just a reporter and probably not the best person to mention in his caption. “I want to convey the fact that there are some black people here.”

The conversation was a reminder of the often simplistic, sometimes exasperating way that diversity is thought about, handled and cultivated in America.

Read the entire post here!

Making Room for Racial Justice in the People Power Exploding Around Us, by Rinku Sen

So incredibly good you’ll find yourself going back. Rinku Sen’s analysis is not getting anywhere near the attention it deserves, please spread it widely:

My friend Anita Earls said once that in this country, we have something called “universal white man” standing. I don’t think Anita would mind if I added “straight” to that description. She means that white men are the standard of universalism, and if something doesn’t affect them, it is considered a side issue and not part of the universe. Given the terrible conditions in which the average white man finds himself these days, I certainly agree that we need to speak to the specifics of their situation. But addressing other systems of oppression, and the people those systems affect, isn’t about elevating one group’s suffering over that of white men. It’s about understanding how the mechanisms of control actually operate. When we understand, we can craft solutions that truly help everybody. Building movements that include groups that explicitly address the racial, gender and sexual dimensions of our economic system is key to that process.

Full post here!

Indians Counter Occupy Wall Street Movement With Decolonize Wall Street, by ICTMN Staff

Indian Country Today Media Network highlights some of the debates about Occupy:

While many people in Indian Country can sympathize with the protestors’ claims, there is also some growing criticism for the idea behind its name, which overlooks the first occupants of the Wall Street area. This has given rise to the response from Native bloggers and activists to not Occupy Wall Street but Decolonize Wall Street.

Full post here!

#decolonizewallstreet Flyer, by Julian Padilla

Occupied Wall Street, circa 1660

Get your flyer on:

“as the world watches us occupy wall street, letʼs not forget the history of occupation on which this street was built.”

Created by Justin Padilla, OWS’ People of Color has ’em here!

Zombie Capitalism and the Post-Obama Left, by Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad

Public intellectual Vijay Prashad challenges the notion that people of color fighting to make their voices heard at OWS is about division and hopelessness. In these trying times for people of color around the continent trying to make sense of all of this, his optimism is emotionally lifting:

Early into the OWS, a few people challenged one of thesentences in a draft, namely that the people in protest were of “one race, the human race, formerly divided by race, class.” So, Hena Ashraf, Sonny Singh, Manissa McCleave Maharawal and others contested the assertion that the divides in our humanity are now superseded. It is such contentiousness that builds our movement; it does not divide it. Capitalism, built on the inequality of property and of social formations that it inherited, is one of the primary engines of social division. The force of goodwill cannot annul or supersede its divisions by fiat. They have to be struggled against, even inside our new movements. That there is now a “People of Color Working Group” in the OWS (http://pococcupywallstreet.tumblr.com/) and a website dedicated to a much deeper commitment to anti-racism in OWS (https://disoccupy.wordpress.com/) is a sign of hope, not despair.

Full post here!

The General Assembly and Grassroots Democracy, by UnpermittedLA

Yup.

Victor’s post on his experience at OLosA is one of our most popular reads here. He sent us a link to blog which provides more analysis, explains why it’s important to stay critical, and has a lot of great ideas for moving forward:

My intent here isn’t to be a cynic.  There are a lot of amazing things happening in the Occupy LA organizing space, and as stated above I believe it has the potential to explode into something historic, if it isn’t already.  However, there are a lot of problems which are already turning people off and preventing us to move forward and be everything that we can be.  This critique is meant to identify these problems.  Where I refer to “leaders,” I truly do not refer to individuals, but to the very concept of leadership as it is existing in effect.  I believe that if all of the current leaders were replaced with new people without changing the structures in place, there would be no noticeable changes.  Criticism is necessary for movements, and this criticism is meant to be constructive.  I know that not everyone will respond productively or take these issues seriously, but ignoring serious concerns or responding with personal attacks will hurt the movement rather than defend it.

Read the full post here!

#Occupy Wall Street & the Language of Resistance, by Maegan La Mala

We don't really care so much about your one demand, but what the hell is that skinny white lady doing on top of the bull?!

