American Wanderlust

Terms like extremist, or fundamentalist, don’t generally have such positive connotations in our society.  Even those who argue that they should, such as numerous self avowed biblical fundamentalists in the United States who see no relationship between themselves and the fundamentalists of other religions (whom they naturally see as agents of the devil) seem to embrace the term out of little more than defensive necessity.  Today, in my teachers lounge, Occupy Wall Street came up yet again.  I noticed that there were more than a few signs of support hanging in teachers classrooms, which impressed me, but also sort of bothered me.  There is a general attitude among teachers (or at least among the teachers with whom I work) that there isn’t really any necessity for them to join the movement, so long as they put up signs.  Anyway, for those of you who do not live in the City the protests have become the kind of thing that virtually everyone has an opinion about, pro or con.  What I heard from a few of the younger teachers in my department (who, ironically, are the ones who haven’t been down there or involved in the movement in any way) that the “protesters” (since nobody wants to call it a movement or occupation, despite the fact that this is not, and has not been, a protest) needed to decide what they were “protesting” about (see previous).  That didn’t bother me, besides forcing me to reflect on the dangers of having the ignorant and blind leading our youth.  What did bother me was the way in which a few of the veteran teachers who have had the courage to involve themselves in the legal protests which have been carried out by OWS spoke of a few of our speakers today.

Firstly, these teachers, history teachers, were alarmed by the talk of the abolition of capitalism and of private property.  They stressed that the youth needed to set their sights on something more reasonable, something that they could actually attain.  Higher taxes on the wealthy were suggested.  I will not get out into a picket line to fight higher taxes on the wealthy, but at the same time, that isn’t why I am protesting.  Any reform that a billionaire like Warren Buffet would ask for will not fundamentally change our system.  Buffet sees that the system of Western Imperialism, as it is embodied by the United States, is under threat.  He sees that more capital will be needed to defend it and strengthen it’s stranglehold on the world.  As one of the key beneficiaries of international white capitalist heterosexist patriarchy, he sees it as his duty (and the duty of his equals) to step up to the plate to fight for the system that has given them such an egregious amount of power.  An interesting Jazeera piece phrased this Taxing more to pay for more wars, and pointed out that this is not the goal of the progressive movement, and that, as such, it was not clear that any support should be offered to Buffet and his call to arms.  It serves only to detract attention from the true problems of our unjust system, and to re-entrench the traditional elite of our society.

That is not what modern social movements are about.  That is not what Occupy Wall Street has been about to this point.  Hopefully, that will not be what the movement is about at ANY point.

Naturally, there is no one dogma which applies to everyone involved in the movement.  That is a strength of our revolution, not a weakness.  Despite all of the jaded and cynical smiles from the teachers at my school, about how communism failed in Russia (it was never attempted, the soviet system was in fact backed quite heavily by western european financiers, such as the Rothchilds, and their agents in the United States, particularly JP Morgan and the Warburgs.  Where do you think the gold of the Russian Czars ended up?) or Cuba (There is absolutely no question about the fact that Castro has killed FAR less people than the neoliberal fascism the CIA and United States inflicted upon Chile, Argentina, Nicaragua, Brasil, or others), it seems that they are missing the point.

Occupy Wall Street is about creating a forum for the conversations that we have not been allowed to have for our entire lives.  About change, and progress, and a new world.  Limiting ourselves to “moderatism” and “attainable goals” can only dampen this conversation.  Some movements may shoot off of OWS with specific goals and aims, and perhaps the language of compromise will be appropriate in that setting.  But what occupy wall street is about is resistance and openness.  If that’s extremism, then let’s embrace that.

We are extremists for the starving victims of capitalist imperialism, at home and abroad.  We are extremists for the modern day slaves who walk the streets of New York like zombies.

We are the vanguard of the 99%.

Hasta victoria siempre.

Andrew