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Forum Post: People who compare Occupy to the Civil Rights Movement Trivialize Occupy

Posted 11 years ago on May 13, 2012, 7:13 p.m. EST by RedJazz43 (2757)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Occupy is much broader and more sweeping than any movement in living memory, most closely parallel to 1919 or perhaps 1848, but even they may be inadequate comparisons and Occupy may really be most closely related to the monumental changes in late pre-history that brought about modernity such as the harnessing of agriculture and the fall of matriarchy.

15 Comments

15 Comments


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[-] 2 points by Endgame (535) 11 years ago

I don't think thats fair. I believe this movement has potential to be the most important event in my lifetime. Is it broader than the Civil Rights Movement in terms of scope? Perhaps. But people were literally dieing and being mistreated,raped and killed on a daily basis with no justice for an entire people.

I don't think you mean to but you come across like you are belittling the Civil Rights Movement in order to praise Occupy when you don't need to. Just let Occupy stand on its own merits. In time history will tell. Occupy has great potential but thats the key word;Potential. The Civil Rights Movement DID change this country on a vast scale and saved lives. We haven't done any of that..yet.

[-] 2 points by RedJazz43 (2757) 11 years ago

All the social movements of the past, no matter how significant they were to the people involved and how dramatically they have changed the lives of countless people, I think pale before what Occupy is all about, even when Occupy is not especially self aware of that. Certainly a revolution that would have overthrown capitalism world wide which is what 1919 was all about would have been infinitely more significant than any particular national movement, including national movements for labor or civil rights. I am arguing here that the significance of Occupy is so cosmic that it is incomparable to any concievable international revolution, much less any particularistic social change short of revolution and based in a particular nation state. I truly believe that the implications of Occupy go far beyond that and can be adequately compared only to something as monumental as the prehistoric overthrow of matriarchy or the organization of agriculture.

[-] 1 points by Neuwurldodr (744) 11 years ago

I doubt that seriously. The only reason this is more important...as you state...is because those in the past were able to use the racial divide, along with the "keep your foot on the minority population's neck... (which in itself was a joke) to maintain status and dominion right along side bigoted corporate America. Now everyone is experiencing the truth of this system of oppression. In other words the tables have turned on all of societies fake upper echelon and the egotistical status of being better than others. Now most know what it feels like to be a caste away...alleged minority.. O ye of little minds, nothing has changed in this country. OWS? This to is a Civil Rights (look up the meaning) movement!! Only difference is the skin color of the majority of the OWS protesters! It has no meaning to Corporate America or the greed that exists, Race has always been a fake perception created by those in power to maintain dominion over those who were dummies!! Reality bites...hard!!. America's people are being forced to face the truth about oppression. It has always existed and was started by and is being maintained by the very same ......the offspring of the founding fathers....the immigrants of Europe!!! Good Grief!!!

[-] 1 points by Endgame (535) 11 years ago

Yes but my point is that Occupy has not achieve much of any of its major goals yet. The Civil Rights Movement was a success.

I think we in Occupy need to be careful of patting ourselves on the back in admiration of ourselves to soon. History will tell if we were successful or not.

[-] 2 points by beautifulworld (23769) 11 years ago

I would have to agree with you. I think the Occupy movement is the beginning of a watershed period in history that will take a long time to unfold, but that will break away from the legacy of the Protestant Reformation that we live with today.

(I don't agree that comparisons to the Civil Rights Movement trivailizes Occupy, however.)

[-] 1 points by RedJazz43 (2757) 11 years ago

Comparing Occupy to the Protestant Reformation is way, way too modest. I think the only comparisons are when humanity first began to walk upright, perhaps the taming of fire, the invention of the wheel, the organization of agriculture or the overthrow of matriarchy. When that is what is at stake, which party of the 1% happens to come to power at any particular moment is really utterly trivial.

[-] 1 points by beautifulworld (23769) 11 years ago

I don't know, you have an interesting take on this. I don't think Occupy is up there with walking upright and the wheel, nor even sedentarization which brought about "civilizations," the Neolithic Period. But, I do think it is up there with periods in history such as the movement from agricultural subsistence economies to feudalism, the end of Absolute Monarchy, and the Protestant Reformation and Industrial Revolution to name a few.

[-] 2 points by MattLHolck (16833) from San Diego, CA 11 years ago

I wonder if Martin Luther King would have wanted his holiday on an election

Support the 99% ... demand elections be national and state holidays

[-] 2 points by PublicCurrency (1387) 11 years ago

"We just need to recognize our oppressors and throw off their yoke, and the good times can roll again."

"Predatory lenders are keeping us in debt peonage through misguided economics and bank-captured legislators. We have people who desperately want to work, to the point of going back to school to try to improve their chances; and we have mountains of work that needs to be done. The only thing keeping them apart is that artificial constraint called “money”, which we have allowed to be created by banks and let out at interest when it could have been created by public institutions for public purposes, either by direct issuance or through publicly owned banks."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31309.htm

[-] 1 points by friendlyopposition (574) 11 years ago

I think he's just jerking you guys around.

[-] 1 points by JPMcMahon (18) 11 years ago

Red, I think that you have stated some important parallels here, but I really think that you underplayed the importance of Occupy by only focusing on the narrow periods of the Modern Era, and prehistory. I think that the time we live in now will ultimately be compared to 500 BC with the rise of Greek civilization, and the beginnings of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. I am still awaiting the appearance of a Socrates or Siddhartha Gautama from the OWS movement, but since they are leaderless, I guess that won't happen.

[-] 1 points by PublicCurrency (1387) 11 years ago

"All money is created in the form of debt to the privately owned banking cartel. Imagine if you could create money out of thin air. Imagine you have the credit cards of all the nations in your pocket. Your first impulse is to lend money to your nominees so they can buy most of the world's real wealth for you. Your second impulse is to establish a totalitarian system ("world government" globalization) to prevent any nation from challenging this system or defaulting on their "debt" to you. To make them accept "world government," you need to weaken them by having them fight among themselves, run up huge debts for armaments (which you will sell them), kill off the cream of their manhood, and become demoralized and decadent. You accomplish this through your ownership of politicians and the press and your control of MI-6, CIA who will carry out assassinations and acts of terror. This is the real history of the last 300 years." - Henry Makow

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications, whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." - David Rockefeller

http://www.WebOfDebt.com

[-] 1 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 11 years ago

Is this a quote from somewhere or your own opinion? Just curious.

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[-] -1 points by TheMisfit (48) 11 years ago

OWS has already fizzled out. To compare it to the Civil Rights movement is insulting to those who actually fought and died for equality. OWS is pathetic and and a waste.

[-] -1 points by Slabbers (10) 11 years ago

Are you really serious? And there was never any widespread matriarchy. That is a myth.