Beyond Occupy (in Australia)
The below text is an excerpt from a paper I wrote in January 2012 entitled 'Beyond Occupy'... The time for honest reflection is upon us. The Occupy Movement has not become the people’s movement in Australia so many believed. It has been boxed, branded and tarnished; its contributors oppressed, beaten, arrested; it’s grievances ignored, and of most concern to me; it’s ideas lost in a haze of misunderstanding. To pull apart the mess and repair the damage would not only take enormous time and effort if possible, but would primarily depend upon factors controlled by the now infamous 1%. Occupy challenged more directly, rapidly and concertedly than any social movement in recent memory and was met with many concrete walls. Walls of oppressive law. Walls of excessive force, violence and brutality. And acutely in Australia, walls of ignorance. But why? No doubt Occupy exhibits a specific anti-corporate, anti-corruption focus, but the distillation of these concepts illuminates the Occupy Movement not as the be all and end all of present-day social movements, but as one of many predominantly Anglosphere elements of what has become a global struggle towards truly “rule of the people” democracy. The most significant lesson I’ve captured through my involvement in Occupy is that not enough of us understand enough about the problems we face – indeed many of us, both passively and actively, refuse to believe problems exist – to afford ourselves the collective ability not only to impart upon our leaders a collective will, but even to create the real world we all must live in. Given the dilemmas faced through misinformation, lack of growth, re-framing of the discourse in commercial media and other factors too numerous and insidious to mention; Do we abandon “Occupy” as a movement? To answer, we have to first look beyond the boundaries of the movement and begin to critically analyse what is happening, to provoke some critical consideration of how we're doing what we're doing and perhaps even question what we're doing in the first place. Of the 4.1 million people living in Melbourne, the 5.5 million in Victoria, the 22.8 million in Australia, the overwhelming majority of them know so little about the monied corruption of our democracy that around 10 million of them still place the LNP, ALP, Lib or Nat parties as their number 1 preference against their best interests (many of the rest are ineligible to vote). While there are some battles on the ground, in front of banks, outside forums and the like, the war on the best interests of the 100% lies in the intentional spread of misinformation amongst the populace. What processes, events, decisions have occurred to bring those of us who imagine ourselves to be "informed" and "free-thinking" to where we are today? If it is not our job to "educate" others with an imposed doctrine creating further institutionalisation, then how do we awaken Australians to the plight we face today to afford ourselves the numbers to affect real change? We must answer this question directly and effectively, and cut to the chase. Would it take 10 million one-on-one conversations? Do we need to go door-knocking? How much money do we need? How do we talk to people? Who are "we"? How do we "spread awareness" without imposing a doctrine? Is the real question one of empowerment? These are the questions we need to be answering and they are the answers we need to be acting upon. Occupy was one idea we attempted to enact on a large scale. It’s success or failure is irrelevant. What it brought us were glimpses into tomorrow’s broad social movements and what the struggle for democracy might mean to Australians. Beyond Occupy lies a fresh world of collaborations, of sharing information, knowledge and skills, a world of peace and non-violence, united by our common goals, if we indeed want these things. It matters not what becomes of Occupy, but what you become of Occupy. While the global Occupy Movement may inspire future protest encampments here in Australia, I for one believe the deeper shift in discourse has not been felt in this dry continent. Not enough of us were ready to sit for long enough in our public spaces until change was won, and to be honest in Australia at least, it was never going to be won that way. I want to empower others. I want to illuminate the reality of our collective plight. I want the minds inspired to be those who have never attended a demonstration, never signed a petition and perhaps never even knew who their local representative was. Do we have the sociocultural infrastructure, strong and resilient communities, to support a popular people’s movement against Australian ills? Or must those around us first be empowered to build a genuine sense of place and culture? I am going to find the answers. In the meantime, we could do far worse than to critically analyse the Occupy Movement in Australia to understand why it is so different from Occupy in the US or Europe and determine where we succeeded and where we failed. We must unpack and understand these things if we are to pull our weight as a people in this monumental global struggle for democracy.