Initial Notes on Occupy Movements and Repression

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Jeff Shantz

On September 17, 2011 several hundred people who had gathered for a public protest against corporate dominance in contemporary society, and government support for corporate dominance, took the decision to occupy Zuccotti Park at the heart of the financial district of New York, and the Western world— Wall Street. Ostensibly responding to a call by Vancouver based alternative lifestyle magazine Adbusters to “Occupy Wall Street,” the occupation of the park, and the camp that quickly followed, served as a nodal point in the articulation of anger, frustration, and dissatisfaction against corporate power and political corruption that had been building for a broad cross section of people over years of economic crisis and re- cession. This simple symbolic act, given special richness in the wake of occupations of public space in the uprisings of the “Arab Spring” which had toppled dictator- ships in the Middle East, provided a great source of inspiration for many, across the Global North, who had yearned for some collective expression of public re- fusal of business as usual and who sought alternative ways to envision society free of the economic, political, and environmental abuses of capitalism in the twenty- first century. Over the next two months hundreds of Occupy camps were set up in locations ranging from large cities to small towns. People in a variety of countries, including Canada, the US, and the UK, became actively involved. Taking up the slogan “We are the 99%,” Occupy movements sought to address the growing wealth gap and associated economic and political inequality in the US and other liberal democracies of the Global North (and the reality that 1% of the world’s population owns and controls almost all of its wealth, resources, and the necessities for human survival). Not simply making appeals for social and economic change from elites, the Occupy camps sought to re- alize, in the here and now of everyday life, working alternatives in economic and political equality. Occupy camps became self-governing through entirely open and participatory General Assemblies in which any and all present could

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speak, debate, and discuss issues, and from which all decisions were based only on some form of collective consensus rather than a simple majority vote. The Occupy camps, and the broader movements and actions that sprung up around them, suggest potentially important shifts in practices of resistance in Western liberal democracies. They pose the possibility of a new wave of protest and dissent beyond the summit protests of the earlier wave of organizing against capitalist globalization. How these movements will develop and advance re- mains very much an open question. The real significance of the Occupy demonstrations and associated practices is yet to be assessed. Indeed, the movements are evolving as participants discuss and decide how best to build more durable and effective challenges to corporate and government power. In times of mass mobilization and spreading social struggles the learning curve can grow dramatically. Events move rapidly and often unpredictably and people have to learn very much on the fly, so to speak. Decisions have to be made quickly, in response to unexpected moves by authorities. At the same time with many people becoming active for the first time, engaging in protest with little previous experience, important lessons from past struggles, often won through painful first-hand experience, have not yet been learned and internalized. From the beginning, differences in understandings and analyses regarding conditions of social struggle and state activity in the current context of neoliberal capitalist globalization became apparent. Many newer Occupy participants expressed what might be called naïve views of police institutions and policing practices. They suggested that the police were their allies or identi- fied police as part of the 99%. More experienced participants, many with decades of tough experience as community and workplace organizers and activists, situated policing institutions within lengthy histories of state repression and violence and explained the role of police in maintaining systems of inequality. They warned that repression would come, particularly if the movements came to pose a real challenge to existing relations of authority and power. By October, after an initial period of uncertainty, states were ready to move to shut down the Occupy movements before their influence could build and grow. In perhaps the most shocking early eviction, in Oakland, California a veteran of the Iraq War, Scott Olsen, 24, suffered a fractured skull when a pro- jectile shot or thrown by police hit him in the head. This police violence actually served to increase public support for Occupy protests and led to louder public outcry against police repression. In many locales, including Oakland, protests grew in number and in militancy following the violent eviction of the Occupy camp. According to some counts of media reports in cities with Occupy camps in the US, more than 5,000 protesters have been arrested over the two month period of the open space Occupy protests. 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 241

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The Occupy camps have raised new questions of strategy and tactics not only for community organizers and demonstrators. They have also spurred shifts in the approaches taken by state agencies at all levels to manifestations of domestic dissent and resistance. Once again, a dialectic of struggle has emerged as demonstrators and government agencies, notably police, learn through confrontation and engagement and adjust and readjust their strategies and tactics for overcoming their respective opponents. Occupy movements and state responses to them suggest that a new period of social struggles has been opened— one that is still in play, still developing and evolving. As fall turned into winter and Occupy camps were evicted, often violently, in quick waves, activists shifted to new terrain, discussing and debating how to build upon the success of the initial camps while assessing the failures and working out strategies to make the still emergent movements more durable and effective in challenging economic and political elites.

Why Occupy? From initial beginnings as a symbolic act of awareness-raising at Wall Street, the Occupy call developed into a broad, large-scale, movement with public space being occupied and camps being set up in cities and towns in numerous countries globally. As camps were established and evolved over days, weeks, and months, the Occupy sites became spaces for political discussion, strategizing, and organizing. Within Occupy camps working groups would emerge to address specific concerns such as ecology, workplace issues, and education. While mainstream, corporate owned, mass media repeatedly advanced the claim that Occupy movements lacked any clear aims, targets, or proposals, Occupy participants were consistent in expressing opposition to corporate (if not capitalist) dominance and control of social life (if not capitalism itself) and the un- democratic and exclusive character of politics within Western liberal democracies. Rather than being vague or unfocused, Occupy movements expressed fairly accessible criticisms of social inequality and the dominant influence of economic and political elites in all spheres of society, from the economy to culture. For anyone seeking a clear expression of Occupy concerns, aims, or targets they had to look no further than the early Declaration of the Occupation of New York City. The Declaration was accepted by the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street on September 29, 2011. It reads as follows:

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injus- tice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 242

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that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attain- able when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self- interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and under- mined the farming system through monopolization. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to ne- gotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit. 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 243

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They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are re- sponsible for regulating them. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have al- ready turned a substantial profit. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty book- keeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to re- ceive government contracts. To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone. To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

The Declaration goes on to point out that the list of grievances is not intended to be all inclusive. It should also be pointed out that each specific Occupy camp developed through its own face to face discussions the specific grievances and concerns that it sought collectively to address. The lack of explicit demands, or demands that were consistent across Oc- cupy camps, that so troubled critics of the movement, actually reflected a key aspect of Occupy political vision— one which those critics failed or refused to engage. Occupy movements gave voice to strong sentiments that political structures and institutions as presently constituted within Western liberal democracies are wholly unsuited to satisfying even basic needs of non-elites. The lack 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 244

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of demands reflects the recognition of the fact that government could not meet peoples’ demands anyway. Even more, Occupy movements developed an approach, through face to face discussions in General Assemblies, that valorizes self-determination and autonomy. The movements assert the need for people and communities to develop their own capacities to meet their social needs rather than being reliant or dependent on the actions of elites. This is an expression of direct and participatory economy as much as direct and participatory democracy. In this sense Occupy movements came to develop approaches that could be called anarchistic or anarchic— in the sense of organizing social life and social relations without rulers.

Shifting Terrain: New Movements, New Challenges In the initial days of the Occupy protests, and growing encampments in cities across the US and beyond, it was clear that there was a sense of indeci- sion, uncertainty, and lack of direction on both sides— protesters and governments. Much of the early period in the Occupy movements in various cities was marked by a condition of standoff or stasis as camps took shape under the probing eyes of police as governments seemed unsure how to react and occupiers decided how best to advance their struggles. This is not at all surprising on the part of protesters given that they were trying something a bit novel and in light of the large numbers of new participants inexperienced with any form of previous protest activity. Even more, the activities of occupiers were developed through lengthy, painstaking, participatory processes in which all present at general assemblies had a chance to voice their views and proposals. Decisions were arrived at through dialogue and debate and collective actions were taken only on the basis of accepted mod- els of consensus. Lack of public address equipment and the reliance upon “human microphones,” with the words of speakers being collectively repeated by those near the speaker who could hear directly to those in the assembly who could not, also slowed the processes of decision making and strategizing. The Occupy camps were also marked by the need for patience, education, and active listening that accompanies emergent movements that draw in people with built up frustration who have not had the chance to speak and be heard before. On the other side, the response, or lack of response initially, from governments at any level and from police is quite informative. In the initial days and weeks, even months in some cases, the authorities in city after city seemed somewhat paralyzed, unsure of how to act. They appeared to be concerned, in 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 245

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a way that they have not been in the case of alternative globalization protests, that actions perceived to be unduly aggressive on the part of police particularly would actually serve to build sympathy or support for the occupiers. On October 13, 2011, Mayor Michael Bloomberg threatened to evict the occupiers from New York’s Zuccotti Park on the grounds of concerns for cleanliness and health. Calls went out to defend the occupation and many, who were not previously occupiers, attended the camp site. Yet, when occupiers engaged in a voluntary cleanup of the space, the police, who had gathered in a mass presence, backed down. The camp remained unmolested for weeks as the city con- sidered how best to proceed. Clearly the Occupy tactic represented something of an innovation in rela- tion to the by now more familiar mobile protest practices of the alternative globalization movements which have focused on street demonstrations against summit meetings of global capital, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The summit protests have typically involved street actions, whether marches or direct action, with mass mobilization geared toward dis- rupting meetings or publicly displaying mass dissent. These have been of short duration, scheduled to coincide with the period during which the summit meetings take place. The typical response has been mass policing, with esca- lating deployment of police violence and repression against demonstrators. Over the decade or so since the Seattle protests against the World Trade Or- ganization in 1999, police and protesters have engaged in a dialectical struggle as each side has learned from the tactics and maneuvers of the other side. When pepper spray or tear gas is deployed protesters don gas masks and block- ade convention sites. To keep protesters away from meeting sites, states build fences around entire city blocks. Protesters tear the fences down. Laws are en- acted to impose martial law within a block of fences. Water cannons are deployed to keep people away. A duel of street demonstrations and police repression ensues, with pre-emptive arrests and police violence spurring further street mobilizations, often resulting in lengthy forays through the court system for activists and organizers. Actions, and reactions, for each, have become somewhat predictable. Both sides have learned from the actions of the other and developed new tactics for achieving success in their street actions. At the same time activists and organizers have had to assess critically whether such actions are actually advancing their goals of opposing global capitalism and its local agents, whether in business or government. Many activists have come to question the effectiveness of summit protests, or “summit hopping,” in which activists from various locations descend upon the site of a major state-corporate event to participate in street actions, even as they have become tactically more adept and effective in organizing summit 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 246

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protests and engaging in direct actions in the streets. There has been perco- lating within organizing circles deep concerns that energies should be put into longer term efforts rooted within the specific needs and desires of local communities dealing with poverty, exploitation, and oppression. Strength should be built within local grassroots efforts built through face to face and direct in- teractions and organizing efforts. Occupy shows something of an initiative on the part of those opposing states and capital to develop new, perhaps more proactive, tactics of struggle. It moves away from the reactive approach that waits for governments, corporations, and global institutions to set times and dates for actions to which activists then respond by throwing all of their energies into building a short term mobilization of dissent. It also attempts to move from the short term public presence of the street demos to make a more durable public display of resistance. It offers a space or spaces in which members of the public, including those who are not po- litically active, can meet, discuss, debate, and engage on a range of ideas and issues that might concern them. It shows that those who protest and demonstrate are not all that different or unique from those who suffer in silence. Indeed it shows that they are neighbors, not outsiders or strangers. It can dispel many of the corporate media generated or perpetuated myths about “professional protesters.” This new approach has posed challenges not only to activists and organizers but state institutions, particularly local governments and police, as well.

Occupying Repression: The 1% Respond Despite the stalemate, and hesitant approach by many local governments, by October it was clear that authorities were ready to move, even violently, against the new movement. The first police raid on the Occupy Oakland en- campment on October 25 showed the model of an aggressive military style assault. It signaled that despite claims to tolerance of the Occupy camps and spoken respect for freedom of assembly and public expressions of dissent, the use of violence against demonstrators remained a real option for governments. In Oakland, riot police used rubber bullets, tear gas and concussion grenades to clear out the Occupy camp. Several protesters would be injured and require hospitalization as a result of police actions during the raid. The violent character of the raids against Occupy Oakland surprised many participants and observers. As one account described it:

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on the street, and then they moved in.... There were helicopters fly- ing about and with high beams on the camps ... the beams were moving across every which way ... there were young people in these camps and children, infants in a lot of the tents and this was just ... com- pletely out of whack with the situation.... They shot ... tear gas into the middle of the camp, and at the time, there were dumpsters lined up in front, at the entrance, on the corner because the occupiers were trying to conform to the new regulations that the city of Oakland had given to them.... The police moved those dumpsters to the side and then they moved to the next stage of taking the barricades and kick- ing them down. And then they moved in and the first thing they hit was the information tent, and they just started just tearing everything down ... this was a military type operation, the way they moved in. It harkened back to old footage I had seen of Nazi Germany where you know you had the Nazis, the SS going in and picking up innocent people. It had that tenor.... The helicopters, and the lights, and the loud speaker, all those were all intended to create panic and terror for the people inside.... It was something like out of a Star Wars movie ex- cept instead of being in white they were all in black.... they were all in riot gear ... with the visors, they looked like automatons, they just moved in, in a line.... They had these vehicles that looked like armored boxes, black, special riot vehicles.... The thing that stays in my mind’s eye is in the middle ground with the lights from the helicopters, the police moving in and just stomping on these tents, and moving in one layer, after another, moving in deeper and deeper. (quoted in Street 2011)

The assault on Occupy Oakland by the Oakland police left a US military veteran, Scott Olson, in serious condition with a fractured skull believed to have been caused by a rubber bullet fired by police against the occupiers. The injury to Olson, and the numerous other injuries suffered by demonstrators and bystanders, served as a flash point for public outrage against the Oakland police and the Mayor’s Office. Incredibly the Mayor claimed that the eviction had been “a generally peaceful resolution to a situation” and thanked the police (Oakland North Staff 2011). The Occupy Oakland eviction also caused a shift in understanding among occupiers, in Oakland and beyond, of the role of police in maintaining social relations of power. This was a warning, or a reminder, of how governments and police address dissent even within so-called liberal democracies. Even more the violent Oakland police raid inflamed popular sen- timent and encouraged new levels of involvement and mobilization. People 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 248

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who had sat on the sidelines observing the actions felt compelled to act to express, at least, their outrage against the heavy handed police response against a largely symbolic and discursive protest. Mass protests followed in Oakland and on November 2, 2011 an attempt was made at a general strike with around 10,000 people taking to the streets and attempting to halt business in the city. Attempts would be made to shut down ports along the West Coast in solidarity with long shore workers at the Port of Oakland, with solidarity efforts largely encouraged by Occupy Oakland. The mass deployment of police and the use of violence to clear Occupy encampments occurred in a nearly simultaneous wave in cities across the US and Canada in mid-November. In the days following the eviction of the Occupy camp in New York, there were dozens of eviction of other camps across the US. In Dallas, 18 arrests were made as the Occupy camp was evicted. In Denver, Col- orado, charges were laid against two dozen Occupy demonstrators. During Occupy evictions in Seattle, Washington police tear-gassed an 84-year-old woman and a pregnant teenager who ended up miscarrying. By the end of the month approximately 5,000 people had been arrested in association with evictions of Occupy sites. In Canada, police did not use extreme violence or riot tactics to clear out Occupy camps. Rather, police chose softer approaches involving often lengthy negotiation with protesters and making relatively few arrests. Typically police acted on the basis of serving injunctions against the camps which had been secured by city governments on the basis of concerns over health and safety. In the United States, mayors in various cities with Occupy camps have participated in conference calls to communicate, some would say conspire, about strategies for most shutting down encampments (Randall 2011). The preferred approach has been to use concern over public safety issues as grounds for removal of the camps. In many sites, surveillance equipment was installed to keep watch on Occupy camps around the clock.The most dramatic evictions occurred in New York, Los Angeles and Oakland. It became clear to observers that these were coordinated efforts and there was at least tacit approval from the Obama administration. On November 17, authorities in New York moved to evict the occupation. Deploying a mass police presence, involving police in armored riot gear, the occupation at Zuccotti Park was aggressively raided. The raid was described by observers as being military in character. Among the violent techniques em- ployed by the NYPD were the use of teargas and sonic cannons. Around a dozen demonstrators were injured during the raid. Seven police officers were reported injured. Approximately 300 people were arrested. In the words of one eyewitness: 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 249

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The area around Zuccotti Park was subject last night to a 9/11-level lock- down over peaceful, lawful protests by a small number of people ... Mar- tial law level restrictions were in place. Subways were shut down. Local residents were not allowed to leave their buildings. People were allowed into the area only if they showed ID with an address in the ‘hood. Media access was limited to those with official press credentials, which is almost certainly a small minority of those who wanted to cover the crack- down ... Reading the various news stories, it appears they were kept well away from the actual confrontation (for instance, the reported tear gassing of the Occupiers in what had been the kitchen, as well as separate accounts of the use of pepper spray and batons). News helicopters were forced to land. As of 10 am, reader Wentworth reported that police helicopters were out in force buzzing lower Manhattan. (quoted in Street 2011)

Belongings and housing structures were removed from the site. In a move that led to widespread condemnation, the occupation library, which had grown to house thousands of volumes, was dismantled with literature simply thrown in the trash. For many observers this act bears too much similarity to the public acts of mass book destruction that occur within totalitarian regimes. This is particularly so given the critical and political character of many of the books destroyed. A follow up march by Occupy supporters saw police arrest around 400 people. The police mobilization against the march came two days after the early morning raid on the Occupy camp behind a military style deployment of riot police. Once again the local government in New York attempted to portray activists as violent. Mayor Bloomberg asserted in a media address following the raid: “Unfortunately, some protesters today have deliberately pursued violence” (quoted in Randall 2011). Ignoring the fact that police initiated actions against the occupiers, without provocation and strictly on orders of the city, Bloomberg asserted: “If anyone’s actions cross the line and threaten the health and safety of others, including our first responders, we will respond accordingly” (quoted in Randall 2011). Protesters were depicted as antagonistic while police were described as maintaining “incredible restraint” despite the injuries to demonstrators and the damage done to the camp. In the early morning of Wednesday, November 30, almost 1,500 officers, many in riot gear, of the Los Angeles Police Department surrounded the Oc- cupy Los Angeles camp set up at the grounds of City Hall. Armed with shot- guns loaded with rubber bullets the police raided the camp and arrested almost 300 people. Those arrested were held on $5,000 bail, a rather hefty amount given the rather light charges of “failure to disperse” (Azul 2011). In response, 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 250

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occupiers did little more than lock arms in a typical act of civil disobedience and non-compliant, passive resistance. Rounds of bean bags were fired at occupiers who had taken to trees as a form of protest against the forced removal (Azul 2011). Eyewitnesses who observed the raid and evictions reported that police used batons to clear out independent journalists who were trying to record the events with cameras and viedeocameras (Azul 2011; Wilson 2011). Observers reported that journalists were struck and cameras confiscated. Blogger Ruth Fowlers offered a stark eyewitness account in which she reported that as protesters were dispersing, “police ran after them and started beating protestors with batons repeatedly as they were running away trying to escape. I saw about ten police hit protestors. I did not get video footage or photographs as I was running ... The violence I witnessed was pretty intense. Those cops were pissed and wanted to hurt people” (2011). Despite these reports police were once again hailed for their commitment to public safety and democracy. Notably, police did not only move against Occupy encampments but also mobilized against open manifestations of support for the Occupy sites and in opposition to the waves of repression to which Occupy camps were being subjected. Police used riot horses and deployed teargas to halt a march of Occupy participants and supporters in Portland, Oregon. Forty-eight people were arrested, despite the non-aggressive character of the march. Around a dozen protesters were arrested in each of Atlanta, St. Louis, and Houston for par- taking in solidarity marches in support of the Occupy movements. Several recent reports, as the Occupy camps were being closed by the dozens, have provided evidence that the wave of evictions of protesters in November 2011 was coordinated at the highest levels of government (Randall 2011; Wolf 2011). Involvement or assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and other police agencies has been cited in those evictions. Rick Ellis, a journalist with Examiner.com, reports, following his interview with an official with the Justice Department, that “in several recent conference calls and brief- ings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules” (Ellis 2011, n.p.). Ellis goes on to note, even further: Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present. Federal involvement in local police repression of the Occupy encampments has been reported in numerous accounts by people on the ground. In October officers from Homeland Secu- rity’s Federal Protective Service were sighted in Portland arresting a photographer. 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 251

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Certainly, the often violent repression of Occupy movements has been given tacit public support by the Obama administration (Randall 2011). While expressing some sympathy for the Occupy protests early on, and clearly fearful of alienating some in the Democratic Party base and union supporters during an election year, Obama largely remained silent as police repression against protesters escalated. In the wake of the police raid on Zuccotti Park, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney informed reporters that Obama was “aware” of the eviction, and added: “The President’s position is that obviously every mu- nicipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues” (quoted in Randall 2011). Carney went on to assert that the “long tradition of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in this country” must be balanced with “the very important need to maintain law and order and health and safety standards, which was obviously a concern in this case” (quoted in Randall 2011). This limiting of freedom of speech and assembly according to health and safety standards is in keeping with the local focus on public safety as the dominant discourse surrounding the evictions of Occupy camps. Notably, despite the claims of local governments about funding gaps, deficits, and budget shortfalls, the more excessive measures used to repress the Occupy camps are also the most costly. An Associated Press story quoted Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who reported that policing of the protest would have cost the city much more than it did if not for Portland’s relatively restrained police response: “The amount of money we’re saving by (our) very strategic response versus sending police out en masse to arrest people and cause confrontations dwarfs whatever we’ve spent so far” (quoted in Street 2011). For some, the expenditure of large financial resources, in otherwise supposedly restricted budgets, to repress the Occupy encampments represented another form of corporate welfare. Once again public resources were being used to protect economic elites and spare them from criticism or challenges to their dominance in social life. In the words of commentator Paul Street: While the Seventh Fleet patrols and Persian Gulf and the U.S.S. George Washington makes the rounds of the South China Sea in defense of Exxon and other leading oil corporations, militarized police defend the domestic business elite in the eye of the imperial hurricane, where the plutocracy that rules behind the façade of democracy seeks to impose an austerity agenda on an increasingly recalcitrant and newly re- bellious populace. (2011, n.p.) For many occupiers, particularly those newly politicized, this has served as an important lesson on the nature of the state within liberal democracies. It has raised new questions about the character of representative democracy and 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 252

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party politics. It has also encouraged people to become more critical of economic structures rather than more limited notions of political institutions and practices. Repression has served to raise awareness and encourage education about economic and political issues more substantially.

Mainstream Media and the Evictions While aggressive, even violent, tactics were used by police to evict Occupy encampments, the mainstream media placed their focus and emphasis on sup- posed failings or transgressions of the protesters. Rather than cover specific concerns or alternative visions expressed within Occupy movements, the media portrayed Occupy as lacking demands or questioned what they stood for. In- stead of examining notions of social justice being developed by Occupy demonstrators, and the discussions and debates occurring over those notions, the media emphasis shifted to issues of criminal justice and bylaw enforcement. Claims made by city officials and police spokespeople accusing occupiers of violence were accepted uncritically and repeated by media outlets regardless of evidence or lack thereof. During evictions occupiers were blamed for violence, despite the presence of community video recordings showing police provocation and violence against protesters. Even more, some media presented experts who constructed threats of riots to assert, on the basis of these imag- ined riots occurring possibly in the future, that police acted reasonably. One infamous CNN headline declared: “Occupy Wall Street ‘Anarchy’” (Randall 2011). This headliner also made the association, oft repeated during alternative globalization protests, of progressive political movements with chaos and disorder. Once again protests are associated with anarchy and anarchy is used as a code for violence or illegality. At the same time the actual ideas and val- ues espoused by real anarchists, including those actually involved in Occupy actions, are ignored (Shantz 2010). Of course the association with anarchy or anarchism, and the implication that this means chaos or disorder rather than mutual aid, as anarchists intend it, has been a regular ploy to discredit social movements and resistance politics in the era of neo-liberal capitalist globalization (Shantz 2011). Condi- tioning the public to perceive Occupy as an unfocused movement, standing only for anarchy and poised to riot, provided justification for the aggressive evictions of the camps and mass arrests of occupiers. In this, the media coverage of the Occupy protests has mirrored their coverage of other alternative globalization activities, notably street demonstrations and anti-summit protests. 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 253

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Specific reporters from mainstream media were selected by police to be em- bedded with them during operations in Los Angeles. This borrows a page from recent attempts by military officials to control the images and reports filed from war zones as in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an attempt by authorities to control and manage the flow of information and exclude information that might be critical of the military or, as in the case of Occupy evictions, the police. The control over media even extended to air space in Los Angeles as a local new helicopter was reported to have stopped transmitting images from the police deployment around City Hall as part of an agreement not to reveal police tactics (Wilson 2011). Police sanctioned media echoed police officials and the mayor in presenting the violent evictions as “peaceful” and “orderly” (Azul 2011).

A Tale of Two Movements Supporters of Occupy, and those who question the broad use of aggressive tactics to evict the Occupy camps, draw interesting comparisons between the treatment of the Occupy participants and the treatment of participants of the Tea Party movement. Here we have an opportunity to observe and compare two new publicly active movements, both claiming broad grassroots support, and both organizing at levels beyond the local. In both cases the movements offer innovative approaches to political mobilization in the current context, and have garnered attention through their visible and public manifestations, including explicit protest actions. Notably, both claim to speak for disenfran- chised populations and both focus on economic issues as their primary target, more than cultural issues which remain nonetheless important for each. Ad- ditionally, both movements claim to have roots and resonance within communities or amongst people who do not generally view themselves as activists or organizers (or at least did not before becoming involved in the new movement). Both also claim some degrees of separation from the dominant mainstream political parties (the Democrats and Republicans in the US context), although in practice participants have varying levels of involvement in the parties. In significant ways these movements offer new forms of political mobilization and express themselves through novel tactics and discourses that differ from those of social movements of the late twentieth century. In particular, both make nimble use of new communications technologies such as the In- ternet, Twitter, Facebook, and new media such as cell phone cameras. Yet the state responses, from local to federal levels, to each movement have been markedly different. While the non-violent, even at times passive, Occupy 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 254

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movements in various cities have faced riot squads, rubber bullets, tear gas, and mass arrests, and been demonized as a threat to public safety, the Tea Party rallies and events have been left almost entirely unimpeded. Police have not interfered with the Tea Party, let alone broken up its meetings. Incredibly, Tea Party members have shown up to political rallies and appearances by government representatives fully armed (Cripps 2010; Steinmetz 2010). One Tea Party rally in 2011 took weapons right to the steps of the Montana Capitol despite that fact that guns are usually prohibited on the grounds of the Capitol (Dock- ery 2011). The open display of guns at Tea Party rallies also includes Tea Party activists carrying assault rifles at appearances by President Obama. Even more, this has occurred in a context in which people associated with the Tea Party have uttered statements and produced placards threatening Obama with violence, including assassination. It has also occurred following the very real assassination attempt on Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. That attack, by an assailant who had publicly expressed support for policies associated with the Tea Party, left six people dead and Giffords severely injured. Despite all of this, the Tea Party has not been subjected to any of the repressive measures experienced by Occupy participants. The scenes of riot police raids and tear gas have been absent from the public appearances of Tea Party activists. Similarly the fear mongering mass media discourses that pose Occupy movements as sources of anarchy, disorder, or proto-riots, have been entirely absent from the popular narratives surrounding the Tea Party. The notable differences in government interaction with the two movements can be explained with reference to a few factors, none of which are particularly obscure. First, while Tea Party movements have been primarily critical of certain government policies and practices, with reference to political “insiders,” and have leveled some criticisms against economic actors, their anger has largely avoided corporate or business interests which they tend to view as the natural leaders of market society. Indeed, even their criticisms speak a populist language that refers to economic “elites” or corruption rather than issues of class, capital, or capitalism. Not seeking structural changes the Tea Party movements have been focused largely on reforms of government institutions, such as the Federal Reserve. The Occupy movements on the other hand, while not consistently anti-capitalist, have at least raised criticisms, and some challenges, against corporate power within social and political spheres. Occupy movements have also raised some questions about central issues such as private property, corporate (if not always capitalist) profit (if not always exploitation). Some Occupy groupings have begun to con- test foreclosures of homes, preventing evictions of residents, for example. In the realm of politics, Occupy protesters, from the start have questioned the limited nature of representative democracy, preferring instead participa- 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 255

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tory forms of democracy, which they have attempted to implement, in messy, slow, and halting practice. Occupy participants have questioned, and many eventually rejected, the majority electoral system, and its two dominant party players in the US. Not only the Republican Party, the party of business and the Right in America, but the Democratic Party too, the default party for unions, community movements, and some of the Left in the US, has come in for sharp criticism. Many who might have offered some support for the De- mocrats have come to see the limitations of that party and sought alternative, even non-party based approaches. The Tea Party has intimate, even organic, links with the Republican Party. It has even put forward its own preferred candidates in primaries, winning candidates who have contested various state elections with varying degrees of success. The Occupy protests on the other hand have not been aligned with, or even associated with, the Democratic Party. Indeed, a large proportion of Occupy participants can be said to be critical of, even hostile toward, the De- mocrats which they view as another party of the economic and political elites. Occupy activists have made connections between the Obama administration and bank and corporate bailouts, the failure to provide universal single-payer health care, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing home foreclosures, along with other issues of poverty and inequality in the US and beyond. Thus they have not had the political shelter that association with a major party, and its influential economic backers, has apparently provided the rightist Tea Party participants, who despite criticisms of some aspects of conservatism have remained highly active within Republican circles. The critique of Democratic polices, and corporate involvement in government more broadly may also explain why Occupy camps were subjected to aggressive responses from Democratic administrations at all levels of government. Interestingly, and tellingly, many of the most aggressive and violent evictions against Occupy camps came in cities with mayors from the Democratic Party. The mayor of Los Angeles, for instance, is Antonio Villaraigosa, a former union official. In Philadelphia another Democratic Party mayor, Michael Nutter, au- thorized a police operation that evicted Occupy Philadelphia with over 50 arrests (Azul 2011). Of course, the extremely violent evictions of Occupy Oakland, with tear gas and concussion grenades used against demonstrators, occurred under a Democratic Party mayor Jean Quan. Indeed, officials from various levels of the Democratic Party in different municipal contexts played a dual strategy for dealing with Occupy camps. On one hand they positioned themselves publicly as defenders of free speech and assembly and even claimed to support at least the aims and concerns expressed within the Occupy movements. As the Los Angeles evictions were underway 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 256

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Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared the LAPD actions to be a “shining example of constitutional policing” (quoted in Azul 2011). Defying credibility, Villaraigosa went further extolling the virtues of the movement he had ordered police to dismantle: “In the days ahead, we must build on the foundation of cooperation that we have established over these last two months ... The movement’s message of restoring the balance to American society is too important to be lost amid clashes and conflict” (quoted in Azul 2011). This dual approach to Occupy, particularly by supposedly liberal mayors showed the resonance of the Occupy message. It could not be straightforwardly dismissed but rather had to be given some degree of respect. At the same time, as the occupation tactic gathered strength, authorities, of all stripes felt the need to stop it lest it actually come to challenge existing relations of power and com- mand. Among ruling groups this tension was perhaps most pressingly felt for liberals.

Conclusion Much has to be learned by those seeking to organize and mobilize resistance, particularly about the character, practices, and perspectives on repression in the current context of neoliberal capitalist austerity politics. Thus, a close reading of the chapters included in Protest and Punishment should have much to offer as people seek to understand state practice in the present period and attempt to avoid or resist the repression of the movements they are involved in. The Occupy tactic has opened new prospects for social movement organizing and resistance within Western neoliberal democracies. It has provided new tools for organizing while, significantly, bringing new people together into collective action. Perhaps most important, the occupation tactic brought people together, in face to face interaction over extended periods of time, beyond the usual parameters of political meetings. This encouraged new discussions about strategy and tactics. It also encouraged participatory and direct forms of decision-making as all present sought to be fundamentally and inte- grally involved in collective debates, discussions, and strategizing. This, in turn drove commitment to group decisions as people were active participants in determining those decisions rather than more passive consumers or followers of the decisions of others. All of this poses novel possibilities for the develop- ment of social movement practice in the immediate future. It also gives rise to new challenges for state agencies and institutions that had become perhaps too accustomed to the familiar procedures of anti-sum- 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 257

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mit protests and mass street mobilizations against meetings of representatives of global capital. Policing practices have been pushed beyond the customary mass, momentary policing, of specific sites during short-term meetings of global elites in conference centers and luxury hotels. Now they face the prospect of diverse movements potentially rooted in specific neighborhoods and prepared for longer term struggles. If those movements link up with the day to day community organizing in those neighborhoods and the ongoing struggles of working people within their workplaces, then the terrain may shift enough that protest gives rise to more durable resistance. The local authorities will have to be cautious that their actions do not encourage the broadening of resistance and revolt and the extension of solidarity across groups and communities. Such an extension, a circulation of struggles, could not be readily contained using the customary procedures for policing protest as developed in the period of neoliberal globalization. A new terrain of struggle will have opened. More than a few commentators suggested that the repressive government responses and police raids were actually helping to build sympathy and support for the Occupy protests. People who had previously stood on the sidelines or sat on the fence, not sure of their support of the movements, while perhaps supporting their viewpoints, felt compelled to act in defense of the Occupy participants’ rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Some, who were agnostic about Occupy as a movement or occupations as a demonstration, became indignant over the state violence inflicted upon generally passive and nonaggressive protesters. One New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, asked playfully if mayor Bloomberg and “police chiefs around the country” are “secretly backing the Occupy Wall Street movement” because their actions seemed noticeably to build popular support for the demonstrations (quoted in Street 2011). Indeed Occupy Wall Street enjoyed significant increases in public support following a police attack on a march across the Brooklyn Bridge in October. Most notably, the violence inflicted upon people, occupiers and bystanders alike, in Oakland impelled a mobilization for a general strike in Oakland and helped to bring thousands of people, many of them first time participants, many of them working class, into the streets and into the movement more broadly. Beyond the local impacts and spurring of local resistance, the assault on Occupy Oak- land served to outrage and mobilize Occupy participants elsewhere. It encouraged a shift in some Occupy circles toward more militant positions and toward greater efforts to reach out to working class and poor communities. Similarly, the eviction of the Occupy camp at Zuccotti Park on November 14 brought as many as 33,000 people out onto the streets three days later in a show of defi- ance against the actions of the local government and police. Thousands more 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 258

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took to the streets in demonstrations in at least 30 cities to defend the Occupy initiatives, taking up the slogan, “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come” (Street 2011).

References Azul, Rafael. 2011. “Police Attack Occupy Camps in Los Angeles and Philadel- phia, Arresting 350.” World Socialist Website December 1. http://wsws.org/ articles/2011/dec2011/ocla-d01.shtml Cripps, Rory. 2010. “Tea Party Protesters Bring their Big Guns to Protest Rally.” Pasco County Examiner January 3. http://www.examiner.com/pasco-county- independent-in-tampa-bay/tea-party-protesters-bring-their-big-guns-to- protest-rally Dockery, Stephen. 2011. “Few Show up to Gun-Toting Tea Party Rally in He- lena.” Ravalli Republic March 4. http://ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and- regional/article_b8694fad-39d7-58c9-adc8-19f2a977ede9.html?mode=story Ellis, Rick. 2011. “Update: ‘Occupy’ Crackdowns Coordinated with Federal Law Enforcement Officials.” Minneapolis Examiner November 15. http://www.examiner.com/top-news-in-minneapolis/were-occupy-crackdowns-aided-by-federal-law-enforcement-agencies Fowler, Ruth. 2011. “That’s Why they had the Media Pool.” Occupy Los Ange- les November 30. http://www.occupylosangeles.org/?q=node%2F2445 Oakland North Staff. 2011. “Mayor Quan Issues Statement about Occupy Oak- land Raid.” Oakland North October 25. http://oaklandnorth.net/2011/10/25/ mayor-quan-issues-statement-about-occupy-oakland-raid/ Randall, Kate. 2011. “Police Repression Escalates against Occupy Protests.” World Socialist Website November 11. http://wsws.org/articles/2011/nov2011/ occu-n19.shtml Shantz, Jeff. 2010. Constructive Anarchy: Building Infrastructures of Resistance. Surrey: Ashgate ———. 2011. Active Anarchy: Political Practice in Contemporary Movements. Lanham: Lexington Books Steinmetz, Katy. 2010. “Over the River Ralliers Gun for Washington’s Atten- tion.” Time April 20. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599, 1983214,00.html Street, Paul. 2011. “Repressing Occupy as Corporate Welfare: Reflections on Corporate Media and “the Costs of the Occupy Movement.” Z Communi- cations November 28. http://www.zcommunications.org/repressing- occupy-as-corporate-welfare-reflections-on-corporate-media-and-the- costs-of-the-occupy-movement-by-paul-street 10 shantz auto cx2 4/25/12 9:02 AM Page 259

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Wilson, Simone. 2011. “Occupy L.A. Eviction: Is LAPD Restricting Coverage with Last-Minute ‘Pool Media’?” Los Angeles Weekly November 30. http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/11/occupy_la_eviction_lapd_pool_ media.php