La Mala stages an excellent critique of OWS and its narrative. We especially like the way she breaks down some of the branding and signage she saw:

I also saw a lot of signs based in the idea of privilege and the bullshit notion of who deserves what. Young people held signs lamenting not being able to pay their student loans and how having gone to college didn’t bring the jobs and success they expected. I thought about the high Latino high school drop out rates and my own lack of a college degree. Were we included in this dialogue/narrative or even within this “movement” were there some who weren’t worth fighting for – some who don’t deserve the “American Dream” because of not following the prescribed order of things.

Read the full post here!

Decolonize L.A.–That’s the Movement We Need!!!, by Emma Rosenthal

Wheelchair Accessible Restroom

What happens when you claim to be the 99% but willfully ignore or patronize radical dis-ability rights activists who correctly point out that if you want an encampment, you should–at minimum–provide wheelchair accessible porta-potties? You’re gonna get called out by radical crrpl gurls like Emma Rosenthal. When Rosenthal realized that Occupy LosA’s organizers weren’t planning around securing an accessible space for folks with dis-ablities, she made a concerted effort to reach out across different mediums; instead of getting a formal response, she was ignored by some and mocked by others. It only went downhill from there:

Those weren’t the only responses I got, Someone else tweeted me to let me know Ron Kovic had spoken “from his chair”, as if one celebrity crrpl (who is NOT a dis-ability rights activist or advocate) means there’s access. Others said they saw other people with canes and wheelchairs, so I should just shut up. (Did anyone ask them what it took to attend, and if they needed anything?, so is attending, by extension, a form of complicity, simply because by being seen, we’re allowing PWODs to deny access issues persist?) And what of Ron Kovic? Do the crowds respond to his celebrity, the same way they respond to ordinary crrpl folk?  Does he bring his own attendants and assistants? Shoot, Ron can afford a driver, and even his own personal RV, complete with bathroom if he needs one.  This ISN’T a personal issue. IT MUST BE TREATED AS A COLLECTIVE ISSUE!!!

You can read the full post here, where Rosenthal also provides ideas about how to move forward. (And, if you’re interested in reading more about why “the responsibility for access lies with the event planners [and] is not the responsibility of the individual attending the event,” make sure you check out Rosenthal’s Guide to Accessible Event Planning!)

Some Thoughts on Occupy L.A. General Assembly, by Victor

Victor originally posted his analysis about Occupy LA’s General Assembly on Facebook, and has been generous enough to allow us to re-post it here in full. Some of his points are unique to OLosA, especially the local organizers’ unilateral decision to work hand-in-hand with the police. But a lot of his points also echo a lot of the sentiments of people of color who have attempted to participate at Occupy Wall Street (OWS), which started two weeks before. OWS’s white organizers and facilitators created a model which is being repeated in cities all around the continent, and continues to marginalize men of color, queers, and women of color in particular.

The General Assembly was rather messy and undemocratic:

1) The “mic check” method that the organizers are copying from the NY Occupiers is a Pavlovian conditioning tool. That is, but having the crowd repeat every last goddamned word that comes out of the speaker’s mouth, it begins to INVALIDATE internal dissent and force the person to accept what is being said and repeated as truth. It is almost like a cult. This is NOT democratic any way.

2) A full 85% of the speakers, at least during the “controlled” portion of the General Assembly, were white. Among comrades last night, there was much discussion how there seems to be a lot of tokenism with people of color, but that decisions are essentially being made by a few white individuals.

3) Even though the movement is being claimed as leaderless, there are “leaders” who have been directing for the last week. None of the local L.A. people have ever seen who these people are, or where they came from. From what we heard, they’re from West L.A.

4) A People of Color/Womyn/Queer Committee was established to address the fact that Occupy L.A. was NOT inclusive of the demographics in L.A. The brother from this committee who spoke was downright amazing, and held it down. He even dispensed with the bullshit “mic check” repeating thing. As the brother was speaking and giving his righteous criticisms and pointing out male, white, class, and hetero privilege, only a handful of us people of color and white allies were clapping. Everyone else looked annoyed and puzzled.

