Forum Post: An open letter and warning from a former tea party movement adherent to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 3, 2011, 8:31 p.m. EST by abobobo
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
AUTHOR: vaslittlecrow
1- The media will initially and purposely avoid covering your dissenting movement to cause confusion about what your movement is about within mainstream audiences. This is to enrage you and make you appear unreasonable, and perhaps even invisible.
2- While the obsfuscation is happening, corporatists/government stooges will infiltrate and give superficial support, focus and financial backing to the targetted movement. In the tea party movement's case, it was the religious Republicans and Koch Brothers. In this case, it's the Public Sector Unions (the organizations as quasi-human entities, not the members themselves) and Ultra Rich liberals who pretend to care, but frankly do not serve liberators and freedom seekers but rather the interests of those who run the Public Sector Unions and the Democratic Party. Democrat, Republican, these parties are all part of the same corporate ruling system. Case in point: [1] http://www.debates.org/
3-The media will cover the movement only after this infiltration succeeds. Once the infiltration is completed the MSM will manufacture public media antipathy towards the movement by using selective focus on the movement's most repulsive elements or infiltrators on the corporate Conservative media side, while the corporate Liberal media will create a more sympathetic tragic hero image -- this is the flip side of the tea party, but same media manipulation tactics. I go into greater detail on this tactic: [2] http://vaslittlecrow.com/blog/2011/09/08/how-the-media-and-ideological-groups-manipulate-your-beliefs/
4- Someone in the Democratic Party will feign sympathy for the movement and falsely "non-partisan" entities provide tons of funding and unwanted organization, just as was done with the tea party movement by Republicans. Once people assume that the government operatives are their friends, the government will hijack the movement and the threat of your movement will be neutralized.
If this new Occupy Wall Street movement is to survive, here's what needs to be done.
1- Loudly denounce violence and disavow the violent rabblerousers of the movement. They do not help the cause.
2- Be image conscious. Present your best face and call out those who act like fools within the movement. People are more likely to pay attention to you in your Sunday dress and bringing homemade food, than when you are drinking a bottle of Snapple and chomping on Big Macs while you are looking like a slacker rich hipster/unwashed hippie stereotype.
3- Accept that you've already been infiltrated by the government, and work hard to say, and state what your movement is and is not about. "No, this isn't about unions or Liberals, conservatives or bored spoiled brats. This is about 99% of our population being exploited and manipulated for the sake of profit." "No we will not resort to violence." "Yes, all we want is for for the end of government collusion with corporate entities that are illegitimately recognized as people." And, so forth...
4- Don't forget who you are as the illusions are thrown at you. Corporatists are masters of illusions. That's the most powerful weapon they have. That's how they sell products you don't need and convince you to justify accepting atrocities for the sake of products Don't fall for it. Otherwise, your cause will be lost. Be wary of large donations from special interest groups or non-profit corporations that were not involved this movement from the inception. Special interests groups are not your allies. Non-profit corporations are still corporations, and unfortunately, too many of them care more about donations than doing the right thing. Killing a movement with kindness is easy.
5- Remain independent and focused. If you can, pick a face to represent your movement. Rosa Parks wasn't just a random lady in a bus. [3] http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/bus-boycott/
-- She was chosen. You too can use the power of illusion against those who oppose you.
I wish your movement better luck than we had with the tea party movement before it got hijacked by the theocrats and corporatists. We used to be non-partisan too. We were the older version of you. But, I believe that as the media apparatchik and infiltrators start to twist your cause, you will understand the frustration us early adopter tea partiers felt and that we were not your enemy after all. A fascist oligarchy on the verge of winning is our common enemy. This should be your focus. Don't be dazzled by the illusion as we were. For the sake of our future, know who you are.
EDITS: To understand how movements get hijacked, check out this fantastic video that JamesCarlin shared: [4] http://vimeo.com/20355767
Co-pting and infiltration of movements has a very long history. I hear alot of the young occupy-ers complain about not getting mainstream media attention. I recommend that we who are not 'yet' infiltrated by 'Party' groups or fans of politicians.. Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader or dazzled by celebrities like Michael Moore or famous musicians, actors etc... stay focused on the problems distilled (very well) in the Declaration and continue to come up with our own solutions. Keep the declarations evolving and distilling.
