Occupy Sandy: Onetime protesters find new cause

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — You might be surprised at what has become a lauded and effective relief organization for victims of Superstorm Sandy: Occupy Wall Street.

The social media savvy that helped Occupy protesters create a grass-roots global movement last year — one that ultimately collapsed under its leaderless format — is proving a strength as members fan out across New York to deliver aid including hot meals, medicine and blankets.

They're the ones who took food and water to Glenn Nisall, a 53-year-old resident of Queens' hard-hit and isolated Rockaway section who lost power and lives alone, with no family nearby.

"I said: 'Occupy? You mean Occupy Wall Street?'" he said. "I said: 'Awesome, man. I'm one of the 99 percent, you know?'"

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-sandy-onetime-protesters-cause-074517400.html

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Breaking Activist News - http://activistnews.org/

[myrna minx]

1. I thought they were just hippies wandering around a park? This makes me proud.

[deutsey]

2. "one that ultimately collapsed under its leaderless format"

that and a hostile police crackdown

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Obviously NOT collapsed.

Since not only is OWS actively helping after Sandy, but also setting up a "People's Bailout" program to buy up debt*, and has been actively helping individuals fight foreclsoure.

*http://www.discourse.net/2012/11/ows-to-buy-forgive-distressed-consumer-debt/

[deutsey]

8. Yep

[Bragi]

15. And also...

It collapsed because they adopted a diffused tactic in which few of the 99 percent could actually participate.

(I know, I know, we're supposed to pretend Occupy didn't fail. My bad.)

[xchrom]

3. Du rec. Nt

[merrily]

5. AP is notoriously biased and, in this article, very dumb to boot.

First, the Occupy movement never collapsed.

Second, people in need were always the intended beneficiaries of the movement, so this is not a new cause.

I can't believe people with so little insight get paid good money to write things.

[JackRiddler]

10. It's amazing what a "collapsed" movement can do...

apparently more than a "functional" state, in some cases.

[merrily]

13. Also amazing: how many websites a collapsed movement has

https://www.google.com/search?q=Occupy+websites&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&client=firefox-a

Many of them listing daily activities.

[starroute]

6. I've been following them with fascination on Facebook

If you have a Facebook account, I really recommend Liking their page -- which along with a lot of requests for supplies, people, etc. has links to all the best news stories and videos about what they're doing.

http://www.facebook.com/OccupySandyReliefNyc?ref=stream


There's also a New Jersey branch with its own page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Sandy-Relief-NJ/364593683632382?ref=stream


And here's one good link I just found when I went to check the urls. I think its a good illustration of the mixture of idealistic dreams with what-needs-doing-next practicality that the movement demonstrates.

http://occupiedstories.com/mutual-aid-is-a-social-relationship.html

Midafternoon on November 9th, I headed over to the new Occupy Sandy Relief distro site for Red Hook at 83 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Brooklyn to lend a hand for a bit. On my short walk there, I thought how the Occupy dream, which had turned into a nightmare for so many of us, was now not only persisting but in fact transforming into something far more dreamlike than any of us could have imagined a year ago — a self-styled and effective “hegemonic” force in what mutual aid looks like and indeed is all about, in sharp contrast to “The Persistence of Dystopia” in the wake of Hurricane Sandy for some many in New York and New Jersey.

When I arrived at the new Red Hook Occupy Sandy Relief distro site, a gaggle of what appeared to be mainstream reporters with cameras, microphones, and little regard for anything except themselves were jostling to film a donation delivery out front. Inside, though, I found three incredibly nice folks, clearly just getting this new site set up. I asked if they needed help, but they said that the weekend would be better; it would get busy when folks came in to pick up material aid. They needed to organize things first so as to better integrate other volunteers into this space.

“I’m involved with an archive fairly close by, but won’t be there tomorrow,” I said. “How about Monday?” “Do you have a car?” asked one, and then without pausing, answered his own question, “No, I doubt it. Probably just a bike, huh? We need cars for deliveries.” “Do you have a laptop?” inquired another, who seemed the point person here. I affirmed that I did, and the response was, “Great! Could you bring that on Monday?” They then bent over their own computer, after handing me a whiteboard to write down my name, number, email, and availability.

“Did you say you’re an archivist?” they asked distractedly, staring at their laptop screen. “No,” I replied, “I’m an anarchist.” I instantly got a big smile and high-five from my new acquaintance. “Cool! I’ve never heard of that archive. What is it?” When I explained it was an independent space filled with social movement cultural production more for us than preservation — cultural ephemera like zines, posters, films, books, stickers, banners, buttons, T-shirts, audiotapes, periodicals, and more — and that we did related events, they eagerly asked, “Do you have ACT UP materials, especially from Philly? ACT UP was amazing in Philly.” A minute later we discovered that we had both sublet the same apartment at different times in Philly at Fancy House, one of those anarchic collectively owned West Philly residences. “Can I hug you?” they beamed. Hugs are always good, especially since genuine ones, and I thought, what a lovely interconnected world we’re trying hard to create, by design and spontaneously, and how much even the most minor of mutual aid attempts leads, serendipitously, to reshaping social relations in micro ways. Macro ways, too, perhaps, as Occupy Sandy Relief seems to be doing. Again that sharp contrast: our cooperative, communitarian, egalitarian social relations against the cruel backdrop of the competitive, individualistic, imbalanced ones instilled by capitalism.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. OWS "collapsed under its leaderless format"?!?! Right...that's what happened. I think they

Last edited Sat Nov 10, 2012, 06:22 PM - Edit history (1)

deserve a big part of the kudos for the trajectory of the national discussion on the 1%ers like Romney and reframing how much of the country sees wealth and power. That may be partly why Citizen's United wasn't able to overwhelm the vote of the majority.

[bvar22]

9. ^What he said^

President Obama changed HIS message from "Austerity" to "Economic Fairness" AFTER OWS.
Just replay the SOTU from 2010 and 2011, not to mention Campaign 2012 to HEAR the difference.

OWS has ended most of the public encampments for now, and re-engaged on a number of different levels.
The Occupy Movement is directly responsible for more "change" in America that any other single event in our recent history.





You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
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[yends21012]

11. Once again the 1%...nowhere to be seen

They have so many opportunities and the means to really do good for this country, but it seems that they have become the in many ways the epitome and definition of selfishness and conceit.

[WillyT]

12. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[JackRiddler]

14. This is probably an agenda of wishful thinking...

Occupy Sandy is showing that there are THOUSANDS of committed people in New York organized through Occupy, and that they are, at least so far, the leading civil society group in this crisis. (This part is shocking, and I wouldn't have expected it, but that's what the picture on the ground has shown.) They are moderately effective and very organized - in a leaderless movement. When AP writes "one time protesters," they're expressing their fantasy that this is somehow no longer the same Occupy movement, and that it is no longer people who protest - except that in reality, it is the same Occupy movement, still protesting, and it is people who are essentially anti-capitalist in outlook.

All this article means is that Occupy Sandy is big enough they feel they have to acknowledge it, and also good enough they feel they can't smear the effort itself. So they pretend that it's somehow no longer "Occupy." After all, according to their own reality-averse agenda, Occupy is dead, and empirical evidence must not be allowed to disturb essential articles of faith.