and now people are comparing occupy wall street to the French Revolution…
Did people just gloss over the Reign of Terror when learning about the French Revolution? The slogan “liberte egalite fraternite” is a great slogan and great things to rally around but they were never really achieved… Once the Reign of Terror happened the revolution was shot to hell… Do you really want to be comparing your movement to it?
I would argue rather that the Terror happened because the revolution was in the process of “being shot to hell,” to use your phrasing, not the other way around. We are talking about a time when revolutionary France was dealing with external and internal wars, inflation, food supply problems, etc. In other words, pretty much anything that could conceivably go wrong was going wrong. This kind of situation doesn’t exactly lend itself to a great deal of stability in “normal” times, let alone a time when you’re in the midst of figuring out exactly how to reconstruct the political, social, and economic institutions of your country after hundreds of years of repression and general monarchical mismanagement. To save the revolution and to stop all the gains - and let us not forget that there were so, so many gains made for ordinary people during the revolution; it’s completely inane to brush them off to the side, as some people are wont to do, with a cry of “BUT BUT BUT THE TERROR” - that had been made in the past several years from disappearing, it was necessary to take strong actions.
Was everything that happened under the Terror, then, roses and sunshine and virtue? No, god, of course not. One need only look at, say, the massacres in Lyon and Nantes to come to that conclusion.
Was the Terror - at least the idea of it, if not the implementation - necessary? I shudder (as a number of the revolutionaries themselves did), but I say yes; given the facts of the time in which this policy was formulated, I don’t think there were many other options to stop the total collapse of France.
But was the Terror in the form that it actually took throughout France in 1793 and 1794, then, justified? This is a question that, after taking stock of the situation, of everything that was at stake, and of everything that resulted, one must answer for oneself. Suffice to say, though, that the answer is far more complicated than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and anyone who confidently says that they can answer it as such is kidding themselves, hasn’t done their research particularly thoroughly, or both.
…And this has been your ‘Chelsea likes to sit around and pontificate about the French Revolution instead of doing coursework’ digression of the day.
To get back to the original post itself, though, I don’t think the French Revolution comparison (but perhaps I should say “threat,” rather, because that seems to better describe how I’ve seen it used by movement supporters) is a particularly bad one if it’s meant in the sense that one of the causes of the French Revolution was the vast social and economic inequality that existed in France in 1789, and that this very type of inequality has been growing to monstrous proportions in the United States over the past 30 or 40 years. If nothing is done to check it, then something French Revolution-esque could very well erupt here. Not now, perhaps, but further down the line, if we do nothing to change our trajectory? Certainly.
Fox News has a new poll up. I think you know what to do.
As important as Gn’R getting into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame is…
…this is more important. Don’t give Fox News an excuse to say that the Occupy Wall Street protests don’t reflect the opinions of the people!
Take a second and make your self heard. No emails or text imput needed. Just click the button.
Time for a good old-fashioned tumblr poll bomb.
casually reblogs again
I can’t help but think that a lot of the NOs are people who are uneducated on what the protests are really for.
New York City: Tens of thousands of people marched in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street during a citywide demonstration initiated by labor unions, October 5, 2011.
Photo by Brenda Sandburg
New York City: Members of Transportation Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 speak at the Occupy Wall Street encampment.
society is a hole: Occupy Wall Street Re-Cap →
Between spending six plus hours at the Riot Grrrl Collections (where I developed an even greater respect for Kathleen Hanna as feminist/writer/zinester), celebrating Rosh Hashanah w/ the fam, starting to have anxiety attacks over writing for Hoax, and seeing The Book of Mormon (a horribly racist production which incorporates female genital mutilation into the plot wtf) there is SO MUCH to write about my time in NYC. But I just came back from Occupy Wall Street so I figure I’ll center this post on my experiences there.
So, I’ve been in & out of Wall Street over the past few days. I am not part of the central community down there (although I am a part of the Safer Space committee to ensure protection for queer/trans/women folk) & I am sure that the people who have been camping out & who are heading committees have a deeper insight into what is going on. These are just some of my observations/notes on what is currently happening down in the occuption. Excuse me if this is incoherent - I’m absolutely exhausted and my back absolutely kills when I sit in my mom’s chair to use her computer.
- There is TONS of food & water that has been donated to the occupiers. A member of the food committee lives near Wall Street and the food committee cooks homemade meals at that person’s house.
- The comfort committee has people who go to laundromats daily to clean blankets and stuff. Today it started to rain and they had TONS of ponchos that they were just giving away.
- Some of my friends helped to start a Safer Space corner on the SE part of the occupation. The Safer Space corner is a place where queer/women/allies can be around other people who have made a commitment to be respectful. The Safer Space Committee wears pink armbands & is committed to calling out jackasses. We are known & for the most part respected throughout the occupation.
- Unfortunately, there is still no way to have an accountability process. A known perpetrator came to the occupation & wouldn’t respect our request to leave the area. There was no way to proceed.
- There are tons of other active committees including PR, labor (unions), medics, mental health & counseling, security, language interpreters etc.
- There are marches at least twice a day, when the stock market is closing an opening.
- Lots of little communities are organically forming. I walked around & saw a people holding hands & meditating, thirty plus people eating shabbot dinner, artists painting together peacefully, drum circles & dancing etc. etc.
- There are lots of different stations throughout the park. There is the tobacco rolling station where you can roll your own cigarettes, the library (tons of books have been donated & are actually somewhat organized!), the info table (where you can find the day’s schedule & get connected to individual committees), a performance art stage, an area just for posters/signs etc. etc.
- There are various workshops & events that are being held throughout the day such as poetry readings, talent shows & scheduled discussions about direct action.
- Most of the occupiers are in their twenties, but a surprising number are significantly older. I saw babies & small children as well as senior citizens in their 70s and 80s.
- The overwhelming majority of people at the occupation are sober. Drinking and using drugs is NOT considered acceptable whatsoever! People who drink/do drugs on the premise are being called out (by the Safer Space committee of course).
- The cops haven’t been aggressive during my time there.
- Most people I’ve met are EXTREMELY nice & friendly. They go out of their way to ask you how you are and engage in a discussion. It’s a very positive, uplifting environment!
I have hope for this movement!
Wow such an organized group of people operating without a profit motive.
“Excuse me,” she said to a man in a tan raincoat. “Would you like a copy of The Occupied Wall Street Journal?”
Source: 
Today we received unconfirmed reports that over one hundred blue collar police refused to come into work in solidarity with our movement. These numbers will grow. We are the 99 percent. You will not silence us.
Sometimes I am very proud of my city.
(via verycunninglinguist)
The peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest march turned violent as the NYPD corralled and pepper sprayed the participants. Mass arrests were made and loaded onto a NYC bus further locking traffic. The protest march took a route from Zuccotti Park to Union Square on East 14th Street. The protesters were marching back to Zuccotti Park when the NYPD turned violent. Hitting, arresting and forcing protesters into a small area. At that point a NYPD supervisor yelled shut up to one of the protesters and shot pepper spray into her eyes point blank range and hitting a half dozen protesters (including 3 police officers) when they had nowhere to go. The same supervising officer was seen (photographed) laughing after the arrests while looking at his text messages.
Land of the free
Fucked up shit, man.