Stay as independent as possible!! I hear alot of clear thinking young adults.. young women and men who can think for themselves. I'm 53 and I feel inspired for the first time since the late 60's and 70's that real progress is possible. The generations in between that era and now have been lost in a mire of materialism and self absorbtion. The problem of Money In Politics as kimber said..is another word for corporatism or fascism. It's the lifeblood of the dictatorship we live under. It'll get worse before it gets better. So in that same vein, be VERY wary of big stars, politicians or any kind of organizations trying to insert Money into OccupyWS movement. Build your own..our own media. Use the independent media that's already there. Work outside the system. Your creativity will yield far greater results. Much love & hope. Solidarity with you warriors for our planet!
Thes are definitely points to consider. Already moveon.org and other groups are jumping on the bandwagon.
As much as I'm a Moveon.org supporter, it makes me nervous and may push away our conservative/tea party friends who also help make up the 99%.
Moveon is Obama's mouth piece. Obama is a corportist, and now a murder. Where in the Constitution does the President have the authority to assassinate American citizens without trial?
I crack up every time I see #occupywallst'ers supporting Obama. The first thing Obama did was fill his cabinet with Wallstreet goons.
vaslittlecrow, you prove what many people understand to be true - that it's not about left, right or center, but it's about top and bottom. Ninety nine percent of us are getting screwed by the upper 1%. So far Occupy Wall Street is appearing aimless by doing what people on the left often do - have too many individual issues with no specific organizing principle. What is the single thread that could be pulled to unravel the ENTIRE sweater? It's MONEY IN POLITICS. Corporate money in politics (like the Koch Bros in the Tea Party) is to blame for every other problem - human rights, worker's rights, war, trade, environment, climate. The only way Americans are going to be able to take our country back is to get the money out of politics. That is at the root of EVERY other issue that people are trying to push.
Wonderful! thank you for your insight
Is there even leadership on the ground in NYC to read this, to understand this, to act on this? I know there are people there however, when the site says "Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that", "leaderless resistance movement"
leaderless resistance movement..... how in the hell is anything going to change without leadership?
abobobo makes a great point - leadership is needed now
I've been thinking that the fact there is NO leader is actually a protection against co-optation. When groups have a leader, the forces who wish to divide or co-opt the movement start to work on the leader or leaders & try to entice them sell-out with money/power/job/fame/other inducements. Then, the rest of the group is "lost" and cut off because they depended on the leader or leaders to "run" the group. Leaderless movement cannot be co-opted in that way...we all get out of this what WE put in.
so your proposing a movement that has no leadership, no talking heads that can deliver a clear decisive message, no way to control how this movement is defined by the 1%?
We all get out of this what we put in, yeah I agree with that. However we also fail because I can't think of a civilization that made it without some type of leadership.
I understand we have leaders that are getting paid off, ]members of congress getting paid off, judges getting paid off. The answer to that is a body of citizens that actually care enough to shut off dancing with the stars or monday night football and start demanding representation from the leaders that they elected.
This is our mess that we've (the american people) have created. We watch tv rather then care about what bill was passed on the floor of the u.s. house of representatives. It's on us. The lawmakers get payed off because we vote them into office then go back to tv time.....
So the answer is people that give a dam. If this movement gives a dam then we need to unplug from the nonsense that is put before us every waking minute of every single day by the rich to keep us occupied.
If you want change, we need leadership that's held accountable. By you and I.
Accountable Leadership is what we need, and we have to hold them to it
A leaderless movement will fail
There's always a queen bee...
also, the second a leader were to emerge or get elected, their family and friend's lives would be subjected to character assassination, and eventually, they would find something to prance across the news and discredit the entire thing. How about everyone takes turns? Really short turns.
"also, the second a leader were to emerge or get elected, their family and friend's lives would be subjected to character assassination, and eventually, they would find something to prance across the news and discredit the entire thing"
Agree 100%
whether tea party or occupy wall street minded. it's time we the people control our message and not the networks, who only pit us against each other.
