Left-Wing Voters

In a country that supposedly prides itself on being a democracy, what counts as an important news story- the consistently ridiculous competition to see who gets to be the Puppet In Chief, or the death of our nation's democratic ideals?

Yesterday a SWAT team raided Occupy Miami. While one group of so-called police officers was invading and ransacking Occupy Miami's office building, another group was outside in the parking lot, assault rifles at the ready, preventing Miami's Occupiers from joining a protest march.

Was any of this reported on the national news? No, of course not. The national news had other concerns, such as telling us who might be dating who in Hollywood or which member of the Republican presidential circus got the loudest applause for his latest pratfall.

This is equally true of the “center left” media as it is of the right. You never see Chris Mathews talking about NDAA or HR 347 or any of the other assaults on democracy we've had to endure in the past few months. It's all about this shambolic spectacle of a presidential race, as if any of that was even still relevant.

American democracy is being dismantled. Legislators of both parties are falling over each other to pass new laws killing free speech and freedom of assembly. Hired criminals calling themselves police officers are being used to suppress dissent through violence and intimidation. How can anyone even talk about the presidential race with a straight face while all this is going on?

HR 347 just passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 388-3, once again giving the lie to the idea that there's any substantial difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to liberty and authoritarianism. So what does HR 347 do? Oh, nothing much- it merely criminalizes protest under a wide range of circumstances, outlaws the “mike check” as a tool of civil disobedience and drives another nail into the nearly-completed coffin of American democracy.

The bill makes it a crime, punishable by up to a year in jail (or ten in the unlikely event you're carrying a weapon) to “trespass” as part of a protest by entering any Federal government building, to “disrupt” any government business (such as a foreclosure auction) or to protest in the general area inhabited by anyone with Secret Service protection either currently or in the future.

So if you mike check a foreclosure auction, it's a year in jail. If you mike check a presidential candidate, it's a year in jail. If you merely picket at a building where a presidential candidate is planning to speak at some point, it's a year in jail.

This is literally a bill to criminalize some of the most effective forms of Occupy protest, and is targeted directly at the Occupy Movement. It received equal support from both Republicans and Democrats. The verdict is in- if you really believe in a free and democratic America, don't waste your time by working to help either party win the next election. Instead, join us in the streets before it's too late.

If you see people dressed in army green or wearing green arm bands at the G8 protests, you might be looking at members of the Green Army Initiative, or “Green Army” for short. This organization is named after the “green armies” of unaffiliated peasants during the Russian Civil War, who organized to defend their villages from the atrocities of both the Whites and the Reds. According to their Facebook page:

“The Green Army is dedicated to defending the people and the people's rights, from violent hate groups, and if necessary, from fascist governments.”

They offer security protection for free to any group threatened by right-wing extremists. They also intend to stand in the front lines of the G8 protests in order to physically protect protesters from police violence. In the event of a general breakdown of central authority- which the group seems to believe is inevitable- they intend to help communities organize to defend themselves, just like the original green armies.

I genuinely admire and respect all three of these goals. Here's why I don't have complete confidence in the Green Army concept:

1- Occupy Wall Street is a transparent movement. Secrecy is inevitable when you're talking about the fine details of certain plans (such as the location of a foreclosure defense before it begins) but in general most Occupiers try to operate in the open. If your organization is heavily security-conscious, it raises the question of what your secrets are. Are you planning anything other than your stated goals? Are you planning to do things many of us would consider wrong? For that matter, when we have no idea who you are, how can we know your ranks are not infiltrated by agents provocateurs? Could well-meaning people get involved in your movement only to find themselves in a lot of trouble because they didn't understand the real scenario?

2- when you say you intend to protect protesters from police violence, do you mean that you intend to place yourselves physically in harms' way in order to give peaceful protesters time to escape, or do you mean you actually intend to fight the police? Most of us would respect and admire you for doing the former, but would consider the latter to be deeply misguided. If you contribute to a cycle of mutual escalation between Occupy and the police, you will endanger us all and harm the movement.

3- your emphasis on preparing for a general collapse of society seems paranoid and a little disturbing, even though the act of defending one's community in such a crisis would unquestionably be admirable. We don't need to engage in morbid “what-ifs” about the future- we need intelligent strategic action today, to keep such a dark future from ever happening. Yes, societies sometimes collapse- but the best way to prepare for such a thing is to prevent such a thing.

None of these statements are intended to express hostility toward the members of the Green Army Initiative. Instead, they are intended to help it, by sharing what I think many of us are probably thinking. I find what you're trying to do deeply moving- I'm just not sure it's the right way to do it.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, in an amazing display of myopia, is calling on the national Occupy movement to denounce Occupy Oakland. This is the response from Occupy Wall Street:

“On Saturday, January 28, thousands of parents, families and engaged citizens gathered together to open a community center in the heart of downtown Oakland. The Police, under orders from Mayor Quan, responded to this peaceful demonstration of direct democracy and community building by arresting around 400 people. Hundreds more were injured when an army of officers marched on these unarmed families, raised their guns and fired bullets, tear gas canisters, smoke bombs, concussion grenades and other explosive devices into the crowd. Mayor Quan, on the same day as solidarity marches were organized by dozens of occupations across the nation, has called on the Occupy Movement to denounce Oakland’s show of bravery under fire and community strength. We stand with Oakland and call for the immediate resignation of Quan, who on Saturday made it clear that the state has abandoned democracy and joined the 1% in declaring war against the people.”

When the leaders of other nations choose to use violence on their own people, we lecture them sternly and tell them to stop. We tell them to respect democracy. We do this even if the protesters have been less than one hundred percent saintly in response to police brutality. In Egypt's Tahrir Square uprisings, police stations were burned to the ground by angry protesters frustrated with police violence. Did our government condemn the protesters? No, it did not. Instead, it called for regime change.

No one in Oakland has burned down any police stations. People who were under fire threw some things and a handful of them committed acts of vandalism. Should they have vandalized City Hall? I don't think so. But the behavior of Mayor Quan and the Oakland PD has been authoritarian, reckless, and criminally violent.

The silence from our government is suddenly deafening. No lectures about respecting democracy. No calls for regime change. This is the failure and bankruptcy of our representative democracy, which no longer represents the people of this country because it is completely corrupted by corporate power.

Direct democracy, as the statement from Occupy Wall street makes clear, makes it possible for communities to address their own problems directly. So in the void created by our government's silence, we will speak out loud and clear.

What we need in Oakland is regime change!