I can sympathize with what both movements are pushing for, what their stances are, and what they’re trying to accomplish, but its seems to me that the longevity of the Tea Party movement is evidence that the seemingly dwindling Occupy Wall Street movement has something to learn from the organization across the aisle.
1) Vandalism doesn’t get you anywhere in a political movement. I realize that this is a small portion of the OWS group, but it still paints a picture of a group with which normal people don’t want to be associated. The Tea Party for example has had no arrests to OWS’s 2500. Go Gandhi. Go nonviolent. That fits in with the hippie belief structure no?
2) Get a leader for Chrissake. With too many people conveying a jumbled message no one is really being heard. The point of the movement is to get a message out and while it’s true that the large number of protesters has drawn attention to the issues at hand, without a spokesperson it’s difficult to unify the masses. I mean even Cuba had Castro…
3) Ditch the encampments (though NYPD has helped in this regard). Is it not as effective to protest for the day/night and go home as Tea Partiers and other “I’m mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore” type movements have done? Maybe then some of your members won’t look like they slept on concrete all night and haven’t had a bath in 3-6 months. Also maybe the reports of rape and assault will take a steep dive. Clearly that’s better from a PR perspective.
4) Make the system work for you. Form a political action committee, recruit political candidates, get Bono to throw a benefit concert in central park etc. There’s no need to start from scratch with the demonstrating. It can be done legally and effectively as the Tea Party, the Civil Rights Movement and others have shown. I understand there are corruptions that you’re trying to avoid and that’s awesome, but there are ways to keep the movement alive without being completely anti-establishment. In their defense the $300,000 plus OWS has raised is principally in a credit union, which fits best into their “party lines.”
5) Stop with the fingers of approval/disapproval. Really it amounts to the snapping that I can recall as the means of agreement used by sororities. It in no way legitimizes the cause and if anything makes you seem juvenile. Keep up the creative sign making though! (http://www.happyplace.com/11117/the-best-protest-signs-spotted-at-occupy-wall-street)
I tend to prefer the Jon Stewart “Rally to Restore Sanity” concept better than either of these movements but it seems that extremes on both ends need to exist for there to be a middle ground. So I guess my point is, get your shit together Occupy Wall Street or we’ll be stuck in a middle ground that’s much further right than we need right now, much to the Tea Party’s delight.
