Thoughts and photos from Occupy Boston
Every day on the way to work, I pass not too far from the tent city created by the Occupy Boston protesters. It covers an entire block of the Greenway, a public park, and contains a food tent, logistics tent, legal tent, media tent, Gandhi statue, fire alarm, security volunteers, and of course countless signs and banners. I decided to pay it a visit on a couple of occasions, and it’s an interesting place – except for one person who yelled at me for taking a picture (maybe a bit of hypocrisy given Occupy’s enthusiasm about the First Amendment?).
The residents of the tent city were certainly diverse. There were lots of teenagers and young adults, many middle-aged and older people, and even a little kid or two. Some people fit the grubby hippie stereotype, while others looked like the average person you’d see on the street. On one occasion, a man addressed a large crowd of protesters. On another occasion, people marched with signs and flags down a nearby street. And on another, a large group of people sang while others played drums. Protesters held signs by busy Atlantic Ave during the evening commute, a man on a bicycle distributed apples, staffers of the food tent doled out supper, people took part in religious ceremonies, and at all times various people just milled around, sitting alone or conversing with each other.
It’s hard for me to decide what I think of the Occupy movement, because they don’t have any official leader or official platform. They are generally considered a left-wing movement due to some of their widely held beliefs, such as higher taxes on the rich, forgiving student loans and other debt, health care for all, and a stronger social safety net. But the Occupiers do have some things in common with the Tea Party movement. Neither is fond of the Federal Reserve, and in general both are all about the rights of everyday people and against the status quo and centralized authority, whether that be big banks or big government. I even saw a Gadsden flag, widely regarded as a Tea Party emblem, in the Occupy Boston tent city.
WikiLeaks noted these similarities, tweeting, ”Grass roots Tea Party, Republicans, Libertarians must continue to join #occupy. Keep it central: 99% vs corrupt institutions, patronage” and then added, “#occupy Don’t fall into the trap of more taxes. The security state will just spend it on their pals. We need accountability, local taxation.”
Regardless of what you think of Occupy, it’s never right to argue against a political movement by insulting its members with offensive stereotypes. But that’s what far too many commentators, many of whom I usually agree with, are doing. Howie Carr called them “spoiled rich kids,” and “trust-fund hippies,” and ridiculed their names, ages, hometowns, and occupations. Michael Graham dubbed them “clueless college anti-capitalists” and accused them of “stealing all the soap in the South Station bathrooms.” How exactly do they know these things?
Even if I don’t agree with them 100%, I’m glad that the Occupy movement is around and welcome their contributions to political discourse across the world.
