#occupyaustin
The gang's all here: Rain, melons and flutes at day one of Occupy Austin
Down with Starbucks! Death to pumpkin lattes!”
This was a little joke I had with a friend last week, poking fun at Occupy Wall Street's seemingly half-baked efforts. At the time, I had an ambient awareness of the protests, but no read on the pulse. As someone who has recently become unemployed, I was sympathetic to the cause, but I was also cynical, because I've seen my generation vaguely throw its weight at an issue time and again. What do we want? Something! When do we want it? Soon-ish?
This week, things changed. The more I read about the stirrings under the surface, of the infrastructure that was forming, of the unions and progressive groups that now back the cause, the more I realized this centralized sense of disgust at our economic fugue state could snowball. What started as a call to action from hacktivist group Anonymous and magazine Adbusters in late summer has become a global movement.
While it hasn't yet reached the level of firebombed rage London's riots did a few months ago, or become as game-changing as the Arab Spring, it has forced the mingling of the 99% and the 1% in Manhattan's Financial District. Art auctions were disrupted, NYPD headquarters marched on. Roseanne Barr called for the beheading of guilty bankers. Jeff Mangum became our Woody Guthrie. That's our surreal existence right now, when every protest and soundbite and police beating and masked group of discontents seems like paces from some bizarro Robert Altman movie.
Through the magic of social networking, other occupations have popped up in the U.S. and Europe, so of course our city seemed a logical hub. Occupy Austin officially started yesterday and, this being Austin, I wondered how focused and organized Thursday's rally would be. By 11 am, there were roughly 200 people on the steps of City Hall, as city council debated municipal elections inside. Occupy Austin's mission, according to a flyer being passed out, is “to assert our rightful place within the political process, and take the reins of power away from profit-driven interests.” Some signs and sounds:
“Boycott standardized testing!”
“I may not have a job, but I have an occupation.”
“Crime doesn't get more organized than Wall Street.”
“There's nothing wrong with being a leftist in America … I'd rather be a hippie than a redneck!”
“Anarchy in the U.S.!”
“Free Radiohead show tomorrow.”
So, yeah, a bit unfocused, but fairly harmonious and very Austin, with a mixed crowd of young and old making signs and engaging in debate. One man in a tie-dye shirt played a wooden flute, pointed at a grey cloud over City Hall. Parents brought their children. People meditated. I spotted a man on rollerblades, wearing bike shorts and holding a watermelon scrawled with “Enron” and “Lehman Brothers.”
“I'm a small business owner, and I've found the only way to make it in this economy is to cut corners,” he said. “It's like Prohibition, they had to work under the system. It breeds discontent. If we want people to respect America, we've got to give them more control over where their money goes, and how it's circulated."
“What are you going to do with the melon?”
“I'm going to break it in half and feed everyone here,” he said, smiling and lifting it over his head.
“You're not going to get all Gallagher?”
“No, no. Who's Gallagher?”
Right on. At about 1 pm, the crowd had grown to about 350 protestors. Then, the rain came. The 3 pm general assembly saw double that number, and efforts to organize the growing crowd. Rumors of Alex Jones showing up reached a fevered pitch. People hula-hooped. Others argued over posters of Obama, painted with a Hitler moustache. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of the occupation, but I was proud to see so many out in force, and a diverse crowd at that.
I still say down with Starbucks.