[lbo-talk] Occupy Oakland's imminent implosion and the widereffects

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Nov 6 05:11:05 PST 2011


Apparently the debate went o.n long after I had gone to sleep. I don't feel like reading most of the posts piled up, and neither do I feel like launching a massive research project to find out what _really_ happened in Oakland -- since obviously no one knows the "whole story." But there are a few general observations that would hold independently of the particular facts of any one occasion.

First of all, all riots are police riots until it is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they are not. Such a demonstration takes a few weeks after the "riot" to determine the facts.

Secondly, if people are fussing about "public opinion," knock it off. The only opinion that counts at this time is the opinion of those who see themselves as committed leftists. To worry about "public opinion" in general presupposes that this year's elections are important. That is, public opinion is only important in the months immediately preceding an election that itself is important. The opinion of others 'out there' who might be attracted to the left over the next year won't be affected by any sort of particular bad behavior but only by the activity of those with whom they have some personal contact. The left grows by osmosis as it were, not by influencing or not influencing some vague mass opinion out there. Does anyone on this list plan to write a letter to the Oakland mayor demanding that she crush the Occupation and all connected with it? I doubt it. It is the whole mass of leftist activity over time that makes a difference.

Perhaps most important of all, nothing we do makes any real difference in how the media presents us. Here again, reading some of the better books on the '60s would help to bring some perspective. All demonstrations are marked by violence in media reports, regardless of what actually happens. If some right-wing thugs attack some demonstrator the reports will talk about violence in general and even careful reading won't reveal that the demonstration itself was peaceful. So if you are worrying about what the media will say, you are confessing your ignorance of the relationships between the mass media and that fearful entity, "public opinion."

And so, really, I don't understand what the fuss is all abut. Shit happens. We continue to do what we can to mobilize more and better left mass action and more and better propaganda (internal education) as we go along and these activities are not affected by the inevitable "bad behavior" shown by the left either actually or in the mass media; and as I say, it will be bad behavior when it shows up on TV or the daily paper. Patience. Patience. Patience. And go on about our business. And try to say "we" rather than "they" when talking about left activity.

Carrol



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