Wall Street Protest Proves Law of Occupy and Demand.

There’s a fascinating article about “Occupy Wall Street” by Meredith Hoffman in The New York Times (11/17/11). It describes “working groups” drawing up a list of demands in a way that will seem intensely familiar to anyone who went to college in the late sixties and early seventies. The same earnest, high-minded attempts at group democracy foundering on the same rocks of idealogical partisanship and “It’s such a nice day.” Yet, there’s an equally large if not larger group of protesters who want nothing to do with demands. They are heavily into “process.” Whither this generation’s Weathermen?

More striking than the “working groups” (with their connotation of manual labor) is the “General Assembly,” a nightly gathering of the hundreds of protesters in Zuccotti Park. Salon moi, that evokes not the U.N. but the French Revolution. In particular, the Estates General, a gathering of concerned citizens which mutated into the horrifying Committee On Public Safety. Neither violence nor revolution, however, would seem to be a threat. Not if, as Ms. Hoffman writes, “A two-thirds majority is needed to approve each proposal, and any passionate opponent could call for the entire vote to be delayed.”

Many of the people occupying the park are more comfortable with what protester David Haack calls “. . . the movement’s ‘true democratic process’ even if it means slower progress going forward.” Meghan Sheridan of Occupy Boston wrote on the group’s Facebook page, “The process is the message.” “In Baltimore, Cullen Nowalkowsky, a protester, said by phone that the point was a “public sphere not moderated by commodities or mainstream political discourse.” Some even believe that having a point is beside the point. Notably, the Zen contingent, which, judging from photos that a friend took, organizes meditation flash mobs and brandishes candles in jars that read, “Protect me from Envy.” (Actually, if you’re protesting against the richest people in the world, protection from envy is a wise precaution.)

I’m in favor of making demands. To me, the greatest outcome of these demonstrations would be if they had a lasting, positive effect on economic injustice. That isn’t easy and it takes a long time, but it’s impossible without knowing what you want to change. Even if your goal is simply to get a job, not having one can be a sign of deeper economic issues that need to be addressed and redressed. Protester Shawn Reeden quotes Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

That’s not the only good outcome, however. There are slower, more incremental benefits that are also valuable. Simply by lasting, the protest keeps a skeptical attitude towards Wall Street in the public eye. If, in the long run, the only thing it does is blunt the near universal appeal of Wall Street and it keeps one smart, ambitious, college graduate from rushing blindly into finance, the protest will have succeeded.

There’s even a certain charm to the infrastructure that has sustained these protests for thirty-eight days and counting. The eating, sleeping and cleaning involved has such a warm, domestic quality that it sings, “commune.” (Hog Farm, not 1848. Wavy Gravy, not Karl Marx.) They even have their own newspaper and provide their own entertainment. How peaceful and self-sufficient is that? Throw in a woman wearing a peasant blouse while baking bread and I’m there. I’ll bring the wind chimes and macramé plant holders.

Ultimately, though, the protesters have to make a choice. It’s not either/or but, they have to decide what’s more important: change or process. If change is important, demands are necessary - and for that you need a leader. Someone who’s decisive, but won’t impose his views. Someone people listen to out of respect and not because he or she has the loudest voice. If you want self-defeating political correctness or as Mike Hine of Occupy Seattle says, “We want to include as many voices as possible,” you don’t need a protest. That’s what the Democratic Party is for. If you want a “be-in,” free-form and spontaneous, let it happen. Enjoy yourselves, but don’t have any illusions. Don’t think it’s going anywhere or achieving anything. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know that the wind has to blow in a certain direction.