Peace of Mind News

This is part three of a three part series designed to help readers become informed about the Occupy Movement. You may read part one by clicking here and part two by clicking here.

Every war must have opponents. This article identifies the combatants in the War in America.

Naomi Wolf says “…for the first time, people around the world are not identifying and organizing themselves along national or religious lines, but rather in terms of a global consciousness and demands for a peaceful life, a sustainable future, economic justice and basic democracy. Their enemy is a global “corporatocracy” that has purchased governments and legislatures, created its own armed enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud, and plundered treasuries and ecosystems.”

Let’s look closer at Ms. Wolf’s quote to define each side in this conflict.

From her viewpoint, those in the Occupy Movement support:

• A peaceful life
• A sustainable future
• Economic justice
• Basic democracy

Those on the other side support:

• Government manipulation through financial means
• Police and military enforcers of this manipulation
• Systemic economic fraud
• Plundered treasuries
• Destroyed ecosystems

The paradox of this war is that it is being fought in a non-violent method. This is important for the Occupy Movement because violence feeds the other side. Therefore, Occupy will not use violence. From their viewpoint, if the focus of this war becomes the violence, the Occupy Movement will have lost.

It is for this reason that when violence takes place during a protest, Occupy immediately issues a statement that says the violence was perpetuated by those not associated with their Movement. Anarchists were blamed for the violence in Italy, NYPD was blamed for the violence in New York, and OPD and undercover law enforcement was blamed for the violence in Oakland.

There is the possibility that those in the military will join with the Occupy Movement and use their training to protect the Constitutional Rights of the protesters. Hopefully, this will be done in a non-violent method where those who oppose Occupy recognize it isn’t in their best interest to assault uniformed military. It will be interesting to see how this situation develops.

Now, that we understand what is going on with the Occupy Movement, you can look for a future article where I write about how to resolve the issues of the protest. Before I post it, look for one about the momentous happenings on the agenda for this week.

By the way, if you have questions or opinions about the Occupy Movement, please leave them in the comment section and I will respond in a future article.

This is part two of a three part series designed to help readers become informed about the Occupy Movement.

In my previous article, I wrote about why we are at War in America. I call it war because the objective of the Occupy Movement is to take ground. Winning ground is always the objective of war.

The Occupy Movement takes three types of ground: mental, emotional, and physical.

Occupy takes mental ground by communicating the challenges of our society regarding:

• Affordable housing including foreclosure issues
• Jobs that pay a living wage
• The abuses perpetuated by law enforcement and the legal system
• Banking practices that led to the need for taxpayer funded bailouts
• Wall Street’s use of investment vehicles that worsen the foreclosure crisis
• Big business’s connection to the military and industrial complex
• Government that allows all of these issues to exist.

Occupy takes emotional ground by protesting in a way that pulls on the heartstrings. It tugs on the heartstrings of supporters by telling stories of economic loss and destroyed dreams. It inflames the heartstrings of the opposition by protesting peacefully. This allows anger and resistance to build without an outlet.

The supporters’ and the opposition’s emotional focus takes ground in the hearts of each side. In fact, don’t be surprised if those who oppose the movement the most change sides in the future. This is what Gandhi meant when he said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Occupy takes physical ground by occupying anything that represents the areas of mental and emotional ground. This includes:

• Occupying foreclosed property
• Occupying businesses
• Occupying police precincts
• Occupying banks
• Occupying Wall Street
• Occupying ports
• Occupying parks, civic areas, plazas, and other government property

They may occupy other areas too. Watch closely. Each occupation of physical ground is designed to send a mental or emotional message too.

Occupy will do it peacefully, with large numbers, and repeatedly.

It is a war unlike any other. I’ll explain who is on each side in my next article.