By Steve Clark
Yesterday, NYC Mayor Bloomberg conferred official sanction on the Occupation of Wall Street, saying occupiers would not be evicted.
No doubt, Bloomberg had clear recollections of Egyptian Premier Hosni Mubarak in mind and did not want to be culpable for mass arrests just at the moment when the Occupy Movement is finding broad support among Americans. “We’re the 99%,” the Movement says, and the nation seems to agree.
In providing sanctuary, Bloomberg aligned himself and his Presidential aspirations with the motion of history.
For the moment, he also boosted the credibility for Obama and Democrats in general, provided they are willing to endorse the Movement. If they are not and if Obama’s re-election campaign falls off the cliff, Bloomberg – an independent who has worked closely with Democrats, has roots in the financial services industry and is the 30th wealthiest person in the world – is now positioned to split the Democrats and assume national leadership in the counterattack on the Republican coalition of social and fiscal conservatives, Neocons, Tea Party extremists and corporate energy goliaths.
More shaky days await. Winter will heighten the issue of practical support for the occupiers. Will NYC provide food? How will occupier camps and lives be protected against the weather? What will happen next summer as the number of occupiers swells into the tens of thousands?
And what about the angrier, defiant elements of the Movement which will not be satisfied to just sit on their hands, who want the wars to end and Wall Street to cough up funding to address human needs. What if “business as usual” on Wall Street is disrupted by occupiers who conduct non-violent, confrontational guerrilla warfare by day only to return to the encampment at night? Will defiance and confrontation be enough to force Bloomberg’s hand – or Obama’s in Washington or local authorities' in any of the growing number of cities and towns with occupied public spaces – or will Bloomberg and other local elected officials continue to condone the struggle?
The Millennial Generation – collaborative to a fault, networked to the hilt, globally aware yet staring a hopeless future straight in the face – has invented its form of struggle: Occupy and Confront. Now, the rest of us are on for the ride.
What is yet to be broadly and clearly embraced is the actual political demand that will tip the balance and force social accountability from the world’s corporate banks. Articulating that demand – for a worldwide bank transactions tax to empower civil society and global grassroots problem-solving – and building consensus for this revolutionary new social contract is the particular duty of today’s progressive Boomers. Once that demand is firmly embraced and broadly advanced, this revolution’s course will be set.
