H.D. Thoreau

goalie-zen:

I would like to talk about solidarity. While OccupyTampa was an amazing space for like-minded individuals to come together, air our grievances and find that we are not alone, we have not yet achieved the feeling of community many of us, I believe, hoped for. We have been deeply divided over the issue of Civil Disobedience. We are to the best of our knowledge the only Occupy that has not had a single arrest. Though, after yesterday and the international wake-up call this may no longer be the case. It appears that many of us are unsure what the point of Civil Disobedience is and that it also seems like a stunt for those who wish to look as “cool” as their sisters and brothers in New York and around the world. Some of us may see those wishing to partake in Civil Disobedience as provocateurs wanting to claim a badge of honour for being arrested rather than continuing the movement.

I would like to say that I humbly disagree with that sentiment.

Today we do not Occupy a park. Today we Occupy a sidewalk because that is what the city has “allowed” us to do. In compliance with their wishes we do not pass an arbitrary, man-made invisible barrier on the sidewalk after 10 pm when Curtis Hixon park closes. Though one could argue that the concrete blocks do provide some visual clues. We do not lay our bodies perpendicular to the sidewalk. We must have our sleeping bags parallel to the road. We may not block the center of the sidewalk as there must be a right of way. We are allowed onto the very edge to hold up our signs where we’re one step away from oncoming traffic and we are allowed on the very edge of the park where we may sleep.

Today we do not Occupy a park. We do not Occupy a sidewalk. We Occupy several feet of a sidewalk. It is my personal belief that a community may not be built on a few feet of sidewalk. I understand the position of some that we have an opportunity to meet with the Mayor of Tampa and the City Council to discuss a space being provided for us. That we have an opportunity to exhaust all our legal options first. But the question remains after those legal options are exhausted what is to become of us? Is there a place for Civil Disobedience in OccupyTampa? Do we feel this is a successful and practical tactic? Those questions are valid points that should be discussed further.

Yet, none of us have said at the GA what message we present to the world when we comply with the government whose abuses we are protesting. We have not considered that by complying we are aiding the continual oppression of our sisters and brothers who do not have home. We are privledged in OccupyTampa to be allowed sleeping bags. We are priviledged to claim the sidewalk in front of Curtis Hixon. What of our sisters and brothers who are tired of sleeping on concrete? What of their right to a park bench? If we refrain from participating in Civil Disobedience because we are afraid our image with the larger Tampa community will be threatened and that we will lose our bargaining chip with City Council and the police, why have we not considered the consequences to our image of complying?

Do we not Occupy so that the voiceless may find their voices? Would it not make a grand statement to stand up together with some of the most marginalized of the 99 percent? Should we not find a space to Occupy where we can form a community where all have a safe haven to live and support one another? Should we not go ahead and claim that space now in defiance of the laws that wreck havoc not only on our first amendment rights but the health and well being of some of the 99 percent?

Our end game is not to Occupy a park. We have no end game. But what we do have is a process to shed light on injustice, to demonstrate with our physical bodies the absurdity of the law and our government’s corruption. An Occupation is not just a gathering of people, but a symbol for what they stand for.

I propose again a community cannot be formed on a sidewalk. And that we should not rely on a broken system and a government that has continually failed us to make the change we want to see. We should be that change.

But I do not speak for the General Assembly, as none of us individually speak for the General Assembly. Whatever each of us decide it is vital to offer our respect for the autonomy of others. If we do not stand in solidarity this movement has already failed. It does not matter that we disagree, but that we have a forum to disagree. It does not matter that we do not yet understand one another, but that we listen to one another and try to understand. Let this not be the day we fracture. Let this be the day we grow ever stronger and be grateful for our differences and the way they enrich us.

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After a night of sleeping on the sidewalk and now a shower and a change of clothes, I’m headed back to stand in solidarity with my sisters and brothers.