Salon.com: "
Occupy DC distances from Democrats. Or does it?"
A young man named Charles Davis, 27, took to the floor and called out
for the group’s attention. Davis told the occupiers he had ridden in an
elevator with Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois.
“And he joked that he is the 1 percent,” Davis hollered. Boos all around. “And he called us anarchists!”
“The Democrats are not your friends!”
The
group cheered — but not as loudly as they had for Edwards. Davis’
message, meant to reinforce the theme of the night, seemed to fall flat
in the excited aftermath of Edwards’ appearance.
*****
Edwards had somehow knocked the group off its message.
“She’s turning this into a campaign stop,” Davis said, after he addressed the group.
Occupy
DC’s Action Committee had been at odds lately, he said, deciding two
nights earlier to reverse a previous decision to join former Obama green
jobs czar Van Jones’ group Rebuild the Dream, MoveOn.org, and SEIU in
protests on the Mall. Occupy, the committee concluded, would run
separate events.
*****
Davis worries that Occupy DC could become a subsidiary of the Democratic Party, much like the Tea Party was for Republicans.
“It’s
been kind of a problem, especially here in D.C.,” he said. “People
think the Democrats are their friends, and they’re kind of willingly
being co-opted. A lot of the people involved in the Action Committee,
for instance, are paid to elect Democrats.”
Such may be the nature
of protest in the political city, where most everyone falls into one of
two categories. Of course, there aren’t many Republicans living in
D.C.’s two Occupy Wall Street encampments.
“I think it’s just the
culture,” Davis said. “It’s maybe a little bit more politician-friendly
than other Occupies around the country.”
A clarification: I, of course,
am an anarchist. But when Democratic politicians use the word, they're using it as a thoughtless slur -- like "nihilist" or "commie" -- not because they think occupiers are just inspired by the works of Emma Goldman and Peter Kropotkin.
