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By Mickey Z.
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World News Trust
World News Trust
Photo Credit: Mickey Z.
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite.” --William Blake
Mar 31, 2012 -- For much of my
radical life, I could've accurately characterized the activist scene as a
series of separate rooms for separate causes -- with doors often
locked.
Until Occupy Wall Street (OWS), that is.
Today -- under the 99% umbrella -- a massive
coalition is coalescing and this has created previously unimagined
opportunities for militant mingling.
Case in point: On March 24, I was
at the Union Square OWS camp in solidarity with the protest against
police brutality. As usual, I had my camera in hand -- taking advantage
of the inexhaustible photo ops -- when I saw a smiling woman who
happened to be in a wheelchair, carrying a sign that read:
The Revolution Is Wheelchair Accessible
Between my long connection to the disability rights movement
and my desire to share images that demonstrate the diversity of OWS,
this was an automatic aim-and-shoot. I later posted the photo and tagged
a friend in the disability rights movement. In a matter of minutes,
this simple act resulted in my becoming Facebook friends with the woman
in the photo: Michele "Equality" Kaplan.
This, comrades, is often how activism works. First,
you gotta be there. Next, you gotta participate. Lastly (and this often
where the proverbial ball is dropped), you gotta follow-through.
The follow-through part is how -- less than a week
after taking that photo -- I am including Michele's story in my Voices
of #Occupy series.
"When I heard about Occupy and went to Zuccotti
Park," Michele told me, "I was so insanely excited to see what I was
seeing. The energy and the people were so incredibly welcoming that I
couldn't wait to come back. For me, though the only issue was the lack
of wheelchair accessibility. Camping out was not an option, but I saw
tons of potential. After all, from what I heard they had a women's only
section, they had a non-smoking and smoking section. There was a sacred
space area for meditation and defusing from it all. 'Why not create more
accessible options of activists in wheelchairs?' was my thought."
This was the point when Michele learned just how DIY
the Occupy movement is. She sums it up as such: "If you feel something
is not right, start something and fix it yourself. The movement welcomes
all kinds of groups."
As I've said over and over, this doesn't mean OWS (or any movement) is perfect.
Mic Check: To struggle for change is to risk imperfection.
Michele asked some simple questions in an OWS forum:
"How can we make the movement more wheelchair accessible? Could there
be a section on the park for wheelchairs and if not what are some
alternatives?"
"I learned there are tons of trolls on the Occupy
Wall Street forums," she explains. One response really got her
motivated: "Are you fucking kidding me? This is a revolution! What next?
A massage table?"
"This pissed me off to no end and eventually led to
the creation of Occupy On Wheels, which serves as a resource for the
Occupy movement so they can make their events wheelchair accessible,"
Michele said. "That was when I also learned that there is also a great
amount of solidarity, and that anyone can make an impact -- but you have
to take the initiative. You can't just wait for someone else to do it."
Having an impact is exactly what all of us in OWS
are doing -- each in our own way. If you want to learn this for
yourself, well... interact with the mainstream. The same week I met
Michele, I was waiting for a train at the Union Square subway station.
On the back of my jean jacket, I had pinned a large 99% patch -- proudly
displaying my "gang colors" in public.
The result was one man asking me what the patch
meant. When I explained, he nodded and replied: "I don’t care what
anyone says, what the cops are doing is wrong." To which a nearby
tourist added: "Keep up the great work. God bless you all."
Okay, we've got doors and we've got a heavenly reference so... I'll happily accept this segue to one more Occupy story.
Anyone who's spent time at Liberty Square/Zuccotti
Park or, more recently, Union Square Park is surely familiar with the
image of a woman named Betty: holding a sign in one hand, her other hand
held high in a raised fist.
When I recently saw Betty chatting with a couple of
Mayor Bloomberg's soldiers, I had to ask her if she felt they "got" what
she was telling them.
"Some of them certainly do," she said. "I have a good relationship with some of the cops -- even the white shirts."
Betty went on to tell me how when her husband and
other OWS musicians broke into Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," a
white-shirted cop walked closer to tell them how much he loves that
song.
"He stood there for a while, tapping his foot, until
a higher ranking cop arrived," said Betty. "He moved away from us but
stayed within listening range, still tapping his foot."
Mic Check: We are cleansing the doors of perception but as Rage Against the Machine reminds us: "We don't need the keys, we'll break in."
"The Occupy Movement is like having a door that is
closed," says Michele Kaplan. "There are no signs saying 'come on in,'
but the door is not locked either. It's up to you to open the door and
go inside."
Whaddya do once you're inside?
"Occupy is like a mural," Michele concludes, "and it's up to you to leave your community's mark."
#OccupyYerStory
It's time we counter the media misinformation and 1%
propaganda with a dose of reality -- the hard work, the community, the
solidarity, the creativity, the innovation, and the durability behind
the OWS banners.
Send me a few lines about your experiences, etc. so I
can continue writing a regular series of articles called: The Voices of
#Occupy.
Let's open doors and knock down doors together so we
can spread the word that this is the Global Spring and the 1% should
fuckin' expect us...
#OccupyYerStory to me: mickey@mickeyz.net
***
Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on an obscure website called Facebook.
