Photo: Stacy Lanyon
I saw Occupy as a continuation and, in a lot of ways, a
solidarity action for the uprisings throughout the world. For me, it really
started back when I was sitting in my friend’s living room in Brooklyn, and another friend busted in and said, “Hey, hey hey, get on the internet right
now. Everyone in Tunisia
is out in the streets, and their ruler is going to step down.” So we got on and
checked that out. Then, we saw that spreading throughout the entire region,
eventually into Spain and Latin America as well. For me and for a lot of people
that I spend time with, we’ve been yearning for some sort of revolution in this
country. We‘ve seen that we’ve had to work harder and harder historically for
less and less, while the people who own the capital get more and more. You find
that if you’re going to live anywhere comfortably in this country, you have to
choose between either taking advantage of someone or being taken advantage of,
and I think it’s time that we outgrow those two options.
I first heard about it through Facebook in August. I went to
one of the earlier general assemblies in Tompkin’s Square Park, and a group of
us tried to put together a community general assembly in August and September
leading up to the actions, so that we could come down as a community. That
wasn’t quite as affective. Now, nine months later, we’re finally starting to
get that community assembly together out in Bushwick.
This is important for many reasons. I really do see this as
the battle for the soul of humanity. Maybe the language of battle isn’t quite
appropriate. What’s enabling this exploitation that’s happening that our
society is really based on is a real lack of connection between fellow human
beings. I see how that kind of plays itself out on a larger scale with the lack
of connection to the Earth. We exploit other people, and we exploit the planet
the same way. Pretty soon we’re not going to have either to lean on any
longer.
There are a lot of visions that I have for what an ideal
future looks like. A lot of it means being less dependent on fossil fuels, for
instance, any technology that’s inherently destructive to the planet. I think
that’s possible through a culture that promotes mutual aid rather than a culture
that promotes exploitation.
That’s one of those things where people think that if they are asked to share
that there will be less for them, but I’ve seen it many times where, when you
share, there’s actually more for everyone because everything is held in common.
All of these little inefficiencies that you see through the practice of
hoarding are really freed up once everyone is truly giving everything that they
have.
I would like to see us turn our heads toward sustainability and not just have that be a small subculture as we see it now. There are a lot of people who are very dedicated to it, and there is another group of people who have bought into industrialism’s advertising and green consumerism and haven’t really recognized that that in itself is symptomatic of the same problem. I’d like to see people living a lot simpler. I’d like to see people realizing that they need less and that they can have more of their lives and to take more of their lives back from the companies that they work for and the time that they spend watching television and passively enjoying things rather than actively creating things.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/
I would like to see us turn our heads toward sustainability and not just have that be a small subculture as we see it now. There are a lot of people who are very dedicated to it, and there is another group of people who have bought into industrialism’s advertising and green consumerism and haven’t really recognized that that in itself is symptomatic of the same problem. I’d like to see people living a lot simpler. I’d like to see people realizing that they need less and that they can have more of their lives and to take more of their lives back from the companies that they work for and the time that they spend watching television and passively enjoying things rather than actively creating things.
Interview by Stacy Lanyon
http://buildingcompassionthroughaction.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/stacylanyon
https://instagram.com/stacylanyon/
https://twitter.com/StacyLanyon
http://stacylanyon.com/