Picture by Julia Landau

Marshall Ganz calls Occupy a moment, but we have a history and a future.  My generation, in North America, was birthed over 12 years ago, in the streets of Seattle, when trade unionists joined with anarchists to disrupt the workings of global capital, well, in this case, the meeting of a major player, the World Trade Organization.  We refused to accept capitalism as a natural way of ordering our social world; “Another World is Possible” was a popular slogan.  We manifested alternatives in organizing our collective refusal.  Instead of relying on institutions created under capitalism, we created our own clinics, schools, decision-making bodies, and media outlets.  Some of which have formalized into counter-institutions that exist today.  The global network of independent media centers and community health centers, like the Common Ground clinic in New Orleans, started after Hurricane Katrina, are our legacy.

The Millennials may find inspiration when their peer, 26-year old Mohamed Bouazizi, educated yet unable to find a good job, self-immolated himself on the steps of the Tunisian governor’s office, sparking the uprisings of the Arab Spring.  Or, when 24-year old Bradley Manning, in a fit of frustration with military bureaucracy and the war abroad, uploaded confidential documents onto the Wikileaks website.  What is the future of the Occupy movement?  Approximately a half-year in and many camps have been violently evicted from the land on which they pitched their tents.  Many of us spent this late fall awake in an overnight vigil to defend a camp or recovering from being pepper sprayed by cops when trying to setup a new one.  At the time of writing this, only Occupy D.C. remains intact.  But, that is not the end of Occupy.

Like seeds released into the wind, we lodged into soil, to hibernate through the winter, and to unfurl new shoots in the spring.  For what Occupy has created is an opportunity for us collectively to create new subjectivities and to dream of a new world.  Social theorists have long thought about the relationship between the individual and society as a dialectical one, each informing the development of the other.  George Mead, for instance, wrote that social reality was an external thing that impressed itself upon and shaped a child during the process of socialization.  But, the self that had ideas that challenged social norms could win acceptance by the larger group, therefore changing society.

Under capitalism, Herbert Marcuse thought, the individual lost her capacity to think critically and the desire to yearn for freedom.  We lost our sense of self, subjectivity, and became objects in the process of production.  All of human life was organized for the instrumental means of achieving profit for the 1%.  We became mechanical producers, who worked to make a salary to enable us to passively consume mass culture and media.  This one-dimensional thinking dominated culture and ideology, focused only on keeping calm and carrying on.

One outcome of Occupy can be foretold by the example of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement or Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST).  Today, 350,000 families occupy 20 million acres of land, a challenge to global capital, which has setup white picket fences around the world, cordoning off what was once the commons.  MST’s flag celebrates the industry of the landless worker, represented by a couple holding aloft a machete, and their willingness to fight for land reform, with blood if necessary.   This flag accompanied MST leader Janaina Stronzake, when she visited the Occupy Wall Street encampment, before it was evicted from Zuccotti Park.  “Occupation was a time to grow,” she told the assembly, “To grow education, empowerment, and food community.”  The crowd echoed after her, amplifying Janaina’s words using the human microphone, “Occupy, Resist, and Grow!”

Janaina grew up in a MST occupation.  Her family lost their land to banks in the late 1970s because, like many family farmers in the global south at the time, they borrowed money in order to adopt industrial agricultural techniques.  Indebted and unable to pay back what they owed, the bank seized their land, displacing newborn Janaina, her eight older brothers, and parents to the city, where they survived precariously as field laborers.  But, in 1985, her family joined the MST and they moved into a camp, with 225 other families, for two years, where they studied and prepared to occupy land in the western part of the Parana state.

The MST uses a two-step method to expropriate land lying fallow, owned by corporations or latifundios, for collective use.  First, families are moved in rural camps, typically dwelling in shacks alongside highways, until land is identified for settlement.  This can take anywhere from six months to five years, but camp living has proved to be important preparation in transforming atomized individuals into collectively minded occupiers.  Camp residents receive a rigorous dose of participatory education, on politics and critical thinking as well as practical matters such as sustainable farming techniques and how to manage a cooperative.  Without this experience, families that move directly onto occupied land typically leave within a few months.  But, with this preparation, more than 90 percent stay for the long run.

