[Peace-discuss] Notes on co-opting Occupy

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Two comments from Louis Proyect's email list <http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism 
 >.]


On May 2, 2012, at 9:57 PM, Mark Lause wrote:

This is precisely my response, too.  The stuff on academe is basically
harmless, save that it reinforces the delusion from the 1960s that
universities are the most advanced and forward-thinking institutions
in the society, dragging the rest of the dullards reluctantly into the
future.

On the other hand, the unions here have taken point for the Democrats
in trying to coopt Occupy.  They were never serious about building it
as an independent force.  That was obvious when you look at the
numbers the unions could have brought out if it was for something they
actually cared about . . . like a birthday banquet for Joe Biden or
something.  It has taken no more than the shadow of the trade union
leadership to bring the potential of the movement here to a rather sad
quagmire.

And "the unions" have been as useful in terms of defending spaces or
protecting the arrested as a particularly inert pet rock.

It's not over, of course, by a long shot, because the issues haven't
gone away and the grievances are only going to get worse, but I don't
expect things to change greatly until the election's over or some new
disaster hits the economy.

ML


On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 5:56 PM, michael yates <mikedjyates at msn.com>  
wrote:

I read in this report that the UAW is one of the entities that Occupy  
worries is trying to coopt them. I have just finished Gregg Shotwell's  
fine book, Autoworkers Under the Gun. My advise to Occupy is to stay  
as far away from the UAW as possible. This union has fucked over its  
own members so badly and so often that its leaders ought to be drawn  
and quartered. Concerning Occupy, Gregg said this (not from his book,  
he speaks here not just of his own union but of US unions in general):

"Concession and compromise to the One Percent is the M.O. of U.S.  
unions. Rank-and-file workers should be able to see themselves
in the bloody skull of Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, struck dumb by  
Oakland police. Every day workers make heroic sacrifices to provide
a dignified life for their families. Every day union leaders shoot  
down workers’ aspirations and incapacitate any chance workers have to
shield their families from the latest act of economic terrorism. Where  
is the union leader in the United States today who has the
temerity to defy the capitalist oligarchy? For the most part, we don’t  
have genuine union leaders, we have corporate servants with union
titles and six figure salaries. When U.S. corporations invested  
profits “Made in America” overseas, labor unions in the U.S. cut
wages for new hires and blamed foreign competition. When U.S.  
corporations underfunded pensions, U.S. labor leaders forced
retirees to make sacrifices. The operable word for rank-and-file  
workers isn’t competition,concession, or compromise. The operable word  
is Occupy."

Louis also posted a report about academics studying Occupy. Fuck most  
academics even more than most unions. Todd Gitlin! Fuck Todd Gitlin.  
Go home. Your day is done. Maybe it will be the academics who coopt  
Occupy. PhD theses. Occupy Studies majors and certificate programs.  
Courses in every discipline.  Articles galore for tenure committtees  
to consider. Chaired professorships in Occupy. Memorial prizes for the  
best Occupy essay by an undergraduate. Grants from liberal foundations  
for study. Plus Occupy clothing, etc. in campus bookstores.

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