Latest command update from the Occupy Wall Street Mother Ship in Canada

I know that last week I said I was going to ignore the Occupy Wall Street movement for the rest of the year, but the "reset" of the movement's occupation of Zuccotti park in Manhattan kind of "changes everything" or at least has the prospect of changing everything. In fact, the movement's Mother Ship, the puppet masters at Adbusters Culture Jammers HQ in Vancouver, BC, just issued Tactical Briefing #19 – Our Existential Moment, which bluntly states that:

Our movement is living through an existential, make-or-break moment.

That's actually a semi-grim admission for a movement based on blind optimism, but part of that is probably simply to frighten the movement's members and supporters and promoters into a higher level of commitment and involvement.

 

The self-styled Culture Jammers admit the importance of New York to their movement, referring to Zuccotti Park as "our movement's spiritual home."

 

The "briefing" goes on to say:

This assault has stiffened our resolve. Now begins the second, visceral, canny, militant phase of our nonviolent march to real democracy. We regroup, lick our wounds and begin our counterattack as early as tomorrow.

 

We will turn this winter into a training ground for precision disruptions – flashmobs, stink bombs, edgy theatrics – against the megacorps and the unrepentant 1%, a festival of resistance in the snow with, or without, an encampment that'll lay the tactical foundation for our Spring Offensive.

I note that although they superficially claim nonviolence, they resort frequently to the language of violence: "militant phase", "counterattack", "disruptions", "bombs", "resistance", and "Spring Offensive." If noviolence is truly the goal, why resort to so much language of violence? Don't they accept that "words have meaning"? Or maybe they do.

 

I may or may not comment on the activities of the movement on "N17" which is their code word for their "Day of Action" tomorrow (November 17th.) They say they intend to "Shut Down Wall Street" and "Occupy the Subways", but that remains to be seen and I am rather skeptical that they will get much further than some flash mobs, some union rallies, minor disruptions, and a bunch of arrests. I note that they use the same naming nomenclature as the anti-globalization movement (N30, A16, J18, etc.) But after tomorrow I hope and expect to go back to ignoring the movement unless they hit some other new and significant existential make-or-break moment or milestone.

-- Jack Krupansky