The second step is occupation of the land by families, usually at dawn when security guards and police are sleeping.  Janaina remembers arriving early one morning with her family to an unused piece of land, but the police were waiting and prevented the families from entering the land.  So, they camped on the side of the road for two months, where conditions were difficult,  “hunger and cold were always stalking us,” Janaina recalled.  Brazil is unique in that, beginning in the nineteenth century, one had legal claim to land if it was serving a social function.  While petitioning through bureaucratic pathways for the title, the MST also moved the camp to occupy the plaza in front of the state capital, Curitiba.  After participating in seven occupations, Janaina’s mother finally acquired land, collectively.

Once land is occupied, the collective immediately begins to dig in and grow roots.  Peter Rossett describes how “crops are planted immediately, communal kitchens, schools, and a health clinic are set up, and defense teams trained in nonviolence secure the perimeter against the hired gunmen, thugs, and assorted police forces that the landlord usually calls down upon them.”  This is the new society that the MST is building alongside the current model of global capitalism.

Already, we are experimenting with land occupations.  A faction of Occupy Oakland tried to takeover a foreclosed homeless shelter on the day of the general strike.  They were unsuccessful, but planted a seed.  A seed that took root on December 6, the national day of action, where organizers across the country occupied foreclosed properties.  Next, come spring, as Max Rameau promises, we will emerge and bloom.

Postscript:

I had the opportunity to ask Janaina: How does the MST example apply to Occupy, which does seem primarily to be urban?  I found her response quite profound.  She said, “It’s time to break the Cartesian dualism, step away from the rural versus urban dichotomy, and think of other ways to defend land, grow food, and distribute resources… We who are living in ‘urban’ places can create ‘rural’ spaces, to grow our own food.”

I can’t stop memeing.

Just a brief update, three more joined the ranks of the ever wondrous, committed Smart Meme supporters: Khanh Pham, Matt Nelson, and Alison Alkon (who just wrote this most awesome book, Cultivating Food Justice).  That means, I’ve reached my goal of raising $500 for Smart Meme!  W00T!

Thank you, lovely and beautiful people!

This is it, folks, the last meme.  It’s Day 3, Meme 6; we’re finally here!  Above, I’m with Frank Chu, voted 2000 Best Protestor by the SF Bay Guardian, at Oscar Grant Plaza.  His message to us?  “The 12 galaxies are stealing our money and foreclosing our homes.  And, Bill Clinton is the one directly responsible.”

1.    Hours that I’ve flushed my body clean of cigarette addiction: 96.

2.    I am grateful for you, my friends and community.

I couldn’t have used the pretext of my birthday to tackle three seemingly insurmountable goals, without all of you.  I received such beautiful messages of support in the past three days: in solidarity with my plight to quit smoking, with useful advice on how to do so (licorice is better than Twizzlers, I learned), clucking over our age and the passage of time since the time we were first acquainted, and stutters of “gosh it’s been so long, but really nice to hear from you”.  You all warm my heart and honor me with your friendship and community.

Memeing is hard work!  I commend Smart Meme’s co-directors Patrick Reinsborough and Doyle Canning for doing it daily and on their feet.  My meme muscle is exhausted.  My final two memes are not by me, one features my dear cat Ollie (sadly, no longer with me, she was hit by a car three years ago in Berkeley, after 7 years of being unscathed in New York City), making mischief among my books, by my friend, the genius, Mike Castleman.

Ollie had a particular preference for Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.  Something about the 478-pages extolling the totality of Empire with our only salvo: dissenting only when we’re by ourselves, in a darkened room, especially if no one else is looking.  All that didn’t sit so well with Ollie.  My copy of Empire is lovingly pockmarked by memories of her claws.

