occupy at its end and adjustment
It came to pass just as South Park predicted. As the Occupy Encampment moved to its final mark of the radicals bruising for a showdown with the Riot Gear Cops, I saw a lone figure sit at a nearby vacant lot — a tent, a sign that said “Independent” over “Occupy Artists’ Refugee” and holding up three cardboard signs. “I Protest Theft”, “I Protest Addiction”, “I Protest Sexual Assault”. You won’t find many dissenters for that, I suppose.
And I saw a group of a dozen cyclists go by. Shouting “We Bike for Social Justice”. ‘Cause we need some material for the next season of IFC’s Portlandia series.
And I watched the End of the Occupation Encampment, with a horde of other people. It was that protest for protests’ sake — defiance for the sake of defiance. It is here that the protests kind of grow met, post-modern, referential — They forge against the death of this protest.
Reportedly earlier in the day, 6 hours after the Eviction time, at 6 am, the Camp shouted about Victory. Why, I have no clear idea. No, it seems a strikingly careful and just police response, careful and plodding and patient in their aim. The necessity of the media is to grab the most photogenically stereotypical figures doing stuff, and I guess we have that. And we have the winner of the “Last Person at Occupy” derby before being removed from the park. Good for her. A bit of a booby prize, I think.
And now we see the floating debris of the future of Occupy. A banner stating an intention to “Occupy” whatever bank, a march to “Shut Down” wherever whenever. It strikes me that the Occupiers might have proven themselves useful as a counter-force to this promotional effort from a credit card company handing out a device that makes it easier to swipe your credit card at any time. This is Ad Busters material, right? If it can get nimble enough to march at these when they pop up, that’d make it a useful force. Instead we just have a smashed bank window.
And now we get the individual splinters, focal point in a general direction of liberal – left – radical. It is the current mode of Political protest and dissension, I guess.