It's kind of hard to have sympathy for the Occupy Oakland movement, which was finally cleared from the steps of Oakland City Hall, this morning.
Actually, I'm having a hard time giving the movement any kind of support and sympathy, although I would love to.
Maybe it's because these supposed protests seem to be nothing more than homeless encampments. I don't see how occupying a city park is the way to bring change. From what I've seen, at least in San Francisco, it's nothing more than just a bunch of people laying around in their own filth. The Oakland group suffered through it's first homicide last week, a situation that lead to this mornings police action. Local business suffered greatly from the loss of revenue when folks began to avoid the downtown area, as well. Also, it didn't look too good when protesters started attacking folks who were trying to access their money at ATM's
The Occupy Wall Street group is having it's own issues as well. Instead of calling the police when one female protester was raped, a group of protesters physically surrounded the alleged suspect, berated him for his alleged crime, and then let him go. He was eventually arrested in New Jersey when New York City police where notified of the crime. There also seems to be an issue of STD's spreading like crazy around that encampment.
This occupy movement is a great idea, but it has reached it's first fork in the road. Now is the time for those in the groups who SERIOUSLY are committed to real change, to sit down, take a look at what worked, what DIDN'T work, and relaunch.
Here's an idea, why not start occupying the areas where the 1%'ers (or .1%'ers) live. Protest in front of the companies who are raking in these billion dollar profits without paying the taxes they should (Cheveron, Bank of America, GE, etc.).
Just a thought.
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