The other one is by my colleague, friend, and fellow cat enthusiast, Channing Kennedy, who has excellent taste in neon-colored argyle sweaters.  He makes mention of food chain workers, a sector of excluded workers that Smart Meme can support, with your help.

3.    I am $60 away from meeting my goal to support Smart Meme.

I am so thankful to the following who pledged to help: Doug Henwood, Martha Bader, Shel Kimen, Hector Cordero-Guzman, Susan Burch, Samantha Liapes, Lan Nguyen, Chris Benner, Dorian Warren, Dominique Apollon, Darwin Bond-Graham’s parents, John Tarleton, Jordan Flaherty, Terry Keleher, John O’Keefe, James Tracy, and Joann Lo.  

I am only $60 away from meeting my goal to raise $500 for Smart Meme.  If three of you gave $20, I can be at ease, knowing my memes weren’t flexed in vain.  You can give here.

I know that these are difficult financial times; not everyone is in a position to give.  There are other ways to support Smart Meme’s work:

• Friend Smart Meme on Facebook.
• Follow Smart Meme on Twitter.
• Gift Smart Meme’s book Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements and Change the World (PM Press, 2010) to family and friends for the holidays.
• RSVP for the Not-Another-Annoying-Holiday-Party smartMeme HAPPY HOUR, December 14, from 5:30 to 7:30pm in San Francisco.

Three days later, I am 36.  I quit smoking.  I have shared my gratitude for: my mother, my adopted city Oakland, my work and colleagues, my unicorn friends, movement mentors, and my community.  I have exhausted all possible configurations of memes known to me, including, but not limited to the nyan cat, robot unicorn attack, fake science fair, Megyn Kelly essentially, and the beloved Pepper Spray Cop.

And, I’ve raised $440 for one of my favorite organizations, Smart Meme, who does phenomenal work helping the movement for racial, social, and economic justice tell their story and craft a winning message.  Pretty awesome.  I hope that I’ve kept you amused.

Until next time.

Here we go; it’s the LAST DAY of my Meme-A-Thon.

1.    Hours since I last satisfied my nicotine fix: 87.

2.    I am grateful for my mentors, movement elders who inspire me to keep on trucking.

One of my first movement mentors was David Graeber.  It was late fall 2001, the smoke from September 11 still hung heavy over New York.  The neoliberal elite flocked to hobnob in my city, ostensibly, in solidarity with our collective tragedy. I went to my first Anti-Capitalist Convergence meeting, to plan citywide protests against the World Economic Forum, at a community center, Charas/El Bohio.  Who were all these people clad in black, talking about smashing the state and capital?  David introduced himself to me, after the meeting was over.  He talked about doing an ethnography of the direct action network.  I was fascinated and have been captivated ever since.  David inspired me to study anthropology in college and, later, pursue graduate school, because I wanted to be a radical academic, like him.  For that and his friendship, I am ever grateful.

A second elder who shaped me was Muntu Matsimela, a former Panther and perennial revolutionary.  I met Muntu when I got involved with WBAI’s Local Station Board.  Muntu had crazy ass stories of Marxist-Leninist sects in the 1970s, who asked you to prove your revolutionary fervor by running around the block repeatedly, until you threw up.  Muntu helped me appreciate and claim, as my own political lineage, the history of the Black Panthers and their vision of intercommunalism, the very autonomist idea that our world no longer consisted of nations, but was a collection of communities, ruled over by a capitalist-imperialist power elite.

The solution, as Huey P. Newton wrote, was: “the people of the world…must seize power from the small ruling circle and expropriate the expropriators, pull them down from their pinnacle and make them equals, and distribute the fruits of our labor that have been denied us in some equitable way. We know that the machinery to accomplish these tasks exist and we want access to it.”  Newton later went on to link the Panther’s work to this vision: “The Black Panther Party, with its survival programs, plans to develop the institutions in the community.”

Muntu also taught me the difference between friends and comrades.  Over the years, it has been his friends that he can rely on.  Thank you, Muntu, for the wisdom you imparted to me.