5.) The organizers of Occupy L.A. have been working in cooperation with the LAPD since the beginning.

6.) The permits that Occupy L.A. got were only for camping on the sidewalks, not in the park.

7.) The LAPD told the people from Occupy L.A. that they absolutely had to be out of the park and on the sidewalks by 10:30PM.

8.) At the General Assembly of (September 30), it was decided that the collective vote to decide whether to camp in the park or on the sidewalk would be made the following night, (October 1).

9) At last night’s General Assembly meeting (October 1), the organizers had already made the decision to follow the LAPD’s demands and camp on the sidewalk, WITHOUT the democratic input of everyone at the park!

10) A womyn of color from the audience pointed out that the General Assembly had not followed it’s own procedure and allowed the issue to be analyzed and argued collectively–which resulted a prolonged, messy discussion. She was asked to speak and make her proposal. As she was doing so, she kept being interrupted and “coached” by some of the organizers. A couple of us ran up to her to give her support so she could speak her mind without interference.

11.) There was much frustration over how “occupation” would be handled. The organizers kept stressing that they wanted this movement to last three months and that by disobeying the orders of the LAPD, they would come and shut it down. The other argument was that the movement should have NEVER been negotiating with the cops in the first place, and that by following the city ordinance, it was NOT an occupation at all.

12.) Rather than have the collective present decide if they would stay in the park or on the sidewalks, they used fear mongering tactics to scare people into following what they wanted–to follow the orders of the LAPD.

13.) We argued that if the collective decided to stay in the park, that those who chose not to sleep there had to find a way to demonstrate solidarity to the occupiers in the event that the cops would attack.

14.) The organizers were taking an individualist approach and stated that THEY had decided for everyone that the movement should stay on the sidewalks, and that anyone who stayed in the park was on their own.

15.) The organizers tried to instill fear in the people present by announcing that cops and firefighters were already stationed just a few blocks away. Our own scouts went ahead to check it out and this proved to be FALSE.

16.) As we stayed arguing with the organizers, one of the main dudes (white male) seemed exasperated and kept telling us that we were basically ruining all of HIS hard work he put into the movement. If we stayed in the park and got arrested, it would be HIM that would get the gravest consequences from the cops, because they apparently told him as such.

17.) As people began moving to the sidewalks, a circle of us decided to fuck it and stay in the park past 10:30PM. A few comrades decided to camp inside the park as well. Those who would not be camping stayed to give them support and solidarity.

18.) The organizers tried to instill fear in people saying that the cops were already on their way because they had heard it on their own police scanners. They didn’t have any.

19.) 10:30PM came and passed, and no cops. In fact, people started coming into the park around midnight and laying about, chatting, sleeping, WITHOUT any police interference. By 1AM, everything was chill.

I have much more to say about this event in particular with hierarchy, white privilege, lack of democratic centralism, etc.

Manna-hata, by Joanne Barker (Lenape)

Joanne Barker’s Tequila Sovereign blog provides a brief history of Manna-hata, its usurption by European colonizers, and wonder if:

Perhaps those who now claim to OCCUPY WALL STREET in the name of reforming America’s economy could remember their history and call it something else (see Racialicious’ post on the importance of language in opposition). Wall Street is, after all, already an occupied territory. As are all of U.S. land “holdings” in northern America, the Pacific, and the Caribbean.

Full post here!

OCCUPY WALL STREET: The Game of Colonialism and further nationalism to be decolonized from the “Left,” by Jessica Yee

Created by Erin Konsmo (Métis/Cree) http://erinkonsmo.blogspot.com/

Jessica Yee connects the colonial project to capitalism, and cautions against the dangers of nationalism:

We don’t need more occupation – we need decolonization and it’s everyone’s responsibility to participate in that because COLONIALISM AFFECTS EVERYONE. EVERYONE! Colonialism also leads to capitalism, globalization, and industrialization. How can we truly end capitalism without ending colonialism? How does doing things in the name of “America” which was created by the imposition of hierarchies of class, race, ability, gender, and sexuality help that?

