What a difference a year makes.
Last year, I blogged 30 Soups in 30 Days in November and 31 Healthy Hints for the Holidaze in December. By the way, if you want to see any of those soup recipes, simply type in “soup” in the search box in the upper right. The holiday hints are still there too, just write “31 Healthy Hints” in that search box. The soups and healthy hints are still very useful, so go and check them out.
This year, the Occupation of Wall Street and the rest of the country has grabbed my attention. Occupy Wall Street. started in mid September and continues to grow bigger each day. At first, I have to say I was weary of this leaderless, amorphous protest that was so different from the very highly organized Tar Sands Action I have been involved with since last spring.
As weeks turned into days and as one small occupation in lower Manhattan blossomed into occupations throughout the country and the world, I began to pay deeper attention and got involved. At the core of this creative grassroots protest lies two huge points: our widening income disparity and the fact that our democracy has been co-opted by corporate power.
Unlike most movements, this one is horizontal and “leaderless”, not vertical with one leader. Its hard for many to grasp this concept, but it gives everyone a voice.
It is holding a space where the discussions can take place on their own terms about what is broken and what needs fixing. It is underpinned by a realization that this is a crucial time of change where everything is on the table, where business-as-usual is no longer an option. It isn’t making demands because that would put the power in the hands of the people in power to decide whether or not to respond to them. It is holding the space for the conversations, and is doing so on its own terms.
I encourage you to look beyond whatever the corporate controlled news media is telling you about the Occupy movement. If there is one nearby, go and take a visit or head over to Occupy Together to learn more. Or stay tuned to this blog as I report my experiences with the occupations I’m visiting. Many of the issues I’m passionate about: food, the environment and sustainability, are being creatively addressed via the Occupy movement.
We’re living in interesting times, many are waking up to what’s wrong in the world. We need to in order to repair the damage and create a more fair, more compassionate planet.
