Tragedy : (

that is a tragedy, and I am sorry to hear it. we had a similar incident in our town, police raid, swat team, pepper spray, arrests, etc. It proves the point that the powers that be (the corporate-ocracy) fear a true democracy - one in which each person is permitted to speak his/her own mind. They fear us - the people - when we have the power, so they are doing all they can to squelch this movement - and quickly. Sadly, I think this may be just the beginning... unless they actually succeed in shutting the movement down at its inception.

It's such an old story and eternal struggle - Percy B Shelley 1819

"Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few."

Now if the 'Ye' would just vote!

Americans have to go out and make their voices heard.

I wouldn't quite call it a tragedy.
Yes - it was an outrageous act! Destroying people's property, the books - that was particularly galling. I heard that they had a fantastic library.

But as far as the occupy movement goes, they knew they would not be allowed to stay indefinitely.

This article- co-written by one of the original organizers of OWS and by a member of the Spanish indigados, which inspired OWS, describes the next phase of the Occupy Movement - "the struggle continues"

"The evictions and threats to the physical occupations in the United States have again raised the question of the future of the movement. The question isn’t whether the movement has a future, but what sort of future it will be. For example, should our energy be focused on finding new spaces to occupy and create encampments? Should we be focused more in our local neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces? Is there a way to occupy public space with horizontal assemblies, yet also focus locally and concretely?
The ways in which we organize in these spaces of assemblies and working groups is inextricably linked to the vision of what we are creating. We seek open, horizontal, participatory spaces where each person can truly speak and be heard.
The very existence of the encampments, together with the general assemblies, was already a victory over the increasingly desperate battle of all against all that the neoliberal crisis has imposed on us. The participants in these movements create spaces of sociability, places where we can be treated as free human beings beyond the constant demands of the profit motive.

[The second] phase is characterized by the gradual shift from a focus on acts of protest (which nonetheless continue to have a crucial role, as we must confront this system that creates crisis) to instituting the type of change that the movements actually want to see happen in society as a whole.
The viability of a movement is not only defined by its capacity to withstand pressure from the outside, but also in its ability to reach and work together with people outside the space of the plaza or square. It is this—the going beyond the parameters of the plaza—which the assemblies and the working groups have already started to put into effect.
With or without encampments, the constructive phase of the Occupy movement is here, and all indications are that it will not slow down, as it has not slowed down in Spain. Every day on the news and on YouTube, we see the police removing the occupiers from parks and plazas, but the movement continues to grow—
This is the beginning of the occupation of an encampment that will never be dislodged: the world."

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/occupy-wall-street-beyond-encampments


ellen

PS- just to add:
If you've never been to a GA (General Assembly) and you are interested in OWS, I urge you to go.
No one has to speak if they don't want to, or commit to anything, or ever go back.
I think that one cannot grasp the enormity of the change that is going on without experiencing a GA.
At least, that is true for me.
I've been an activist for 45 years, and this is new-
new ways to relate to each other. Pure democracy in action. My first GA left my in tears, I've never seen such authenticity, as people struggle to reach consensus, understand each other, express themselves.

ellen

In my opinion, enough people have gotten behind this movement that there is now alot of hope. If we can reach a critical mass, I believe the inertia will drive all the cronies out of power, but if we don't reach it, it might become a police state. Its really all or nothing here. But its ok, it really looks like we're winning this one from my eyes;

-More and more Americans are enlightening on things such as diet, agriculture, environmental destruction
-I heard a poll that said the majority of Americans support the movement
-Its not attached to any particular race, candidate or belief; its nonviolent; spreading to celebrities and other Americans w/ social power
-The true problem is exposed; That Wall street and Washington are One entity
-Bank of America is totally afraid of people closing their accounts it seems like
-The internet is on our side
-The people at OWS are lovely and supportive and creative and no crusty dead bankers can keep down real collaboration

BTW they don't NEED tents and a literal occupation to continue and they can always reoccupy once the momentum gets greater.

I'm inclined to believe we've got this one won, Permaculture can solve all our material needs, we just need someone fighting for us on the political end.