Tomorrow (Friday). Reynolds Park. Starting: When people show up. Those who live in the downtown area have probably already seen the chalkings.
For those who haven’t joined already, do join the Facebook group “Occupy Madison” (http://www.facebook.com/OccupyMadison?ref=ts). As of this writing, it’s already nearing 4,000 members.
It’s an amorphous group that’s behind the organizing, with no single organization or group of individuals driving the agenda. Like the Wall Street occupation and its rapidly increasing sister demonstrations, the Madison occupation seems to be a mostly spontaneous activation.
While many have complained about this lack of structure and identifiable goals, the movement’s lack of discernible center is actually its strength. Do we really need a clear outline of the point of a protest taking place at Wall Street, the most lucid symbol of everything that is wrong with our society? The progressive/pro-worker side of the political ledger does not lack ideas; indeed, I think ours represent the best hope for improving the quality of life for the vast majority in our society. Rather, in virtue of being shut out of decision-making processes of our political system, we lack the means of implementing them. And this is what occupation of Wall St is all about: Harnessing the energy and strength of workers, unemployed, students and those otherwise disenfranchised to radically change the political dynamic occurring in the world today.
The lack of organizational leadership and centralism are equally laudable. This has allowed the movement to avoid sectarianism and being co-opted from establishment organizations (especially, and most ominously, the parasitical Democratic Party). This method is radical and anti-establishment because it has to be; our institutions have been corrupted by corporate money to the extent that making change within the system (on a national level, at least) can now only be considered an unfunny joke.
The protesters are comprised of the 99% who are exploited by the 1%.
The winds of progressive change were first blown earlier this year with the mass protests of workers here in Wisconsin. Now, the winds are blowing back.
