A Follow-up

I read this letter yesterday and pretty much agree with it. I would add to the part where he talks about the formation of unions back in the day to demand better treatment and add that corporations have basically figured out a work-around. I actually think that some unions have gotten out of hand and are making more demands than their workers deserve, but the basic idea of unions is important - because laborers have been mistreated in the past. But in the end companies have just worked around the issue by taking their workforce abroad, where they don't have to pay as much and instead can go back to the days of inadequate compensation for labor - just in another country.

I went to Occupy LA on Thursday night. A friend wanted to spend his birthday down there checking it out and asked friends to join. When I showed up, my friend said I looked overdressed (I had come straight from work). I said that perhaps they needed some better dressed people around so that they weren't just viewed as lazy hippies... So we got a tour of their little community of tents. Saw their general assembly meeting with the human microphone (echoing each statement the speaker makes instead of using actual amplification), the food tent, medical tent, library tent, meditation tent, information tent, etc. There are two shower tents and apparently a media tent where they have a generator so that people can use computers and charge phones. It's pretty interesting. I'm still iffy about some of it because the idea is that they will "occupy" until their demands are met, but there are no demands yet. They say they're still working on the specific demands, but they work through consensus, and the movement is really diverse, so that seems tough. I feel like they need to think basic to make it something that we can all agree on. Like the guy in the letter says - being a liberal may mean you want even more, but you can at least agree on the basics. For being so diverse, though, the whole place felt really peaceful and full of community and support. I'm still in favor of the movement because I'm in favor of anything that makes us talk and think. I just hope that people will really respond with true contemplation instead of jumping to conclusions based on perceptions of who the protesters are and skepticism because of a lack of specific goals.