Photo: Stacy Lanyon
I first came to Occupy
Wall Street on the Day of Global Solidarity in October. I came because my grandmother
asked me to, basically. I was sitting in her kitchen listening to WBAI, shocked
by the news of the Brooklyn Bridge mass arrests, and she said she wished she had
the energy to go, that she would wear a sign and a knife through her heart that
said, "Wall Street wants me dead." I stayed with Occupy Wall Street because I found a community that
wasn't bound and dictated by perpetuating a deteriorating system of speculation
and greed. I found a place where money was funny and people were public. Later that same
weekend, I danced all night long to the music in Zuccotti Park. I was on my way
to visit a friend in New Orleans. When I got there, we had differing views on Occupy Wall Street, so I caught the streetcar downtown and pitched my tent.
It was remarkable
to me that young people were talking about politics, economics, society, and
culture at a systemic level, that groups had actually occupied governing
bodies, and with their bodies and voices, halted business as usual, if only
temporarily. There was so much to learn about. It is something to celebrate, to
participate in. The way most of us are used to living, confined by rooms and
clocks and fees, there is no way to have real celebration, ritual gathering,
the counsel of a village. The way most of us consume predigested products and
ideas, there is no way to have fair trade, creativity, and sustainability. The
way most of us work for someone else’s gain and our own entrapment, there is no
real hope for change. This is the world we’re waking up to.
I’m drawn to the
many faces of Occupy Wall Street: the ecstatic expression, the huddled conversation, the sheer
endurance, the ripples of consensus, the surge of action, the glance of
recognition, and the anticipation of uncertainty. The occupiers have created a
space that can be determined by the people within it instead of dictated by
ignorant conventions. This kind of world is a different kind of thinking, of
being together. It takes listening, patience, acceptance of different ideas, a
willingness to give yourself to what is useful- all that in return empowers you
to think freely. Together we might find new solutions that serve a balanced
system of humanity. We need to find solutions that stop abusing the
earth’s ecosystems. These are lessons I've learned from the children I teach.
Why do so many lose this dignity throughout their education and their race to
the top? I see the new world as if we would hand it to a child and she could
embrace it and connect to it with a sense of belonging, without fear.
Of course, this kind
of change is seen as a threat to those who are satisfied with our status, our
submission, our debt, and our silence. The violent oppression of this people’s
assembly is out of control. Occupiers inspire me because they make us see
through the bull to the heart of injustice, and it clearly doesn't stop them.
It can’t stop us. There’s an uprising of creative communication coming, and
it’s overflowing into public spaces, demanding room to grow. I just can’t turn
my back from this powerful moment of possibility. I think that already, in all
of this uncertainty, there is hope, action, and irreversible impact.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/