'Occupy Congress' attempts to get lawmakers' attention
| Los Angeles
Tuesday marks the debut of Occupy 2.0.聽Gathering聽on the steps of the nation鈥檚 Capitol building in Washington Tuesday morning, Occupyers from around the United States plan to聽mark the day dubbed 鈥淥ccupy Congress.鈥澛�
Says one of the event鈥檚 organizers, lawyer and author Kevin Zeese, 鈥淭he world will see the beginning of a much聽more sophisticated, angry and targeted Occupy movement.鈥� 聽
With some 30 activist groups, supporters from local movements around the country as well as some 10,000 Facebook supporters stating their intention to show up, organizers hope this will be the largest Occupy gathering yet.
鈥淚f the first three months of the movement awakened the country鈥檚 elites,鈥� says Mr. Zeese, 鈥渙ur American spring will scare them.鈥�
The significance of the date,聽according to the is to welcome the聽2012 House of Representatives back to town: 鈥淲e need to be there en masse as soon as they begin their legislative session to let them know that they鈥檙e not going to waste another year. What better way to welcome them back than to have a huge demonstration that will drive the conversation on the ground and in the media.鈥�
While the day will include standard Occupy events聽such as a rally, an open-mike period, and a General Assembly, it will also include carefully-choreographed, one-one-one聽visits to individual lawmakers. Directions for聽setting up an appointment聽are on the website, complete with guidance for identifying your local representative and how to聽contact them.
Villanova University social movement researcher Catherine Wilson calls聽Tuesday鈥檚 action an important escalation of the movement鈥檚 potential power.聽聽
鈥淏y moving its site of operation to the halls of Congress, Occupy hopes not only to frame the key political issues at hand but also to influence political decision-making by building relationships with public officials,鈥� she notes via email.聽Support from public officials would benefit Occupy as a whole by lending the movement legitimacy, she says.
But lobbying聽members of Congress聽reduces the original spirit of Occupy Wall Street to politicking, says Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher.聽
鈥淭he occupy movement did not emerge from a desire to become a lobbying body,鈥� he says. He does note that this strategy will parallel other civil聽disobedience kinds of聽activities, but adds, 鈥淐ivil disobedience is more in line with the original Occupy Wall Street movement, much more so than any direct pressure on Congressional representatives.鈥�
But, says Fordham university researcher, Heather Gautney,聽there may be a bit of both going on in the Capitol strategy.
鈥淭he spirit of Occupy is not to turn its back on politicians and the state, it's to take them over, and democratize them,鈥� she notes via email. That is what Occupy means, she points out, adding, 鈥渃onfrontation, taking over, and repossession, including democratic processes.鈥�
聽Let many flowers bloom and the meadow will be that much richer, says New York activist听补苍诲 filmmaker David Intrator, who has been involved with the Occupy movement in his city from its聽beginnings.
鈥淚 have always called this a social movement,鈥� he says, 鈥渨hich means it is a very large tent and can accommodate many points of view and strategies.鈥�
鈥淩eally,鈥� he adds, 鈥渢he more the better.鈥澛�
As far as聽impacting national聽politics, Intrator says this is already happening.
鈥淛ust look at the debate among the Republican candidates,鈥� he says, noting that the issue of income聽equality 鈥� one of the key mantras of the Occupy movement 鈥� has been bandied about by everyone from Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich听补苍诲 Ron Paul, not to mention President Obama. 鈥淲e鈥檝e聽already had a very big impact,鈥� he adds.
Not聽everyone is convinced, says antiabortion activist Tim O鈥橞rien, who suggests that the media has over-covered the Occupy movement, lending it an aura of聽much greater importance than it actually has.聽
鈥淚 would suggest perhaps a story on why some groups, some very small in size, get so much press, while others in unprecedented numbers are obviously, routinely, and intentionally ignored,鈥� he says via email.
He points to the fact that 鈥渁 group of a hundred or so Occupiers can get national attention from the media across several news cycles,鈥澛爕et on January 23rd, in the March for Life rally which聽organizers anticipate聽could attract over one million people 鈥渧ery civil, and very obedient protesters will converge in the same place and you will be hard-pressed to find mention of it in any newspaper, Web site or TV news report.鈥�
