AdBusters… again
Contrary to what many may believe about where I stand on #May1, I was very excited for AdBusters’ call for #OccupyChicago. I was just pointing out that they could have used a little forethought before acting. However, AdBusters released yesterday (February 6, 2012) a new post on their blog, the same blog that called for #OccupyChicago a little over a week ago. This time signed by Micah White, Senior Editor of AdBusters. I was going to post an article about the lovable Rahm Emanuel today, but I’ll save that for the next post, I need to vent.
Occupy Chicago clearly and vocally expressed concerns over Adbusters’ methods when they called for an encampment in May to protest the upcoming #G8NATO demonstrations. Regardless, we incorporated the May 1 call to action within our own, larger #ChicagoSpring actions beginning on April 7, with a lot of excitement I may add. AdBusters has agreed to not meddle in our planning or direction, and said they were leaving the planning and interpretation up to the Chicago General Assembly.
So why the article? Recently, occupations have become beaten down, frustrated, and angry. Yesterday’s blog post was an analysis of the fractionalization that have plagued occupations across the United States, the overall structure of that came out of OWS, and their relationship with AdBusters. The post continues to point out that autonomy within the larger #Occupy umbrella is the best way to organize, including autonomous actions. In short, this means that the best way for occupy to be organized is to allow demonstrators to behave as they feel is necessary for the movement. But there is a fatal error in AdBusters’ understanding of Occupy. Not all occupations modeled after the NYCGA. Occupy Chicago (and many others) from a very early stage behaved completely autonomous. We knew what they were doing, however we understood that the social, economic, political,environments are incredible different between our home cities and Zuccotti Park. Not to mention NYPD is in no way like CPD. We knew we needed to do things differently to adapt to Chicago.
AdBusters also included an image of the recent violence at Occupy Oakland complete with praise for their use of autonomous actions in protests. The picture is complete with makeshift shields, fireball, helmets, smoke, and barricades. This is where I draw the line. Clearly they are meddling, a post like this leaves a limited number of assumptions to be made. What should we expect in Chicago? Leave that to Chicagoans and all those who join us in Chicago during the planning stages. The General Assembly does not have a residency requirement, but does have a physical presence requirement. If anyone in the world would like to participate in our decision making process, come to Chicago early, join a committee, and vote at a GA (we don’t have housing though). The entire purpose and mission of AdBusters was to counter the influence of corporate media and advertising on our behavior and world views. Guess what AdBusters, you are using your readership to turn us into your drones.
We at Occupy Chicago are non-violent. Violence is the tool of the state for control. And as our brothers and sister in Egypt, we will stand up in the face of violence peacefully. Occupy Chicago is not nonviolent by any arbitrary means, it was voted that way by the GA (check out the website) above a 90% threshold. No acts of violence can be committed under the #OccupyChicago name. Period. If you don’t like that, bring it up to a vote. The problem with not working with Occupy Chicago is you end up with a situation similar to Occupy Portland last night. While some were marching peacefully, some thugs came out dressed in all black destroying property, leading to the arrests of those marching peacefully, but not those who perpetrated the violence. We need to ensure those who wish to express and find their voices can do so. I have received e-mails and tweets from many who want to bring their children, the 99% means that all who are part of us can participate according to their own capacity.
Finally, occupy wasn’t started by AdBusters, it was those who felt disenfranchised, forgotten, and frustrated. Sure, their call is what got the ball rolling, but it’s us here in America that really fought to organize and survive. My solution, is that Chicago adopt the Chicago Principles:
• Our solidarity will be based on respect for a political diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of
action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.
• As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.
• We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to “free speech zones,” and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
• Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.”
I’m cutting myself off here. 83 days until #May1, see you all then 
http://www.correntewire.com/if_non_violence_is_good_enough_for_occupychicago_why_isnt_it_good_enough_for_adbusters#comments
Point of clarification: I had no idea who AdBusters was before mid-Sept 2011. I became active of the street again due to a call by MoveOn in Dallas for a Defend the American Dream Rally on February 26, 2011. That in turn put me in touch with SDS Dallas. I still not too fixated on AdBusters blog. May Day 2011, I was on the streets of Dallas with SDS. May Day 2012, I will be out on the streets of Chicago with Occupy Chicago. I am also working on a special autonomous (sp?) project to welcome the world to Chicago. I “work” under the umbrella of Occupy, but been active (this time around) since 2004. Never heard of AdBusters, and don’t expect much help from them. Have worked a bit with #OCHI, and love ‘em. But, I still do what I can do, as I see fit to do it, on my own.
Quite possibly true! Which is why this image is inrntestieg. It could provoke both sides of the argument, and therefore could lend itself to a critical approach even towards the message it is transmitting. I would prefer to address this image through the lens of what is the artist trying to communicate and why do you think he/she chose this way to do it .
RE: Egyptian “nonviolence”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/25/occupy-movement-tahrir-square-cairo
We faced such direct and indirect violence, and continue to face it. Those who said that the Egyptian revolution was peaceful did not see the horrors that police visited upon us, nor did they see the resistance and even force that revolutionaries used against the police to defend their tentative occupations and spaces: by the government’s own admission, 99 police stations were put to the torch, thousands of police cars were destroyed and all of the ruling party’s offices around Egypt were burned down. Barricades were erected, officers were beaten back and pelted with rocks even as they fired tear gas and live ammunition on us. But at the end of the day on 28 January they retreated, and we had won our cities.
Sick of the ‘nonviolent’ revolution myth perpetrated around Egypt. My family and friends lived through that, and lemme tell you, it wasn’t non-violent. That being said, it wasn’t proviolence either. Just realistic. The principle is nonaggression. There is nothing you can do when a police officer is shooting you and your allies, the response shouldn’t be complete submission always, else nothing will change. When a group of peaceful protesters like those of Occupy Oakland are confronted with disproportionate force, I don’t fault them one bit for trying to defend themselves. “black bloc tactics’ ughhh people need to educate themselves about what those words entail and not conflate hype with reality. Anarchist does not equal hooligan. Destruction of property as a direct consequence of actions by the police does not equal violence, at least in any real sense of the term. Diversity of tactics isn’t a threat, it’s a recognition that we need effort on every front, both from pacifists and those who are willing to use direct action, in order to affect any actual change in the way our society is. All that being said, I hold mad respect for everyone at Occupy Chicago; I hope that all supporters of freedom and equality can settle their differences amicably, and that we don’t fall victim to the divide and conquer tactics of our oppressors. See you all in May.
Ahmed, I get sick of the semantics and people trying to define violence, but when I read: “The principle is nonaggression” something clicked in my brain. Yes, I could see situations where protesters may not want to, or be able to, submit. Let’s face it, no one really can predict what they, as an individual, will do in a situation where they are being attacked in some way. At this time anyway, in Chicago we have no evidence that the police are going to use brutal tactics…
Very sensible post; I hope you don’t mind if I quote you.
As far as Adbusters, I never heard of them either until OWS was underway. They sure are getting a lot of free publicity. I never heard of black blocs until recently. My general rule is to try to keep an open mind about things that are new to me and educate myself.
St. Paul Principles are great, if only because they end the circular firing-squad.
Hey, your account of the Portland Anti-Police Brutality event is wrong. The event was organized outside of Occupy Portland, language in the announcement stated that the event was “not endorsed by Occupy Portland”. In fact, many participants from OP said they hadn’t heard about the event until the Oregonian published the police announcement. Multiple news outlets also incorrectly reported the event as an Occupy Portland march. Two car windows and a 5-star restaurant window were broken. Arrests occurred because the police declared an unlawful assembly, and ordered the protesters out of the street.
Well I do not have enough edatociun on the full movement.Dan would be a better person to talk to about the Occupyxxxx positions. (which is why I asked him to post this page.I am still learning the various aspects.I did go to the rally and observed, listened and participated in the march.The actions of Vancouver PD was outstanding. I have never had THAT good of an experience with VPD.
Nobody ever got there way kicking and scraeming and that’s exactly what the protesters in Vancouver are doing. It’s fools like them who give occupy a bitter taste in the unbelievers mouth. Who really wants to educate themselves when the people presenting the problem seem as though they have forgotten why they are there. Leaving there trash for the city of Vancouver to clean up. Unfortunate, really.VA:F [1.9.11_1134]please wait…VA:F [1.9.11_1134](from 0 votes) +1Was this answer helpful?
I live in Chicago (Edgewater, north side, on the lake). Random points:1. Nobody heard of Obama until he ran for US Senate. He was a state rep (state setane? Don’t remember, sorry), but lots of people here don’t know who their state rep is. His popularity has always seemed artificial and a bit creepy, like a fad that won’t fade away.2. Chicago is slowly and steadily gentrifying. Young, high-income, liberal (or lefty) couples that live in town and work in the suburbs. Somewhat detached from the realities of life. One hopes that they will stop seeing the city as their playground and start seeing it as their home. Not sure how that will turn out.3. Hey, it’s better than Detroit. Okay, that isn’t saying much…