> ‘Discipline’ is a subordinate question. The pointed
> challenge is what does the movement want? OWS
> has made a virtue of its open-endedness. That
> seems to be a formula that puts off the disputatious
> splits that characterise left-wing campaigns. Still, the
> basic problem is unavoidable, what are you for? As
> long as there is no clarification – meaning debate –
> about what the movement wants, then it will remain
> marginal to the greater mass of people.
I mentioned the recent protest at the NYC DOE meeting, which was carefully planned and had very specific goals. shag has mentioned kitchens, libraries, and many other initiatives emerging in various places addressing very specific needs. (I also mentioned, recently, the Occupy University project launched by the Empowerment & Education group. URPErs are involved in it.) It's almost impossible to keep track of the very pointed initiatives popping up in so many places. And, not to miss this one, here's a story showing that Occupy is not some formless entity without design or organization, shy of demanding changes -- with a hat tip to Nathan Tankus, who participates in this working group:
* * *
Occupy’s amazing Volcker Rule letter By Felix Salmon FEBRUARY 14, 2012
BANKING One of the saddest aspects of the financialization of the US economy is the way in which America’s best and brightest found themselves working on Wall Street, rather than in jobs which improved the state of the world. Proof of this comes from the absolutely astonishing 325-page comment letter on the Volcker Rule which has been put together by Occupy the SEC; it’s pretty clear, from reading the letter, that the people who wrote it are whip-smart and extremely talented.
Occupy the SEC is the wonky finreg arm of Occupy Wall Street, and its main authors are worth naming and celebrating: Akshat Tewary, Alexis Goldstein, Corley Miller, George Bailey, Caitlin Kline, Elizabeth Friedrich, and Eric Taylor. If you can’t read the whole thing, at least read the introductory comments, on pages 3-6, both for their substance and for the panache of their delivery. A taster:
[...]
Very well done, then, to Occupy the SEC — a clear example of how the Occupy movement is making incredibly detailed and substantive demands of our legislators and regulators. This letter is many things, but inchoate it is not. Let’s hope that the SEC gives it the full attention it deserves.
Full story: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/02/14/occupys-amazing-volcker-rule-letter/