Remember a couple of weeks ago how Shaffer and Kranz were set up at their campaign launch press event with two strangers carrying Occupy signs? Remember how Mike Andreen comment trolling and anonymous mailers supporting Stocks and Muir sent around fake headlines, ideas and images of Occupy riots to smear Shaffer and Kranz as extremists? As Shaffer said long before this and during these attacks, learning about Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party were of course something she was interested in learning about in this campaign.
Sadly, like so many other positive forces for democracy demonized by the mighty media Wurlitzer of rightwing fear blasting misinformation at an anxious conservative base, our candidates had to put distance between themselves and any kind of dissent that could be negatively construed in the last days.
It's how campaigns work when the opposition party leaders refuse to publicly denounce the use of lies and incendiary images and rhetoric to manipulate. It's dumbing down critical thought and culturally perpetuating their base's worst instincts.
How stupid are these guys? For the past week we have been reading a seeing the remarkable work of Inter-Occupy groups in New York City. Interview from Smart Planet follows:
Back in October of 2011, it was hard to predict that Occupy Wall Street would reappear, just over a year later, as a hurricane relief effort outshining the Red Cross and FEMA in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
[ . . .]
One of your organizers, Joan Donovan, said Occupy Sandy Relief is “truly a 21st Century relief organization“. This sentiment has been repeated by media outlets over the past week. What are the characteristics of Occupy Sandy Relief that separate it from larger organizations like FEMA and the Red Cross?
Andrea Ciannavei: FEMA and the Red Cross have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy. Occupy has a network of organizers who are already there and have access to local community groups. Someone can show up, get sensitivity training, and offer support an hour later.
Occupy Sandy also asks for in-kind donations first – supplies, generators, food, clothes – things that people can actually give and use right away. While FEMA and the Red Cross have substantial resources, they may not be able to deploy them in less than 24 hours.
Michael Badger: Over the past year Occupy has developed a community of trust. We had to work to develop that. But now we all know each other so we united around Occupy Sandy very quickly. We don’t need to spend time managing each other because of this level of trust.
It seems like a lot of Sandy Relief is happening without residents, press, or the city knowing who is in charge. Should we be re-imagining what leadership looks like?
Michael Badger: I absolutely think so. A leader in the traditional sense is somebody who figures things out and tells people what to do. One of the things we talk about is shared leadership. This means supporting each other to be leaders and to lead along side each other. We need to afford communities to be able to really stand on their own.
The truth is that Occupy has taken many different forms of the 99%'s fundamental needs for community involvement and protest across the country, most notably protecting families in foreclosure actions. The other desperately needed relief in our nation is debt relief for the young, specifically school loan debt. Here is the solution that is ready to roll out thanks to Occupy groups across the country.Even with all of the challenges, these involved people have found it is a remarkable thing to be alive right now.
