Occupiers and Organization at the DNC Convention
by David Atkins
Being a progressive credentialed at the DNC Convention in Charlotte is a funny experience. The police presence here is massive and increasing every day, with multiple cities having lent the city of Charlotte a large number officers. Traffic is highly controlled, streets are blocked off, barricades are everywhere, and swarms of officers on foot, on bicycle, motorcycle and cars permeate the entire area for many blocks around the Convention Center. It all seems preposterously unnecessary, though I suppose the modern age of car and suicide bombs combined with a vitriolic political climate makes at least some of this inevitable. Nonetheless, the entire Convention does feel very locked down and undemocratic. As a first time delegate and sometime rabble rouser, it feels weird to be credentialed in business casual, on the inside of the barricades looking outward. I'm used to the opposite experience, to being on the outside crashing the gates inward. And I have strong sympathy for anyone still attempting to do so.
It is in this context The Occupy movement is currently protesting the convention with a crowd of less than 100. The complaints range from drones to the financial sector, from the environment to Bradley Manning. While a little message focus couldn't do any harm, these are all valid complaints: these are injustices that the Democratic Party isn't doing much of anything to address. The Party can use some shaming on these fronts.
Yet the Occupiers have made a couple of big mistakes here. First, they are nearly invisible, barricaded away behind police lines, unable to get more than a few blocks from the Convention Hall. I was curious to see them and had to find out from others where they even were.
So blame the police state conditions for not allowing free speech, right? Except...no. Right outside the convention hall, on the sidewalk just feet from the delegate barricade with blaring bullhorns, are a large number of anti-choice psychos with outsize graphic aborted fetus posters. I asked a police officer to explain the discrepancy, and the answer was simple:
The abortion people got permits a long time ago. The Occupy people didn't.
Not surprised. I suppose that Occupiers could argue that one can't change the System while playing by the System's rules. And yet, if the goal is to be a systemic disruptor, the rules-playing anti-choice crowd is actually doing a much more effective job with much more jarring and unified messaging. It's hard to disrupt anything if you can't get close enough to disrupt it.
Which brings us to the second mistake: disruption. Lacking feasible alternatives due to lack of planning, the Occupiers decided to shut down a key intersection around the NASCAR museum. That in turn led to the police barricading the museum and the surrounding area.
Only problem was that there was a Planned Parenthood rally happening outside the museum right at the same time. The Occupiers in turn led to the shutdown of the Planned Parenthood rally, much to the disappointment of the pro-choice activists in attendance. So in a way, the Occupiers created their disruption: by severely annoying pro-choice feminist allies in the movement, and helping the theocratic patriarchal agenda of the anti-choice crowd more than they themselves were able to do.
If Occupy wants to make a real difference, it has to do much better than this. Organization is powerful. Organization is useful. Organization is not an evil in and of itself. It's a tool that can be used for good or evil.
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