The networks are simply tools. The owners of this world, pit us against each other.
Exactly my point. Their major tool is the networks, which they own. Occupy Wall Street? First step, occupy the networks.
I'd argue the second best place to start, but would garner far less attention, would be to occupy local politics. Before the media was deregulated, it was law that local politics and the processes that affect our daily lives had to be aired on our public airwaves. I'd re-instate that regulation and then further it by making it Federal law that anything reported as news had to be verified with source material or otherwise acknowledged as unverified information before allowing it on our public airwaves.
Re-regulating the media would be an excellent step in the right direction. A next excellent step would be to re-instate Glass-Stegall and stop allowing mortgage banks and investment banks to speculate our economy into the toilet.
A further excellent decision would be further re-regulation of things that have been swept under the rug. A few minutes of googling, a few books, a documentary or two and a couple conversations with someone who still remembers the old good welfare cheese could teach any one of us that it didn't used to be this bad even back when it was bad.
Good points on local media and the requirement to support stuff with fact, or disclose that it is not. This is how it's done in Canada and why News Corp recently failed at launching a network there. In order to do so they tried to take advantage of the conservative government up there to change those rules.
Excellent post.
amen. occupy the media. occupy the major news networks.
People are not a commodity. Freedom is not a commodity. But our government has become a commodity to be packaged and sold to the highest bidder - Two competing brands of the same product that tells us war is the way to peace and security, instead of global resentment, fear and carnage. That spending more money we don’t have on things we don’t need is the way to fix an economy crippled by mindless consumerism and the lust for wealth by our real leaders - those who control the money supply. Those who profit from our debt or endless wars, fought for questionable reasons, under suspicious circumstances. Those who resist renewable energy, working wages, and labor laws, by exporting our jobs, so the products we consume were made by children or people living in grass huts, barely able to feed themselves, hired without concern for their health, education or well being.
Our government has been so compromised by money our elected representatives are little more than spokesmen for the very powers that would imprison us with debt, threaten us with unemployment, lie to us through the media, and lull us to sleep with reality shows seemingly put out to hide the reality of what they are doing behind closed doors. Auctioning off our country and people, our laws and land, our rights and privacy.
We voted for change but got the same. We get better speeches to justify the same policies of carnage and greed. Spying and torture. The empire-building of a corporate run government enforced police state. A government on loan from banking and oil, insurance and defense contractors, replacing the American dream with their own goals. A Starbucks in every village, a BP on every corner, and everyone a slave to the debts we incur for housing or education, healthcare or transportation.
Something has to be done. Endless growth is not realistic, and growth in the poorer countries is repressed by the same powers, to keep down competition, provide a slave labor pool, and make people dependent on the powers that would control and cage us all like animals, if it meant better quarterly reports.
This is what a nonviolent revolution looks like. This is what happens when the shit finally hits the fan. The people rise up and demand freedom, fairness and a slice of the pie they were promised, but never got. It is messy, unorganized chaos, confusion and resentment, but our intentions are good, our resolve will not falter and we are unstoppable. This is not a movement, it is a pandemic. A global awakening by the populations of the world, who have torn off the packaging and labels applied to them, tossed out the political products we’ve been handed and told to choose among. We know who we can trust and who we can’t now. Thank you for clarifying that for us. Which is the first step in a revolution.
You are either with us or against us. You can either recognize us, or we won’t recognize you, watch your networks, buy your newspapers and magazines, because your resistance, indifference or mockery has to be taken as your loyalty and obedience to the very powers we are fighting for freedom, fairness, honesty, and the popular representation our forefathers promised over two hundred years ago. We rise up from a land once wet the blood of patriots, spilled to ensure our freedom and security, peace and prosperity and we are taking it back.
The rich and powerful, politicians and journalists are no longer the voice of America. No longer the voice of the world. Because when that voice ceased to speak for us, we have found our own voice, and that voice says, Go fuck yourselves. We’ll take it from
I'm a board member of the Greater Phoenix Tea Party Patriots, I was there in the beginning when we were like 20 people in the street getting laughed at. This letter's main points are absolutely valid. The Express, the Tea Party Nation and other big money groups funded by Republicans and corporatists like FOX News absolutely hijacked the movement. We have been in a knock down drag out with the GOP since we established our group, as they have subverted and peeled away several of our groups one at a time. We are in a constant battle for our identity, on every issue, in every election, as the Republicans flow in and do their dirty work.
