Saving Occupy From Its Own Success
Nov. 11th, 2011 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittySignal boost from mantic_angel in the post here. It is worth the full read:
"When I first saw the problem, it occurred to me, what a brilliant failure state in every revolution. If you make yourself a safe haven for the downtrodden, the oppressed, the "dregs" of society (so to speak), then naturally you will attract the unpopular outcasts too - in this case, violent and drug using people. If you let them stay, you give authority an excuse to shut you down - your very presence shields these ne'er-do-wells, and thus you are a threat to public safety! ...
"The catch is, the movement can't kick them out, either. If it kicks them out for the sake of image, then it is vain. If it tries to police them, then it is as tyrannical as the system it seeks to replace. If it rejects them as scum, then it is as lacking in compassion as the mainstream. There is no way to expel them without sacrificing the moral high ground, and no way to keep them without giving authorities a clear excuse to disperse the crowd."
There are two ways in which police deal with crime and anti-social behavior they don't like. One is by presence and direct action, as when UCPD employees (I now twitch at calling them 'peace officers') used batons against students pitching tents on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley.
The other is by withdrawing their presence completely. No longer responding and letting it be known that they will no longer respond, in the surety that the criminal element will take care of the rest. Left alone long enough, this creates "denied areas" in which neither police nor the rule of law operate -- which is toxic in several highly undesirable ways.
And thus it is, my Internet friends, that criminals are essential to upholding social order. Even in the Russian prison system, there were two tiers: criminals and political prisoners, the latter kept from rebellion because the former were empowered to beat and abuse them freely.
How can Occupy deal with this serious problem? This is a classic security issue.
1) Designate pairs with a distinguishing feature (vests, armbands, buttons) to patrol the perimeter. THERE MUST BE TWO for a variety of reasons, including safety, control, preventing abuses, crowd dynamics in conflict, etc. Here's a training manual: Black Rock Rangers. Powerful flashlights and video cameras should be available. Good communications skills should be considered absolutely necessary.
2) Have a reaction plan in the event of a major incident. Three hundred people pointing and shouting, "NO! NO! This is not our culture!" can be a major deterrent even to multiple armed suspects. What are they going to do, shoot them all?
3) Designate a liaison team to deal with the police. This team's purpose is to document that the 911 call was made, that unit IDs of responding agencies are recorded, that officers are told what was witnessed prior to their arrival, to decide whether or not to co-operate or withhold cooperation, and report back to the group on the actions taken. They could on occasion offer "Mike Check" privileges to the police -- but these have to be earned, not taken for granted.
4) Set up housing in a communal fashion specifically so that inappropriate behavior can be detected and persistently abusive people kicked out of the community. This also prevents injection of hard drugs which could result in tragedy, as at Occupy Vancouver.
Just my 0.02
mantic_angel in the post here. It is worth the full read:"When I first saw the problem, it occurred to me, what a brilliant failure state in every revolution. If you make yourself a safe haven for the downtrodden, the oppressed, the "dregs" of society (so to speak), then naturally you will attract the unpopular outcasts too - in this case, violent and drug using people. If you let them stay, you give authority an excuse to shut you down - your very presence shields these ne'er-do-wells, and thus you are a threat to public safety! ...
"The catch is, the movement can't kick them out, either. If it kicks them out for the sake of image, then it is vain. If it tries to police them, then it is as tyrannical as the system it seeks to replace. If it rejects them as scum, then it is as lacking in compassion as the mainstream. There is no way to expel them without sacrificing the moral high ground, and no way to keep them without giving authorities a clear excuse to disperse the crowd."
There are two ways in which police deal with crime and anti-social behavior they don't like. One is by presence and direct action, as when UCPD employees (I now twitch at calling them 'peace officers') used batons against students pitching tents on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley.
The other is by withdrawing their presence completely. No longer responding and letting it be known that they will no longer respond, in the surety that the criminal element will take care of the rest. Left alone long enough, this creates "denied areas" in which neither police nor the rule of law operate -- which is toxic in several highly undesirable ways.
And thus it is, my Internet friends, that criminals are essential to upholding social order. Even in the Russian prison system, there were two tiers: criminals and political prisoners, the latter kept from rebellion because the former were empowered to beat and abuse them freely.
How can Occupy deal with this serious problem? This is a classic security issue.
1) Designate pairs with a distinguishing feature (vests, armbands, buttons) to patrol the perimeter. THERE MUST BE TWO for a variety of reasons, including safety, control, preventing abuses, crowd dynamics in conflict, etc. Here's a training manual: Black Rock Rangers. Powerful flashlights and video cameras should be available. Good communications skills should be considered absolutely necessary.
2) Have a reaction plan in the event of a major incident. Three hundred people pointing and shouting, "NO! NO! This is not our culture!" can be a major deterrent even to multiple armed suspects. What are they going to do, shoot them all?
3) Designate a liaison team to deal with the police. This team's purpose is to document that the 911 call was made, that unit IDs of responding agencies are recorded, that officers are told what was witnessed prior to their arrival, to decide whether or not to co-operate or withhold cooperation, and report back to the group on the actions taken. They could on occasion offer "Mike Check" privileges to the police -- but these have to be earned, not taken for granted.
4) Set up housing in a communal fashion specifically so that inappropriate behavior can be detected and persistently abusive people kicked out of the community. This also prevents injection of hard drugs which could result in tragedy, as at Occupy Vancouver.
Just my 0.02
