[…]
So many times the left would rather be pure than win battles. We would rather be self-assured that we are right, that we always use the appropriate language, that we have read the right theorists and the right histories and our friends are refreshingly diverse and we recycle and buy long-lasting lightbulbs.
But right now, Occupy Wall Street is getting in people’s heads. It’s doing it by being there, day after day, week after week (now Week 3). It’s creating a space, a church of dissent, as Matt Stoller called it, where you can go and make friends, where you can be fed—ANYONE can grab a free meal, which is absolutely a draw for unemployed people struggling to make ends meet—and where you can borrow books from an ever-growing library, where you can join a teach-in—Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz was there yesterday explaining economics to people—and where you can learn.
It’s not perfect. Of course it’s not perfect. The incident on the bridge was a clusterfuck and 700+ people spent a night kettled in the rain and then in jail because of it.
But it’s attracting people beyond the usual suspects, and it’s creating a space where you can learn. Because most people? They get radicalized when something happens to them. They get angry when they can’t pay the rent but they hear that Bank of America got bailed out—and then turned around and charged them $5 to use their debit card.
That’s not pure or perfect or theory or nice. It’s true, though.
[..]
Champagne Candy: the class implications of “know your history”
Thoughts?