It Would Be A Mistake To Dismiss What's Going On In Zuccotti Park

[FarCenter]

Sunday was beautiful in NYC. Indian summer. I went to the OWS protest. Some observations and some pictures.

Zuccotti park is where the action is contained. This is a miserable excuse for a park. It’s about the size of a football field. Not a blade of grass to be found. As you will see from the pics, this place is already jammed. The limited space may prove to be an issue for this demonstration. You can’t get more than a few thousand in this cramped area.

(Lots of pictures....)

I left the area thinking that this very small group of people couldn’t possibly make much of a difference. It’s a rag tag demonstration. More a party than a serious effort to change the financial system. But as I walked north I thought of a different time in history. One that I participated in. To me, there was a very similar feeling in Zuccotti Park in 2011 to what existed in San Francisco in 1967.

The 1967 Summer of Love was a period where social/political changes began. The allure of sex, drugs, and rock and roll were very powerful magnets for this 17 year old. I crossed the country and spent a few memorable months in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury District.

I slept in a crash pad. I went to the Fillmore West and watched Jim Morrison of the Doors sing “Light My Fire” till sun came up. And yes, there were drugs. And yes there was “Free Love” in the park. And yes, it was a hell of a party. And yes, there was not much relevance to the whole thing.

But three years later a million people marched on D.C. and it altered the outcome of a war. It also tore the country inside out. It would be a big mistake to dismiss what is going on in Zuccotti Park. Whatever is happening there, it's not going to go away. It’s going to get bigger.

http://www.businessinsider.com/it-would-be-a-mistake-to-dismiss-whats-going-on-in-zuccotti-park-2011-10

[customerserviceguy]

1. Did the protests really alter the outcome of the Vietnam War?

I seem to recall the protest movements of the mid-1960's leading to the election of Mr. Law-and-Order himself, Richard Nixon. All he had was a "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam, and enough stupid people really bought that. It wasn't until after the disgrace of Watergate brought about a change in Congress in 1974 that the war funding finally stopped, and we bugged out of Saigon.

You're right about it tearing the country apart. We only got one little four year term of Jimmy Carter (as a rebuke to Ford for pardoning Nixon) before resuming another twelve years of Republicon rule. If the opposition gets to write the definitions of the OWS protesters, they will win. That's why it's important to replace the vague slogans with demands for concrete actions.

[FarCenter]

2. Yes, they ran LBJ out of office -- "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids have you killed today."

Of course, the Democratic Party self-destructed in '68. Gene McCarthy might have been elected, but Bobby Kennedy had to insert himself into the race and split the anti-war vote. Subsequently Hubert Humphrey was nominated during the disastrous '68 Chicago convention presided over by Mayor Daley, father of Obama's Chief of Staff.

[coalition_unwilling]

3. Wow, talk about maintaining a grudge. "Bobby Kennedy had

to insert himself into the race and split the anti-war vote."

Yipes, RFK was on track to the Dem nomination and probably the presidency when he was assassinated after winning the California Dem primary. RFK almost singlehandedly kept Indianapolis from going up in flames when MLK, Jr. was assassinated. Are you saying RFK did not have a right to run for the Dem nomination or that he should have stayed out and let McCarthy duke it out with the Dem establishment for the nomination?

[valerief]

5. self-dele

[FarCenter]

6. With their greed, ambition and vanity, the Kennedys are definitely in the 1%

Talk about trust fund babies!

[shraby]

7. Bite yer tongue, or take some keys out of yer keyboard.

The Kennedys have been a positive force in this country since Jack became president. Even before that when Franklin D. hired him to form financial rules to oversee Wall Street.

[FarCenter]

9. People in the 1% have a conflict of interest & should recuse themselves from progressive politics

It's just like any other conflict of interest situation.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. That's actually a valid point but comes at the expense of besmirchng

the character and reputation of someone who 'grew' or 'evolved' into a wonderful human being. You might try reading about his 1966 New York Senatorial campaign. At one point, RFK and his aides were visiting one of the housing projects notorious for warehousing the city's most destitute. RFK indicated he wanted to go talk to the folks in one of the buildings but his aides, concerned for RFK's safety, adamantly refused to let him. RFK overruled them and went into the building anyway. When I read that, I knew that while his wealth might have placed him in the 1% of his age, his spirit had evolved to be one of the 99% of his or any age.

[customerserviceguy]

8. True, they did cause LBJ to quit

But what did we get in his place? I don't recall Hubert Humphrey having learned from that experience, he seemed to be a captive of it.

And the war dragged on for years and years to come.

[coalition_unwilling]

4. OWS has already changed the focus of conversation in this

country:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2088697