Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Dear #OWS

May I suggest a change in tactic?  I understand people are considering this new movement an analogue and continuation of the civil rights movement, and so be it.  However if you’re going to do that at least take a lesson from the movement.  Engage your enemy and provoke an ugly response from them that the vast moral universe of the American middle will empathize with and support.

Camping in the park is not it.  Fighting police over the right to camp in the park under the guise of “free speech” is not it.  

Unless the cities and municipalities who have to expend extra funds in extremely tight times are the enemy and I thought the bankers were this tactic is going to earn you the enmity not the support of that middle I was talking about.

So here’s what you do.  Occupy foreclosed homes.  Occupy them in the neighborhoods of the 1% and make the banks evict you through the legal process.  Now wouldn’t that be grand?  You would have the benefit of costing the actual entities of #OWS anger the banks money and time.  You wouldn’t have to meet the business end of night sticks defending a park, and here comes the sweet part:  The banks would have to prove they own the place in order to evict you!  Remember all those strange loan documents all the people who got their homes taken away through robo-signing?  All those documents would get fresh judicial review and as I understand it lots of #OWS folks have legal training that would make that an interesting adventure.  Why this tactic has the added benefit of almost being like the lottery you just might be able to stay in the house you occupy because the banks can’t prove they own it.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 16 Comments

16 comments

  1. Peter Jukes

    …maybe the Occupy London Movement heard you, because last night they occupied an abandoned London City Building owed by UBS, and started off a Bank of Ideas


    Welcome!

    The Bank of Ideas is situated on Sun Street, Hackney in an abandoned office block purchased several years ago by the bank UBS. It is an enormous space complete with a 500-seater lecture hall.

    It has been opened to the public for the non-monetary trade of ideas to help solve the pressing economic, social and envionmental problems of our time.

    There is also room for community groups, youth clubs, nursuries and other public services that have lost their space due to Government spending cuts.

    Artists, performers and creatives are welcome to come entertain and to help transform the space. We also encourage games, workshops and skillshares on anything from yoga to yahtzee.

    The only prerequisite is that this space is not for financial transactions. Trade in ideas or skills, but no one should need to pay to take part in the Bank’s activities.

    Everyone should feel safe and welcome in the Bank.  Our Safer Spaces Policy asks people to be mindful and respectful of how their ideas or actions might effect others, and there is a No Drugs and Alcohol Policy. As this is a public space any damage or disrespect to the property would be an act of disrespect and violence towards your own community, a community trying to come together to find positive solutions to our current crises. We ask all people who come into the space to come in with respect.

    Everyone is warmly welcome and encouraged to come and be part of creating the Bank of Ideas. Email us with your ideas, suggestions and requests at bankofideaslondon@gmail.com.

    Thank you very much for reading!

    A picture gallery here…

    http://www.demotix.com/news/93…

  3. HappyinVT

    Folks may know Burlington shut down the camp because someone apparently shot himself.  City Hall Park may not have been the best choice in the first place; always attracts all kinds.  Now I might need to go find another good place to occupy.

    But I’ll also say the video of tens of thousands of folks streaming across the Brooklyn Bridge was rather moving.  There are plenty of pissed off people just waiting to be led.

    I’d also like to point folks to The Rude Pundit (can’t link ’cause I’m on my phone) who reminds us that OWS is two months old … I believe he dropped a f-bomb in there, too.  I suspect we’ll see fits and starts maybe for the whole of winter.

    Lastly, as usual, the focus is largely on NYC but other places are doing other things … a group occupied a neighborhood (can’t remember which city) to prevent a foreclosure.

    Okay, really lastly, whatever happens OWS has been more successful than most folks thought.  That we’re talking about it and what it is/should be doing two months later means something.

  4. trashablanca

    The #OWS movement has to morph and evolve, because the public and the news critters

    demand novelty and change, and your suggestion is a great and logical progression.

  5. left rev

    or stronger Google Fu. I know there have already been actions like this by OWS. In fact, one of the occupied foreclosures was for a police officer whose family was about to lose their home.

    I see it as a two pronged approach. More people out n the streets and parks make for more visibility and opportunties for nonviolent passive resistance. The horrific pictures coming out of UC Davis today aren’t going to jazz anyone except the most authroitarian right wing nut jobs, and we know they’ll never get on board.

    But the idea of ocupying foreclosed homes and property is one with a lot of promise, really underscoring the whole point of the conversation that needs to happen. I hope to see more of it.

  6. DeniseVelez

    to connect OWS to the people  who were the victims of the greed of the housing bubble – so many of whom were people of color.

  7. DTOzone

    part of this is the idolization of the cops in this city. They can do no wrong, so if you’re fighting them, you’re the enemy, regardless of who you are.

    Also, there’s a lot of rumors going around about what the protesters are doing (i.e. chasing school children), that is making them look like savages and making people feel bad for the 1% (“My investment banker friend had to walk 10 blocks out of her way to get to work!”)

    Third, Wall Street isn’t terribly unpopular here because, well, its housed here.  

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