There are many with groups like Sons of Liberty that are trying to reach people just like the ones I see in the OWS movement. This is where the real message is. The Federal Reserve System is responsible for everything we see wrong with our country, with the infuence of the corporations, with the corruption of our Congress, Executives and Courts; with the unending wars, with the abridgement of our liberties and the assaults on our daily lives, with the concentration of wealth.
These are not problems of capitalism or the Constitution. They are caused by the subversion of the tenets of capitalism and of our Constitution. What we have now under both parties, and have had for over 100 years, is fascism, i.e. socialism for the mega corporations and the big banks that hold stock in the FED, and capitalism for the rest of us peons that don't get special government favors. This is why the bailouts of huge corporations while the true capitalist with his barber shop in Harlem is allowed to go under.
Pay close attention to what is said in this letter. Understand that the people like Van Jones and these other administration stooges don't want to help your movement. Like the stooges of GW Bush, the stooges of the Obama stringholders are looking to misdirect you and distract you from the real causes of what is going wrong with this country.
The largest contributors to the campaign of GW Bush were the big banks of Wall Street. The stockholders in the Federal Reserve. The benefactors of the TARP. Those same stockholders in the Federal Reserve were also the largest contributors to the campaign of Barack Obama. Who then proceeded to bail out and pay off a bunch more of the same people. DO NOT FALL FOR THE MISDIRECTION. Rely on each other and the true underground to spread the message and the methods. Remain clear on the message, which I interpret as END THE FED. EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST WINDOW DRESSING and will be used by the corporate media and the political parties, as well as the PACS and other interest groups to hijack this movement and its message.
Take it from one who's been there.
This is some great advice and the movement if it is to succeed needs to be respectful. Trolls accounts should be routed out as quickly as they are set up. People who attack people with personal insults should pay a price by having their accounts either suspended or deleted. Everyone has a right to voice their opinion but communications should be respectful. This is just my opinion and hope that this cause will survive without violence and politics as usual.
Great list. This is what I've been concerned about since it started. They fear uncontrolled opposition.
Reminder, No list of demands is can be complete without a call for the absolute and total elimination of the FEDERAL RESERVE.
This one demand will keep special interest, corporations and wall street infiltration at bay.
Right, don't send out for Domino's Pizza. Make an effort to support your local health food stores, farmer's markets and local shops. Don't walk around drinking Coke or Pepsi... keep a clear image in your mind of how corporate America influences your decisions and behavior. If the occupation is to succeed, it must, at least symbolically, renounce the products of corporations perpetuating greed and corruption. Support green businesses whenever possible. Only ask for donation of food and clothing from sources you know are in league with what should be Hannover principles.
Get more celebrities. Email and invite them. They will come.
Celebrities monopolize media, then drop the ball... good to have them there, but this isn't about personality cults... this is in fact working because there are no clear leaders standing out front. Let them come entertain the troops, perform... but each time celebrities are asked to voice a cause or a movement, it sinks into non-effectiveness. Look how many celebrities got on the save the rainforest bandwagon years ago... how many organizations were created, how much money was raised... while the rainforest still burns for burgers! There needs to be a fresh new approach.
What is "violence"?
The system being protested against uses violence constantly. It also oppresses using a vast range of other methods (see http://underminers.org/the-book/chapter-2-part-1/), only some of which are what most of us would recognise as "violence". Yet the term has been stolen, and is now used to describe any form of subversion, sabotage or direct attack against anything the system wants to remain attack.
We need to get this out into the open now: “violence” is a heavily loaded term, often used by the mass media, and frequently used by politicians in order to turn people away from any positive actions people may be using that “violence” in support of. Of course I don’t support acts that intentionally seek to harm people or other living things in their undertaking. Nor do I support acts that indirectly cause harm to others. The only situations these would be acceptable in my, and I would imagine your, eyes is in self-defense or survival. On the other hand, the “violence” that is condemned by the mouthpieces of the industrial system is rarely violence at all. This is a shining example of our language being stolen from us for the benefit of Industrial Civilization, and especially those who control this dominant culture. Smashing a window is not violence unless someone gets hurt in the process; cutting a cable is not violence unless someone gets hurt in the process; barricading the entrance to a factory is not violence unless someone gets hurt in the process.
We need to reclaim the word on behalf of the people. Do not be cowed by those who say violence is unacceptable - first, ask, what is "violence".
The one way to take back the Fed, is to take their money away. Has it never occurred to anyone that its OUR money they are using? If you take your money out of banks, they don't have bankers.. there for they don't have wall street. IF you don't pay your FEDeral tax, which is illegal anyway you break them. Just don't give them your money. I know some would say they need their credit card and don't want to do that, however if you trade security for freedom.. you deserve neither, we all know that saying. Didn't we hear as children to save for what we want. If you don't have the money don't buy it? Well.. now is our chance to start saving, with our money. Remove it from the banks and save it our selves.
we are the 99%. that means there are alot of us. that means there will be different points of views. that means there will be disagreements and discussions. that means democracy.
non-hieratic structure is the best way to perpetuate what you've got.
In addition to the above mentioned co-opting the movement, it's also Tea Partiers and Ron Paul supporters who are co-opting. Wake up! There is NO similarity between this and the Tea Party. The Tea Party are Social Darwinists who support unregulated Capitalism, meaning NO social services for those who need them, allowing the bosses to exploit workers as they please, not to mention further financial crises like the one we're in now.
Yeah, I am very concerned about George Soros who masquerades as a progressive. There is little information about him and most of what I have read is from the Right which accuses him of being a Nazi and "socialist" while the Left generally says very little if anything. I have done a lot of probing and have found some information on the website oilempire.org They refer to him as "The velvet glove around the fist of empire" I'd hate for this movement to be co-opted by the likes of him...
this needs information needs to be linked on every page.
Point of Fact: When he says "be image conscious" the writing between the lines is "use more shampoo"
Very smart and good advice. This is why we must get sub forums and a wiki immediately because these kinds of things are resolved best through evolutionary organization. This movement is definitely got ..i am fighting off... 5 or 10 different groups who are trying to have their scam. the socialists linked 3 or 5 people together to make it look like it was all in agreement even. This is whats going to go on fer sure but solid answers across the fields will best settle this which is WHY we MUST get organized and detailed sub forums and real process and thinking into each of them.
sorry, i do know exactly what feudalism is. You trying to talk about its main features and then say that other features of feudalism are not the feudalism is silly. The dominant or single most relevant point is land ownership, certainly, but there are other features of feudalism, one of which is most certainly taxes, and to the point, by definition taxation as such begins in feudal systems. It is remarkably futile and silly to argue with me. It would be wiser to stop and take your opportunity to chat with the DJIN. capitalism is ALSO a system which has NEVER existed.
the core issues; 1. Corporate Personhood. 2. Caste Warfare; they started it. 3. Its legal to lie to the USA public. 4. They are OUR airwaves. They should be used for WETHEPEOPLE not leased by the government to corporations. Put Local colleges in charge of all the media. Arrest and seize all mass media devices and then give those devices straight out to the local colleges, including the land they sit on. We need education public media; not legalized lying and propaganda wars against the people. 5. Education reform. Everyones being kept stupid and ignorant on purpose in school and repugnicons want to argue about how to pay or punish teachers. We need child centered education reform, not a con scam to privatize education and thus score all our children for corporate zombotification. 6. Free market system. Not slave market system. Not caste market system. Not Caste warfare market system. Not rigged Casino. Not making something off of nothing and making bubbles to grease a gravy train either. Free market system. We must have one of those. Its time to have one of those. We have NEVER YET had one of those. 7. Realistic regulation of the government to regulate and control corporations so that what they do is fair and just and ethical and under control instead of a parade of unleashed godzillas turning the masses into to toe jam. 8. Real and direct representation, including no more lobbying, and including an evolutionary use of the internet with organized forums and wikis replacing the old style of congressional/ mayoral office.
