Jeff Madrick thinks that the Occupy Movement was done in by the police, not by a failure of leadership or the lack of a consistent message. His article in the current Harper's (which I cannot access although I am a subscriber) cites a number of arrests by the NYPD which seem to have been somewhat arbitrary. He also argues that many successful protests were as unorganized as Occupy.
While there were arrests in other cities, Madrick does not analyze any of them as he does some of the NY arrests. Also, he fails to acknowledge that successful protests did have a consistent message.
These are parlous times. If the governmental dysfunction, poor economy, overemphasis on security and excessive militarization continue, there will be protests and, eventually, they will succeed or all of what have we worked for in the past couple of hundred years will be lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment