The state would like us to be violent

rebecca solnit posting at common dreams...

The state would like us to be violent. Violence as cooptation tries to make us more like them, and if we’re like them they win twice—once because being unlike them is our goal and again because then we’re then easier to imprison, brutalize, marginalize, etc. We have another kind of power, though the term nonviolence only defines what it is not; some call our power people power. It works. It’s powerful. It’s changed and it’s changing the world.

[...]

The powers that be are already scared of the Occupy movement and not because of tiny acts of violence. They are scared because right now we speak pretty well for the 99%. And because we set out to change the world and it’s working. The president of Russia warmed at the G20 Summit a week or so ago, "The reward system of shareholders and managers of financial institution should be changed step by step. Otherwise the 'Occupy Wall street' slogan will become fashionable in all developed countries." That’s fear.

[...]

This movement is winning. It’s winning by being broad and inclusive, by emphasizing what we have in common and bridging differences between the homeless, the poor, those in freefall, the fiscally thriving but outraged, between generations, races and nationalities and between longtime activists and never-demonstrated-before newcomers. It’s winning by keeping its eyes on the prize, which is economic justice and direct democracy, and by living out that direct democracy through assemblies and other means right now.

i truly wish that this movement was indeed "winning"... unfortunately, i think it's got a very long way to go... it's most distressing seeing the occupy folks kicked out of oakland and portland and other cities... it's also distressing when i attend gatherings at occupy reno and see people floundering... it's been a very encouraging start, perhaps the most heartening thing i've seen in my lifetime, but right now it feels very, very fragile to me... there needs to be something really big happen to stimulate things to go beyond where they are at the moment... i'm certainly not talking about violence or anything cataclysmic but something big nonetheless...

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