Report from Occupy Wall Street

 

Mohandas Gandhi’s theory of social action entails that we select the right cause, use the right means, and leave the results to a higher power. Before spending two days and one night in Zuccotti Park, the makeshift encampment and epicenter of Occupy Wall Street, I had serious doubts about the movement’s cause, means, and even spirituality. From far away in Rochester, it appeared that this planned revolt was more like a political circus orchestrated by angry and disenfranchised youth. The general message seemed to center on corporate reform but included a plethora of issues typically associated with the radical left. Moreover, it was difficult to discern any form of spirituality emanating from scanty, slanted and superficial news stories in publications like the New York Times.

After witnessing these events first hand, I can report that Occupy Wall Street may not have a specific cause but speaks with a clear voice. The “core” demonstrators want the world to know that corporate greed is poisoning the heart of American democracy. They also want the world to know that young people are tired of sitting on the sidelines while their government fails to provide meaningful jobs, adequate health care, and effective environmental conservation.

I discovered that protestors use a variety of means to express their concerns. These means include music, street art, political theater, and subversive forms of journalism. On the scene, it is clear that the protestors are able to talk about these complex issues with both thoughtfulness and tremendous passion. One of the more encouraging examples I can share with readers is a communication technique known as the “people’s mic.” Denied access to electronic amplification, protestors have developed a means of sharing information that uses the collective voice of the crowd to echo the words spoken by individuals. This tactic struck me as a profound demonstration of ingenuity in the face of adversity.

But some of the means are crude and counter-productive. One protestor was ominously dressed in zombie garb and walked around limply with a sign that read “When the world ends, I will eat the bodies of the rich.”

In general, the chaotic scene is imbued with a healthy appreciation for nonviolence that acted as a sort of glue to the many conflicting elements that appear to be in tension with each other and could erupt into violence otherwise. For example, the three major rules that everyone must obey as they enter “Liberty Plaza” include: no drugs and alcohol; no stepping on the park’s flowers; and no disrespecting other people’s belongings. Nevertheless, this community is not as autonomous as it pretends to be. After spending the night in the park, I awoke at dawn to witness several NYPD and paramedics lifting an unconscious man onto a gurney and rushing him to the hospital. The OWS medics were forced to stand on the sidelines while the city’s emergency responders attempted to save the man’s life.

As for the movement’s spirituality, I did see so-called anarchists flaunting their atheism in a rather bellicose way, and most people would concede that this is a secular movement.  Yet the very sight of thousands of people exercising their inalienable right to speak truth to power is a tantalizing experience. I also admired the small but energetic bands of protesters singing civil rights hymns that would have brought a smile to the face of Martin Luther King, Jr.

So yes,  from my viewpoint, this movement does have a certain spiritual vitality.  However, it is far too early to surmise where this powerful energy is going and just how far it can take a grassroots revolution founded on such an unspiritual ambition as occupation.

 

George Payne

Payne is a peace activist with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence