{"id":1479,"date":"2011-11-15T16:49:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T00:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2011-11-15T16:49:43","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T00:49:43","slug":"beck-covers-frances-fox-pivens-advice-to-occupy-encourage-making-cities-spend-themselves-into-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/beck-covers-frances-fox-pivens-advice-to-occupy-encourage-making-cities-spend-themselves-into-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Beck Covers Frances Fox Pivens Advice To Occupy; Encourage Making Cities Spend Themselves Into Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discussed earlier today on Glenn Becks GBTV (vid below) poor little Ms. I Bake Cookies I’m No Threat offers more advice and negotiating tips to occupy terrorists speaking recently at a college. Pivens is one of the driving forces behind the occupy movement who has clearly advocated in the past that violence should be used as a tool as long as its part of your plan!<\/p>\n

The Article below featured on Campus Progress.org an arm of the Center for American Progress aka Soros shadow organization list Pivens advice to pretty much escalate things, encourage mass defiance along with negotiating but then pushing for more once they get what they want.<\/p>\n

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Watch the full vid of the two revolutionaries featured in the Beck clip about infiltrating the military here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why am I posting this? Simple really… know thy enemy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Five Things Frances Fox Piven Says Occupiers Need to Do<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The banks can eat it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a gruff voice grumbled happily as renowned activist and author Frances Fox Piven<\/a>moved to the front of Temple University\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Barton lecture hall for a speech on Tuesday. The event, sponsored by the campus chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists<\/a>of America, thronged with attendees who surely agreed with the sentiment.<\/p>\n

The event and Piven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s later speech in front of Philadelphia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s City Hall\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhome of the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s occupiers\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhappened to coincide with an Election Day that went exceedingly well for progressives.<\/p>\n

The election results, and Piven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message, serve as a useful reminder for a movement that contains factions that refuse to utilize their vote, or see a difference between the two parties. A recent thread on Occupy Philly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website\u00e2\u20ac\u201dentitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Elect Change\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dincluded such statements as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather see revolution than the old shell game,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d though a large majority of responders rejected the anti-electoral message.<\/p>\n

(On CampusProgress.org: Frances Fox Piven Talks Tea Party Politics<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Piven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech to the audience spilling out of the doors of the 180-person lecture hall featured a general history of the last 80 years of politics in the Western world, from social democracy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depression-era and postwar victories to the conservative assault that began in the 1970s, and labor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s related decline.<\/p>\n

Piven argued that right-wing attacks on social programs, responsible taxation, environmental and safety regulations, and workers rights have resulted in widespread poverty, stagnating wages, and massive inequality.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This has become a different country, a worse country,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven said.<\/p>\n

But these changes have been gradual, people have been surviving, and America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wealth, and ballooning personal debt spending, cushioned a majority of the population, she noted. But the collapse of 2008 and the audacity of financial elites who refused to negotiate on certain matters threw everything into focus, resulting in the current uprising.<\/p>\n

Here are the top five takeaway messages from Piven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s visit to Philly, pulled from her two speeches, Q&A sessions, and a one-on-one interview with Campus Progress.<\/p>\n

1. Electoral Politics Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Everything<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Piven certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t endorse the anti-voting position (after all she did co-author a book entitled: Why Americans Still Don’t Vote: And Why Politicians Want It That Way<\/a><\/em>). But she also made clear that the corruption and ineptitude of our electoral and political systems is largely responsible for such sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153American electoral politics don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work very well,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven said to the student-crammed room. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the one hand you are right to be discouraged.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But she encouraged attendees to discount the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153false dichotomy between movement and electoral politics.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the other hand, movements improve the quality of electoral politics; all this action has an impact on public opinion, agendas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are changing electoral politics.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But Piven then argued that the Occupiers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time would be better spent organizing actions and escalating the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s activities rather than door knocking for politicians. That isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s principal job.<\/p>\n

And whether you think the lesser-evil policy outcomes of recent years are the result of one party corporate-rule, or the political system\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inherent conservative tendencies, the fact is that our political elites have failed us. Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots need to demonstrate that fact through mass defiance.<\/p>\n

2. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Spurn Electoral Politics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Piven firmly rejected any kind of non-electoral politics, opening her Temple speech with the assertion that progressive change must be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153based firmly on a belief in democracy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Later, she concluded that: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is no way of making long term change without working with the electoral system,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and argued for a synthesis: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153movements are a part of electoral politics and electoral politics shape movements.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In short, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have movement politics without also engaging in electoral politics. The atmosphere of unrest and revolt that pervaded the 1930s certainly spurred FDR to action, as many historians have noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a nation as large and complex as America, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no entity besides the federal government that can effectively organize and deliver food assistance, old age pensions, unemployment insurance, health care, or other social services to hundreds of millions of people. It is also the only entity large enough to regulate finance and industry.<\/p>\n

Clearly, there are some political actors who want to reduce the public sector\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to deliver these essential protections to the public. And there are others who want to maintain and expand these programs. Piven says the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job is to diminish the first group, empower the second, and make the system responsive to the needs of, well, the 99 percent.<\/p>\n

As Martin Luther King said in regards to his Poor People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Campaign: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Only the federal Congress and administration can decide to use the billions of dollars we need for a real war on poverty.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

3. Escalate<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But to make political and policy elites respond, the movement needs to escalate.<\/p>\n

Piven celebrated the Occupiers wins thus far, but warned her listeners that actual policy concessions will be harder.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made income inequality a major issue, something we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been trying to accomplish for decades,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven said to the Temple students. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When will [we] win something? Changing the discourse isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t everything.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

She told her City Hall audience that the occupation tactic was innovative and central to the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think this is a major advance in how we do social movements,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[It demonstrates that] we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going away, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re staying, and it gave the press time to react. A single march, rally, or demonstration is fun, but everyone knows it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be over soon.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

But Piven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s central message is that the movement needs to escalate beyond the occupations. This theme has been echoed in progressive circles recently, where many fear that the movement will stagnate in its camps if more dynamic tactics aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t employed.<\/p>\n

Piven said she hopes that winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming will precipitate occupations of indoor areas, which are sure to be more contentious and disruptive. But she argued against the angry confrontations favored by the Tea Party.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Screaming and spitballs is not what I would recommend,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven told Campus Progress.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sit-down strikes have always been the best tactic for a workers movement,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven told the lecture hall. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Think of all the things we do in our everyday lives that we could refuse to do. The opportunities are myriad.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And she argued strongly for more widespread action, perhaps modeled on the activities of protestors in Spain and Boston who have prevented the police from throwing foreclosed families out on the street.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The most important question we have to face,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she told the City Hall audience. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Move from the city center to the houses that are being foreclosed on.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Organizers are advocating moves beyond the occupations too.<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, on Dec. 1, the radical bookstore the Wooden Shoe is hosting a meeting to strategize about what happens next.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of the most exciting parts of all this has been the opportunity to create groups, meet people, and build alliances beyond the occupation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Matt Dineen, a staff member at the Wooden Shoe and a regular occupier.<\/p>\n

4. Drive A Hard Bargain<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Occupy movement has frequently been targeted with accusations that it has no coherent demands, or that it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any concrete proposals. Piven simply blew off these criticisms.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153[To] those who criticize us for not making policy proposals: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not reasonable to [ask a mass movement to craft detailed public policy],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as though [political elites] don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to do; they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simply need our suggestions. Let them come to us with proposals to address extreme inequality, proposals to regulate finance. We don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to tell them, we have to make them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Most people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t policy literate and they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be, she said. Irate citizens shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be expected to present intricately detailed policy demands, framed in legalese or coached in the latest think tank findings.<\/p>\n

That, after all, is what we hire politicians to do.<\/p>\n

Political elites haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been responsive to our needs, but Piven doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe the Occupy movement is powerful enough (yet) to force a reckoning.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have to get bigger, tougher, stronger before they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll want to negotiate with us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. And once they do, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to give in on the first deal, but take the second, then demand more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

In short, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be satisfied with the success of the big bank-to-credit union cash transfer, or the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to cancel its debit card fees, or the demonstrable change in our public discourse. There is no indication that there is any danger of occupiers falling pray to easy concessions.<\/p>\n

As the planned nationwide day of action on Nov. 17 shows, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plenty of energy and enthusiasm left.<\/p>\n

5. Co-Option is Inevitable<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think [Occupy Wall Street] leaves space for a third party, which is where people always try to take these things,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Piven told Campus Progress after the Temple lecture. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to do without being absorbed at some time; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so tempting to say that real politics is different from the movement. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to stay independent. Co-option will always be with us, [the trick is to try and get] the best bargain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As some have argued, including Peter Dreier<\/a>, a noted expert on social movements, co-option isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily a bad thing for radical or reformist movements.<\/p>\n

The populists, the progressives, the labor movement, the Civil Rights movement, environmentalists, feminists and many others have seen their policies absorbed by the major parties after fierce pressure was brought to bear on them by these outside forces.<\/p>\n

But all those movements succeeded in changing the policies of the parties because they became too powerful to ignore. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the 99 Percent Movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s next challenge\u00e2\u20ac\u201d building power and escalating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discussed earlier today on Glenn Becks GBTV (vid below) poor little Ms. I Bake Cookies I’m No Threat offers more advice and negotiating tips to occupy terrorists speaking recently at a college. Pivens is one…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1131,785,518,738,10,629],"tags":[1447,644,2323,2321,2320,1339,340,2319,2322,317,872,801],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}