Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Brendan Burke

Summer Disobedience School, May 26, 2012
Photo: Stacy Lanyon


I got a call for support from a friend of mine. He called me, and I came down to Zuccotti. I knew about Occupy Wall Street. I knew what was happening, but it was because of the call that I came down and saw my first general assembly. After that, I stayed because I saw people taking responsibility for their own change. I was completely moved by it. I had never seen anything like it in my life. I had never actually seen that promise manifested in my life, that people could actually empower themselves to do something about the situation they are in. I haven’t left.

It’s important because we are at a situation in our culture where the resources, which is breath of culture, are controlled by a few people. It’s an inexcusable way to have a culture. You can’t have elected officials double dip in the private sector and in the public sector because, at the end of the day, you are just going to have private sector motives control the laws for the public. We are at a crucial imbalance in our culture’s history where a massive amount of most of our resources are drafted into this split office of private and public control. Wall Street executives are in Congress, and Congress makes laws to help their friends on Wall Street. That’s happening in a very perverse and gross way right now. It’s a problem because you vote for local Congress people, and Congress makes the laws. If they are paid by Wall Street interests, they are going to do Wall Street’s bidding. Basically, your democracy is over. It becomes a corporate journey. It’s quiet, and it’s insidious. It’s not flat out announced. Congress people, elected official or the president, they don’t have logos on their shirts. You don’t know who they’re working for. If they did that, then we could have a shot at a real discussion, but they don't. They won’t come out of hiding, so we’ll come out to meet them.

I hope it brings about a world where people realize that their life, the source of happiness and power, starts and ends with themselves, a world where people realize that their life is a series of choices. It’s not a sentence proclaimed from on high. If it’s bad, no one did it to you. If it’s good, no one did it to you. You do all the things, so if you’re in a situation that’s uncomfortable or oppressive to you, get out of the situation. Do something about it, or if you’re in a situation that’s great, keep reinforcing the things that are great and keep doing those things, but take the responsibility off of other institutions and other people and put it more on yourself. That’s empowering yourself. Empowering yourself doesn’t mean putting a crown on your head and walking around. It means taking responsibility for your own life, the good and bad of it and making it a good and strong life that serves culture. 

 Interview by Stacy Lanyon
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