OWS to impose police state on Zuccotti Park

posted at 12:20 pm on November 1, 2011 by Howard Portnoy

Thank goodness for The Onion. Where else would you find a story claiming that the Occupy Wall Street general assembly had “formed its own security detail to enforce a code of ethics” for Zuccotti Park and that anyone refusing to abide by the rules would be kicked out—of what is essentially a public plaza?

Oh, wait. It’s not The Onion but the New York Daily News that is reporting this development with a straight face. It is the latest chapter in a continuing saga that on Sunday found our noble protesters beset by hordes of the homeless who had descended on their neo-paradise and were helping themselves to the occupiers’ free “food, bedding, … clothing, … books and medical supplies” without giving anything back. Oh, the humanity!

The Daily News article quotes security team member Paul Isaac:

If you want to be part of our group, you have to be civilized. Unfortunately, some people come to disrupt the peace.

Careful there, Mr. Isaac. You’re beginning to sound a lot like the people who actually live in the community surrounding Zuccotti Park in their references to you and your fellow squatters:

Careful there, Mr. Isaac. You’re beginning to sound a lot like the people who actually live in the community surrounding Zuccotti Park in their references to you and your fellow squatters:

The cowbells start at 4 a.m. and the drumming goes past 10 p.m. A lot of people are very frustrated. A lot of people are concerned about the safety of our kids.

It would seem as though the time has come for the protesters to fold up their tents and go back to their real lives, humdrum as that may seem. It doesn’t appear that the hopes liberal observers had for the movement—that it would evolve into a politically powerful Tea Party of the left—are likely to be realized. Public support has been dwindling. Even the staunchest of the movement’s allies in the mainstream media are beginning to wake and smell the stench emanating from Zuccotti Parks everywhere.

Here is Froma Harrop:

Occupiers, time to quit while you’re ahead—for you’re a little less ahead with every confrontation involving police or other civic authorities. The skirmishes provide unflattering visuals for the ordinary folks at home, even those sharing your angst and anger over the financial-industry takeover of our economy.

Harrop writes that in Oakland, where some of the most violent exchanges with police occurred, demonstrators were chanting à la Vietnam, “Now the whole world is watching.” She now advises the movement as a whole to embrace another line from the era of Vietnam: “Declare victory and leave.”

I’m not sure what the victory is in this instance unless the goal of the battle was to persuade the public of the impoverished state of thinking of present-day liberal activists, who act first and plan later.

As for slogans for the movement, another possibility is suggested in the Daily News article, which quotes 19-year-old Oregonian Kia Moyer-Sims, who is described as having camped out at Zuccotti Park since day one of the occupation:

The history books will say ‘They occupied Wall Street’ Not ‘Somebody stole somebody’s backpack.’

Are you sure this isn’t The Onion?