Two months ago a few hundred New Yorkers set up an encampment at the doorstep of Wall Street. Since then, Occupy Wall Street has become a national and even international symbol — with similarly styled occupations popping up in cities and towns across America and around the world. A growing popular movement has significantly altered the national narrative about our economy, our democracy, and our future. Americans are talking about the consolidation of wealth and power in our society, and the stranglehold that the top 1% have over our political system. More and more Americans are seeing the crises of our economy and our democracy as systemic problems, that require collective action to remedy. More and more Americans are identifying as part of the 99%, and saying “enough!”
I grew up with the protest and dissent that eventually helped end our national nightmare in Vietnam. As a child, I may not have had the Internet and 500 cable channels to bringing me more news that I could possibly process, but I did witness what protest can accomplish when commitment meets a cause. Now, in a much smaller and more tightly connected world where information travels at warp speed, Occupy Wall Street is providing us with a modern-day laboratory for the theories the ’60s demonstrated to be true.
No matter how much Mayor Michael Bloomberg (and Mayor Sam Adams here in Portland) might think, you can’t evict an idea whose time has come. You may not like the idea. You may be threatened by the idea. You may even think the idea to be dangerous and subversive. That doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to defeat that idea…and given that Bloomberg has proven himself to be the MVP of OWS by his heavy-handed attempt to suppress OWS, neither will political power be able to defeat that idea.
I have a feeling that this story is only just beginning to be written. Never doubt that a committed few can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has (apologies to Margaret Mead).
