The Foreign Affairs Symposium hosted a panel on Occupy Wall Street, featuring seven representatives from Occupy sites across the United States, this past Tuesday in Shriver Hall. The panelists discussed how individual communities across America have utilized grassroots activism to unite against social, economic and political inequality.
This symposium event was run in the style of a general assembly. A large audience of students and members of the Baltimore community filled the auditorium.
"We wanted to hold an event that would try to break with the standard, rigid and sometimes boring symposium format," Andrew Davis, Executive Director of the Foreign Affairs Symposium, wrote in an email to The News-Letter. "I believe that this panel did just that by bringing in many more people than usual and prioritizing audience participation."
Kate Khatib, a member of Occupy Baltimore and the co-editor of a book of Occupy stories called We are Many, served as the facilitator in the panel discussion. In her opening remarks, Khatib highlighted one of the universal themes of the Occupy movement.
"It's our differences that make us strong and our ability to recognize and respect those differences that gives us power, but it's also our willingness to work together despite our differences that gives us a future," Khatib said.
This theme of solidarity frequently re-appeared throughout the evening.
"The act of coming together, in my opinion, in my critique, in a lot of ways unlocked people's radical creative imaginations to think differently about how we can come together in a different sort of way to find new solutions to stubborn old problems," Michael Premo, a member of Occupy Wall Street, said.
Larry Swetman, a supporter of Occupy Philadelphia, discussed how we must remember the different concerns of various cities, while simultaneously appreciating our unification through our common enemy. Swetman works with InterOccupy, a group that fosters coordination and communication between individuals across the Occupy movement nationwide.
"National coordination has helped inspire people," Swetman said. "When we can start acting in solidarity, then we will become a force of change that they cannot stop because that's how you bring a giant to its knees!"
Panelists also discussed how the Occupy movement and its cries for liberation across the US have inspired change and outreach on a more local level.
Joy Davis from Occupy Baltimore emphasized the importance of using outreach to spread awareness of local issues in communities and encouraged the audience to challenge the status quo. Davis described how outreach in Baltimore has brought attention to the local issue of over development with the Baltimore Development Corporation and the problem of corporate developers coming into Baltimore, which he argues does not benefit the city.
"It's really important in any community, even if you are on a college campus, that you are aware of the issues going on around you and the tools that you can use," Davis said.
Jonathan Cronin, a member of Occupy Austin, explained how the Occupy movement contributed to the success of $1.57 billion being moved from local corporate bank branches to the credit unions in Austin.
"There's been an amazing thing about seeing people engaged in grassroots activism for the first time ever and being able to sense that personal grasp of power, and this movement is about changing the balance in the equation of power," Cronin said.
Another theme that pervaded was the importance of the role of media in the spread of the Occupy movement.
University of California, Davis student Artem Raskin discussed the extensive media coverage the Occupy UC Davis movement received. While photographs, such as the infamous image of Lieutenant John Pike spraying Occupy protestors with pepper spray, helped garner attention for the movement, Raskin finds relying on traditional media sources to be problematic.
"I think that relying too much on the media [that] created momentum is problematic because its fickle, and it's going to go away, and the movement must stay and rely on grassroots organizations to keep the attention of the people rather than relying on the media," Raskin said.
Benjamin Philips — or benzotweet, as he's known on the Internet — from Occupy Oakland educated the audience on the importance of social media as a means of building relationships and spreading awareness. Philips serves as a member of the Occupy Oakland media team and believes social media has the power to start revolutions.
"These things that everyone has in their pockets, these cell phones. . .I mean, we look at these things like they're a toy. We play Angry Birds on them. But this isn't a toy. This is a weapon," Philips said.
Kevin Zeese, a member of Occupy DC, agreed with the idea that social media can serve as a weapon. Zeese further discussed how the democratization of the media has aided the Occupy movement.
"With our networks acting intentionally, we can be the media. We are at the virtual tipping point of media control if we become aware of it and act like it with intention," Zeese said.
The panelists ended their discussions with inspirational words.
"We're moving from a competitive capitalist doggy dog disastrous economy to a cooperative one where we work together to solve common problems, and that's what the Occupy is about!" Zeese said.
The individual speeches were followed by an interactive question and answer session. Overall, the event was received mixed reviews.
Mark Hall, a junior, said he enjoyed the opportunity to listen to the various perspectives presented by the panelists.
"I really like getting the different perspectives that are offered at these events because it's something that you don't get in a lot of places where you can really just listen to the actual person talk, and you look at them and see what they actually think about these things," Hall said.
Davis believs that one of the strongest aspects of the panelist's presentation and discussion was their ability to remain somewhat objective and politically neutral.
"I think it was really cool that the panelists were able to separate their political leanings with their accounts of Occupy's mobilization. In other words, even if one does not agree with many of Occupy's solutions, it was still easy to respect their success as mobilizers of grassroots support and, to a certain extent, producers of change," Davis wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
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