How I think Occupy can positively re-invent itself

I went to a local presentation last night, where a guy who has been very enthusiastic about Occupy, was showing some slides he took, while he was at Occupy Wall Street. I was initially very cynical, as I have been towards the movement more or less all along, I will admit; but a lot of what he showed us was very positive, and it gave me an idea for how Occupy could continue to work, and continue to do something positive.

For me, the single most positive function of the movement, has not been protest. It has actually been something very different; providing both a focal point for, and a demonstration of, a completely different sociological and economic model, which we can and should use to replace the current society. A model based on love, rather than apathy and the other base emotions which usually predominate in human society; and a model which is also based on sound engineering and scientific principles, rather than economic greed.

As one example, I know that the city of Melbourne in Australia has both the older Royal Exhibition Buildings, and the newer Exhibition Center. What I am proposing is that Occupy re-invent itself as an exhibition or conference which could be held at these legitimate venues, wherever they exist within each city, on a rotating basis. The free kitchen could still be run; the Free Network Foundation and other such groups would still have a place to gather and recruit new members, and that is something which I consider extremely positive, beneficial, and necessary. All of the positive roles which Occupy served could still be maintained; there simply would no longer be any conflict with the authorities.

One of the main problems that I believe Occupy has always suffered from, to at least a degree, is a belligerent, adversarial attitude. As much as it is billed as a nonviolent movement, a lot of people within said movement, have clearly displayed actually wanting to have someone to fight and engage in physical violence with. I have seen videos where the police were being taunted and advanced on by protesters as well, even if they haven't come out and actually hit police. People need to read about Gandhi a little more, and realise that such behaviour is not an element of genuine Satyagraha.

I am aware that this is an idea that the proverbial black bloc may not approve of; but truthfully, I've never considered their approach useful anyway. Protesters bashing police serves no more productive purpose than police bashing protesters. The entire "protest," angle needs to be removed. If it is, and if Occupy moves to more legitimate venues, (and changes the name, which truthfully I've always considered belligerent and obnoxious, which I suspect was also the point) it can continue to serve its' positive functions, develop a strong and positive reputation with the authorities and the public, and enjoy a much longer effective lifespan as a result.

There are still ways that the current system can and should be undermined, within what to them, will appear to be a much less visibly threatening mode of operation.

I believe the spring will bring a major resurgence of support and hopefully a more concerted and organized effort.

I mean it took the movement, as a whole, about a month or two to say exactly what they wanted from those in power (probably because so many things need major changes).

Here's to serious changes coming for the federal reserve, our bought-and-paid-for congress, a corrupt economy, the NDAA, the Patriot Act, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ...

Originally posted by Hawking
I believe the spring will bring a major resurgence of support and hopefully a more concerted and organized effort.

I want to see that, Hawking. As I said, however, I also want the emphasis to be on designing, creating, planning, building, and collaborating, rather than fighting.

OWS need to reinvent themselves as a political party.

you don't want to drag occupy on it will just become an annoyance then, you need to come up with new ideas rather than just sitting in places.

reply to post by petrus4


reinventing itself would be a great idea,not that anything will ever change in the world. as i watched it all on t.v. along with my parents who are in their late 70`s,and like the vast majority of the working class they were too busing believing that the banks are our friends and that our governments have our best interests at heart.
considering it was the bankers that kept giving loans to our governments who can no longer afford to pay for those loans, bright bankers who continue to lend money to our governments who are bad credit risks,and our governments who have no idea about the money and credit systems .

but up here in the great white north one of their propaganda masters [newspapers] came up with a most brilliantly scathing idea.it actually blew me away.
their quote was- that due to the economic mess that we are in due to the gross mismanagement of all of our banking system through the fraudulent loans and betting against those same people whom they lent to, that through all of this mess of theirs and the inability of the worlds governments to do anything about these thieves . as they the thieves [banks ] are above the laws that they broke by putting their own people into office so that all of the rules and laws that were put into place to stop the world from having another DIRTY 30`S style depression ,they called it a recession it is all the same # just different words meaning the same thing.these same elected offiacls their lackeys erased all of the laws to protect not only the people but the country from this from ever happening again.
quote - in this time there will emerge a new and different form of banks ,and or system that is not a part of their corrupt system.

can you think of a better time than for WE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD to rise up and take back from them what they have stolen from us .
why don`t we all start our own style of system that is not connected to their corrupt system . think on it if we pool all of our cash and lend it out only to the people ,not to business or the governments or the banks ,but only for the people call it the PEOPLES FUNDS or something along this line.
we start out small in every town ,start with payday loans at a flat rate of 5% eventually we would go to if the fridge breaks and you need a new one find it buy it and bring the bill to us for a cheque or cash for it at again a flat rate of 5%,nest we would take your credit card compounding interest away at again 5% then eventually your mortgages at again 5% .no compounding interest.
how it works is we the people own it and are the investors all banks, finance and so on are not allowed to be a part of it .
lets say you borrow 1000.00 add interest =50.00 total 1050.00 payback over x # of months let us say you are down to 400.00 owing when the fridge breaks bring the bill for the new one we give you cash to pay it, you now owe us 400.00 + 800.00 + interest on the 800.00 not the 400.00 as you have already paid it off as the interest is taken off of it first then the principal payments start.means you owe 400.00 + 800.00 + interest 40.00 +1,240.00 total owing.
what a great solution to our problem .and no more compounding interest as this is what is screwing up our current system as the interest is anywhere from 2 times the total amount borrowed to 20 times the amount borrowed by the time you all pay it back monthly at their compounding interest rates -ROBBERY .

reply to post by petrus4

I like your idea to use the force of OWS to move us to a system based on love and non-violence, but I wonder if OWS supporters are the best tool. My fear is that violence, confrontation, "take back," and "eat the rich" have gotten so thoroughly into their blood streams that non-violence will be rejected.

Here on ATS you can find threads and posts that say "If the government won't do what we want, then violent overthrow is the only answer." I don't know how you get rid of this strain of infection.

I explored another possibility in a thread: www.abovetopsecret.com... It got off to a rocky start but I think we came up with an idea to use OWS to accomplish some of its goals.