"Right, but that still doesn't preclude taxation, which is in fact necessary to regulate the value of money"
nope. taxation period of any kind is merely and only a means to the end of creating a caste system. And even deeper, taxation dynamically entropizes a system, so its not only not necessary to regulate money, its the single largest entropic contributor to the system. The ONLY reason why we pay taxes is thats the feudal system; the idea that we pay anything remotely approaching the same thing or fair to what the rich pay is preposterous. The whole point of taxes is to distribute wealth from the poor to the rich. period.
gawdoftruth (Santa Barbara, CA) 1 points 0 seconds ago
"the end goal product should be that every small community takes care of its own. Any federal system is a problem definition of something requiring more serious attention to solve. long term social programs managed by nation sized meta entities is a disaster not only socially and civilly but to the people who get third rate borg social services. A well functioning system does not need a welfare system, it only has a highly evolved net which catches people and only involves less than one percent of the population at any given time, not punishing but rehabing and educating folks. Until such time as that end goal is achieved, no hand outs is a paradox... you have to spend time and thus money in order to fix the problems till their fixed past needing time or money."
"Why aren't u in office???"
aspergers syndrome. you want to run,? i can ghost write your platform? :)
↥
"Understood we need more ideas then politicians anyway. The fixes are so simple but so difficult to get implemented."
↧ gawdoftruth (Santa Barbara, CA) 1 points 0 seconds ago
i'm running for chief of staff. bit early to announce yet since i have no clue whos running on my ticket for president?
http://forums.keller2012.com/index.php i created this forum org structure. but scott keller turned out to be an idiot.
Firstly, I don't believe that OWS is the successor version of the Tea Party.
Secondly, as someone who has been a lifelong union supporter, I find your perspective narrow-minded and you are really serving the purpose of dividing us by casting aspirations at unions. I'm open to fair criticism of aspects of public service unions and unions in general but to paint the picture that all of them are bad and that they are something to be feared is erroneous.
Unions have been fighting against corporate control of government for decades and have stood for the working people in this country, thus they are natural allies for OWS. Unions have condemns wall street malfeasance, no-bid contracts, outsourcing to foreign sweatshops and corrupt lobbying by big business for subsidies and tax breaks. For decades, unions have led the fight for a higher minimum wage and better working conditions.
In movements all around the world, social change for the good of the general populace has involved a confluence of student activism and labor activism. This was true for the 1960s civil rights movement as well.
The tea party failed because it was overly negative and simplistic, thus it was easily subject to being exploited by the purveyors of hate and division. It attacked Obama right from the outset but failed utterly to condemn George Bush and his cronies who headed up regulatory agencies and then disabled them. It blamed poor folks for taking subprime mortgages more than it blamed the big mortgage companies for promoting those flawed mortage products without due diligence and then disguising them using mortgage securities.
The tea party allowed itself to become associated with racist and gun-toting individuals. Tea partiers wanted to make simplistic black/white, good/bad equations and did not have the courage to make a deep analysis of the problems we face, and hence played right into the hands of the Fox News agenda (i.e. Karl Rove, Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch).
Our allies may not be perfect but they are part of the 99%. It is critical that we understand who are our allies and who are not.
The tea party couldn't understand that at all.
Actually you are wrong, it did attack Bush in the beginning then it was hijacked.
Karl Denninger addressed Bush's failure to regulate but who else? Rick Santelli's famous rant in February 2009 condemned Obama's stimulus plan, which was a continuation of the Bush/Paulson bailouts (a crisis infusion to prevent utter economic collapse) but Santelli did not critique the causes, which in large part was due to the dismal failure of the Bush watchdog agencies.
Also in February 2009, Mary Rakovich organized a protest of Obama two months into his admininstration, calling him a socialist, using Neil Cavuto's program (Fox News) to promote it. Keli Carender was another early voice who lit into Obama's stimulus plan but had nothing to say about the failure of the regulatory agencies, probably because she thinks there shouldn't be any regulatory agencies. She contacted Michelle Malkin of Fox News to promote her event.
Very quickly, the tea partiers became ground troops on behalf of Murdoch, Richard Armey's FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity.