Relearning Civics: #occupywallstreet

I’ve been following the events of Occupy Wall Street as much as I can over the last couple of weeks by visiting whenever I have a moment, bringing my students down, and monitoring media coverage on all sides. I’m the first to admit that I approached the movement with a healthy bit of skepticism at the beginning. On my first visit, the group had dwindled to about 200 people, mostly white college kids, and lacked a clear focus. Nevertheless, I was drawn by this strange curiosity to continue visiting, asking questions, witnessing their development.

What I’ve seen happen over the last two weeks has been a dramatic shift in diversity and an articulation of clear grievances that are being addressed through daily struggle. The lack of a cause or “demands” that many (including myself) saw as a huge weakness has actually opened the process to so many different people, rather than closing it to a niche group of activists, as protests often do. Moreover, Occupy Wall Street has been my classroom lately, a place where I can observe the practical applications of different versions of facilitation, organization, and democracy and see which ones work and how.

Needless to say, I’m now won over by what I’ve seen in the way that people have been genuinely engaged in learning, standing up for the disenfranchised, and cooperating. It’s in stark contrast to other “community projects” that actually only seek to further corporatize public space and expand the terrain for marketing opportunities.

A notable example of their process for direct democracy is their General Assembly, a meeting open to anyone twice a day in which ideas are hashed out, shot down, and occasionally agreed upon. I’ve also been closely observing their non-hierarchical structure and how they are able to implement ideas, delegate tasks, and most importantly, stay non-hierarchical. Lastly, I’ve been really interested in their efforts in balancing plurality with solidarity, totality with difference.

What I’d love to see more of is not just demands that the government enforce regulations on financiers, prosecute the major players of the last financial crisis, and change in legislation to give less power to corporations and close tax loopholes (in my wildest dreams, I know), but I’d also love to see a demand to the people of the United States and beyond that this not be just a blip in the landscape of your civic engagement, but that this change your daily behavior. Stay informed, ask questions, attend community board meetings, VOTE, live within your means (I should say this as I have $60,000 in student loans), and be entrepreneurial!

This last demand might seem funny at first because it ostensibly means folding to this large neo-liberal capitalist machine, but it’s not at all. It’s the empowerment of the mom-and-pop shop that we have lost through being dependent on chains, franchises, universities, corporations, and other institutions to give us jobs. As Caroline advocates in the last post, we need to start becoming our own job creators and re-imagine what it means to be an entrepreneur. In addition, we need to get serious and stop patronizing these huge corporations. Again, I know this is part of the neo-liberal rhetoric, but we need to fight on all fronts!

I recently started an LLC with a collaborator, and I want to tell you that it is disturbingly easy. Here are the steps for filing in New York State: (a note before we get started: An LLC maybe not be right for you. Maybe you are interested in forming a non-profit or a worker’s co-op. You can find out about these options through Solidarity NYC)

• Educate yourself on the different types of ways to incorporate to see if an LLC is right for you. (Free)
• Reserve the name. ($20)
• Register the company. ($200)
• Make a business plan. (Free)
• Create a boilerplate agreement if it is a partnership. (Free)
• Get an employer ID number. (Free)
• Get a bank account. (Depends on your bank. You may want to put more in so you can avoid fees)
• Publish in local newspapers (up to $500, but here’s a secret: you can wait to do this. It is just if someone sues you, and hopefully no one will)

Now making your LLC sustainable is something entirely different (that I am still figuring out), but it’s also the interesting part of creating your livelihood in this way. How can you enact your philosophy and sustain empathetic relationships with the world? How can you do so at a human scale and reject our society’s expectation for ever increasing growth and subordination of other people’s livelihoods?

In the creative community, there is a resistance towards businesses. It is understandable, as humans yielding to the capitalist imperative are responsible for polluting our air and water, stripping our natural resources, killing off an flora and fauna, selling our privacy, commercializing our social interactions and public spaces, privatizing the very DNA of our food. So, it is of the utmost importance to take back not just our legislative ability to regulate these entities (#occupywallstreet!), but to also take back our ability to be our own bosses and also kind, generous individuals that are interested in improving our common resources for all.

Resources:

• We are the 99%
• Occupy Wall Street
• NYC General Assembly
• Common Dreams