Full post here!

Let’s not ask “Where are all the people of color,” by Midwest Mountain Mama

Brilliant:

WE have been organizing for the past 500 years, and WE have been the ones organizing especially hard in the post-911 world—THEY are joining the rest of us. THAT is the point to me—to make sure the question does not get rewritten to “where are all the people of color” when we all know the real question is “where have the white folks been?”

Originally found here!

Reflections on #OccupyWallStreet, by The Rebel Diaz Arts Collective

Photo: RDAC-BX

From the RDAC-BX:

Our intention is not to dismiss it as just this, but the gut feeling was that there is a serious disconnect down there. We left with mad questions! Where was the hood? Where was the poorest congressional district in the USA, from The South Bronx at? Like we say in Hip Hop, where Brooklyn at?

Read the full post here!

Brown Power at #OccupyWallStreet, by Hena Ashraf

Photo: Liza Eliano for Hyperallergic

Hena Ashraf recounts what can only be described as a traumatic experience at the hands of Occupy Wall Street’s white facilitators and leaders. Ashraf and her friends had to fight in order change the movement’s Declaration, and faced and entirely uphill battle, emblematic of the white supremacist structure that controls OWS:

The facilitator who had earlier attempted to shut us down, came and said we should come back the next day to finish our discussion. We said no, let’s do this right here and now, and hammer it out in 10 minutes, which we did. A white woman came up to me and asked, why didn’t we leave the main facilitator alone? I told her he wanted to listen to us and chose to sit down here with us, we didn’t force him. These were the unfortunate distractions and disruptions we had to deal with. I realized that change on the ground is hard, messy, and painful, and we could feel all of this.

Ashraf and her friends fought to change a line which read, “As one people, formerly divided by the color of our skin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or lack thereof, political party and cultural background, we acknowledge the reality: that there is only one race, the human race, and our survival requires the cooperation of its members […]” The line now reads “As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members […]” That this much emotional and intellectual work leads to such a tiny victory is depressing (at best). Let’s commend Ashraf and her friends for their bravery under unbelievable pressure.

Read full post here!

Call for Entries (Updated!)

From New York to California, and everywhere in between, Occupy has created a massive and media-savvy movement that has captured a lot (perhaps too much) attention. While white author/activists have written that “Occupy Wall Street rediscovers the radical imagination,” we feel that such celebratory rhetoric effectively erases the endless efforts on the part of people of color to dismantle oppression–in fact, we can think of nothing less radically imaginative than surviving under the multiple layers of systems created to destroy us as people of color. Similarly, when other white author/activists write that we “Either […] join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or […] stand on the wrong side of history,” they discount the many ways in which Occupy has created a movement that not all people of color want to take part in.

Let’s begin by approaching the name of the first encampment, Occupy Wall Street, by stating what we feel should be obvious: every city on the continent is occupied indigenous land. Wall Street was built on Algonquian land, and has been occupied ever since. After African slaves built Wall Street for European settlers, it was home to the slave market, and eventually became an African burial ground for up to 20,000 bodies. Since its arrival on this continent, capitalism has always been a system of exploitation based on race. Wall Street is one example of usurped land and slave labor, stolen to quell the desires of European colonizers. To attempt to create a movement that ignores this reality is fundamentally flawed, and it is not clear to us that it will ever move forward. When white Occupy Wall Street activists say they want to dismantle capitalism, they should realize its origin and understand why a slouching economy disproportionately affects people of color.  We feel that if these issues had been consciously integrated from the start, people of color in various Occupy locations (including Wall Street) wouldn’t be feeling the heat of white supremacy today, and believe that Occupy’s white organizers bear the full burden of this reproduction of oppression.