My current mentor is Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, the indigenous historian and lifelong proud Okie.  I first reached out to Roxanne when writing a case study about the Navajo or Dine people.  She’s been an inspiration to me, ever since.  I appreciate Roxanne for introducing me to notions like sovereignty and that the original extraction in this country has been at the expense of indigenous communities.  I also appreciate Roxanne for being totally unimpressed by my idea to write a book on Capitalism and Zombies (riffing off the popularity of novels, like Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters or Android Karenina), a sane counterpoint to my sometimes boundless enthusiasm.  I am so glad to have you in my life, Roxanne.

3.    Deporten a La Migra

Secure Communities (“S-Comm”) is a deportation program launched by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in 2008.  Through S-Comm, fingerprints submitted by local law enforcement agencies to the FBI for criminal background checks are automatically searched against immigration databases.  Groups such as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the Applied Research Center (ARC) have exposed how S-Comm results in families torn apart, parents punished for trying to make life better for their children, and further entrenches inequality.

Smart Meme aids NDLON in framing and messaging for their campaign against S-Comm.  The program has deported 115,000 people since it was enacted.  In 2010, nearly 400,000 were deported under President Obama’s reign.  5,100 children are currently living in foster care, prevented from reuniting with their parents because of detention or deportation.

Help Smart Meme carry out this important work in supporting groups like NDLON.  The following extra-special rockstars have pledged to help: Doug Henwood, Martha Bader, Shel Kimen, Hector Cordero-Guzman, Susan Burch, Samantha Liapes, Lan Nguyen, Chris Benner, Dorian Warren, Dominique Apollon, Darwin Bond-Graham’s parents, John Tarleton, Jordan Flaherty (a fellow unicorn!), and Terry Keleher.

I am only $150 away from my goal; that’s six other superheroes pitching in with $25.  You can be one by going here.  

Only one more meme left, coming soon.

Happy that Monday is soon over!

1.    Hours in which I’ve saved my lung cells from early death: 73.

2.    I am grateful for all the unicorns in the world.
My coworker told me once that we nerds were like unicorns.  We get together, lock horns, which cause them to light up, and fairy dust gets sprinkled everywhere.  The world gets all sparkly.  At first, this remark confused me.  Now, I see how appropriate it is.

See, I am so lucky to have a number of unicorns in my life.  In fact, you may be one of them.  When we meet, we get excited about arcane things like whether zombies represent the new revolutionary class, post-apocalypse, or what a Third World autonomous Marxism would look like (hint: not like a dead white man).

Few understand our enthusiasm.  A unicorn alone is an endangered creature, close to extinction, because children no longer read.  A unicorn part of a herd is a happy species, nurturing hope that, someday, writing a book can still change the world.

Soundtrack: 1994 synth-pop single "Always" by Erasure

Thank you for all the unicorns in my life and those I have yet to meet.

3.    Make Banks Pay, Occupy Our Homes
Tuesday, December 6 is the National Day of Action to stop and reverse foreclosures. The Occupy Our Homes movement is holding actions around the country in support of homeowners and people fighting to have a home.  The Occupy Wall Street movement and brave homeowners around the country are coming together to say, “Enough is enough.” We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them.

Smart Meme has partnered with the Right to the City Alliance, to train leaders in messaging and framing.  When Right to the City, for example, occupied Bank of America, spokespersons trained by Smart Meme blamed bank’s predatory lending for high foreclosure rates among communities of color.  This message made headlines in papers from the Boston Globe to the Bloomberg News.

What do Doug Henwood, Martha Bader, Shel Kimen, Hector Cordero-Guzman, Susan Burch, Samantha Liapes, Lan Nguyen, Chris Benner, and Dorian Warren have in common?  They have all pledged their support to Smart Meme; thank you, you all rock!  I’m $300 short of reaching my goal, that’s 12 friends giving $25 to help Smart Meme.  You can contribute here.

One more day, two memes to go.