This blog seeks to aggregate radical critiques about Occupy around the continent (including Canada, of course). We’ve begun posting links to some of the most relevant existing analysis from people of color who have been disenfranchised from this movement, but we’re also seeking your links and/or direct entries to this blog. For the moment, we’re interested in providing an outlet for people of color who have had to fight to have their voices heard by the white mass that now controls this movement. If you consider yourself a white ally, we ask that you keep your entries to yourself at this time, and instead read these posts and only comment when you feel it is necessary (there’s already plenty of space for your voice at Occupy, and we want to create an online site for, by and about people of color); you can also consider volunteering to run errands and cook a meal or two for a person of color for a day so that they have the time to sit, think and write about their experience for an audience. A few exceptions to this rule: we want to hear from disability rights activists of any identity, to begin to understand what your experience with Occupy has been as well. We also welcome photographs from anyone.

We doubt you need ideas, and would love to simply provide a space for you to share your experiences. But there are many other potential topics of inquiry:

• One idea includes analyzing the General Assembly and Facilitation model, who it works for, and who it silences. We think that Human Microphone and Stack, and other forms of culturally-white communication can sometimes work in oppressive ways. Because white people enter Occupy as teachers already possessing these “skills,” people of color are left with no choice but to take the place of students who are eager to mimic an often foreign process, and have no room whatsoever to challenge it.
• Another topic includes challenging Occupy’s notion of police brutality, and the way white folks hog up an issue that so unevenly affects people of color after getting roughed up once or twice by the cops during a protest. Police brutality and state violence are everyday realities in communities of color, but Occupy has made it seem like white kids are suddenly the ones suffering. The day that 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, we heard that “the whole world [was] watching.” Is that the reason the whole world wasn’t watching the 1,000 mostly black people who attended Troy Davis’ funeral that Saturday?
• We also want to hear from those of you who want to examine Occupy’s branding. Aside from the problematic nature of the word “occupy” itself, we’re worried that calling this the “99%” whitewashes reality. As shown by the many blog links we’ve already posted, few people of color feel this is a “democratic” and/or “horizontal” process. Why does Occupy choose to use so many words that obscure the way people of color have been marginalized at this encampment?

We seek writing in the form of short blogs, lists of demands, poems, journal entries, long-form essays (we have no word minimum, but ask that essays be no longer than 1,500 words before discussing this with us), as well as art work, recordings, photographs (we have a feeling a lot of you have taken photos that reflect some of the very misguided signs with racist slogans, white activists wearing “war paint,” endless streams of ridiculously offensive Guy Fawkes masks etc., and we really, really need them, so please send them over!). Please send all questions and entries to disoccupy@gmail.com, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Why Occupy Wall Street should matter to People of Color, by Kevin Alvarez

Photo: Kevin Alvarez

Kevin Alvarez has been an early participant at OWS, and explains the ways in which people of color have been marginalized, and why they should take part in the movement and take over leadership roles:

“The disparity in the number of members/participants/citizens/activists of color that are taking part compared to the number of white people (esp. males). Now, I expect a “why do you have to make it about race?” response, because that is typical when someone’s privilege is confronted, but I want this to be constructive.”

Read full post here!

An Open Letter to the Occupy Wall Street Activists, by JohnPaul Montano (Nishnaabe)

Photo: Native News Network

We were surprised to find that this post, written just one week after the start of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), hardly made round on the internet. Please consider reading it in full, commenting and re-posting widely–it is his voices that OWS’s white leadership needs to answer to.

“Hoping and believing that you enlightened folks fighting for justice and equality and an end to imperialism, etc., etc., would make mention of the fact that the very land upon which you are protesting does not belong to you – that you are guests upon that stolen indigenous land. I had hoped mention would be made of the indigenous nation whose land that is. I had hoped that you would address the centuries-long history that we indigenous peoples of this continent have endured being subject to the countless ‘-isms’ of do-gooders claiming to be building a “more just society,” a “better world,” a “land of freedom” on top of our indigenous societies, on our indigenous lands, while destroying and/or ignoring our ways of life. I had hoped that you would acknowledge that, since you are settlers on indigenous land, you need and want our indigenous consent to your building anything on our land – never mind an entire society.

Read full post here!