The Big Issues: How to get the real story?

On Thursday night, I participated in the Occupy Wall Street November 17 Mass Non-Violent Direct Action. This SHF GreenRant is my attempt to capture and share my amazing personal experience.

No, I didn't fly to New York and get arrested, but with tens of thousands of others all around the world, I most certainly did participate.

On Thursday night, live on my computer, I watched as tens of thousands of happy, excited people peacefully reclaimed the streets of New York.

I watched live as buildings, parks, bridges, and at times seemingly entire neighbourhoods were reclaimed and occupied by peaceful, happy, singing crowds.

I watched live as the NYPD behaved (mostly) honourably and (mostly) with integrity. There were moments when some almost seemed to help protesters.

I watched live as retired police captain Ray Lewis allowed himself to be arrested in support of the protests. I heard the cheers and chants of thousands of people in support of his brave personal sacrifice.

I watched and held my breath as I witnessed troublemakers (often allegedly plain-clothes police) attempt to incite the excited crowds to do something stupid...


I watched live as these troublemakers were repeatedly and peacefully ousted by the protesters who admirably managed to resist the temptation to take their frustrations outside the law.

In a classic moment, I watched live as thousands of people cheered with victory when they thought the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange was delayed. (Note: The protests never intended to delay the opening, but the crowd got the opening times wrong and cheers of excitement rippled through it at around 09:15. The bell rang on time, as usual, at 09:30, of course - even organised mobs are a little off the mark at times :-)

I listened live to the people's microphone as it united people and shared ideas. (You haven't heard of the people's microphone? Really? Ok then, the People's Mic is an absolutely ingenious workaround for a law that banned Occupy Wall St protesters from using any kind of amplification (bullhorns, speakers, etc.) Check this video to see how it works, and more generally, how democracy can work)

I watched live as one of the organisers of the Tahrir Square protests used the people's mic to address a huge crowd of students. I heard him telling them that the people of Egypt supported their protests, and would have their own protests the next day.

There were moments when I listened in awe as the normal cacophony that is downtown New York went silent. I shared the eerie quiet when the protesters just stopped singing and chanting to take a collective breather. Without traffic, New York City can actually be pretty peaceful...

I spent hours glued to my computer - much of it experiencing what it was like to be a 5"10' guy called Tim Pool... I was right in the middle of the utterly organic, chaotic excitement that was the most important mass, non-violent civil disobedience action that America has seen for a very long time.

It nearly killed me to do so, but even though the protests were still in full swing, I dragged myself to bed as it was getting dark in NY. I knew that despite my vicarious participation, in the morning, here in Belgium, I would need to be a responsible bread-winning father and husband.

With happy memories of a seriously important and almost flawlessly executed action, I slept soundly. I even let myself dream that a new and better world was possible...

Then I woke up...

... and, stupidly, the first thing I did was check the New York Times to see what they had written about this momentous occasion. Big mistake.

I wish I had copied the exact wording of the two brief yet incredibly patronising front-page paragraphs dedicated to the protests, because OWS has now gone completely from the front page. A search for Occupy Wall Street brings up a few lame stories with quotes like "Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, engaging in scuffles with the police throughout the day."

Almost every other mainstream news source that I checked had similar crap, and most repeated Mayor Bloomberg spouting lies like:

[the march on Brooklyn Bridge] "was just an opportunity for a bunch of unions to complain or to protest, or whatever they want to do." He said, "it really wasn't the protesters that have been in Zuccotti Park or that you see around the country."

I work with a lot of smart, educated, worldly people but I got a strange look every time I asked a colleague what they thought about what happened in NY yesterday. Even those who knew about the Occupy movement seemed surprised that anything had happened at all - most made a comment along the lines of "Oh, I thought that was over? Didn't the police kick them out the other day?"

*SIGH*

And so, at last, this is my rant...

Friends, please! You will never understand the Occupy movement if you listen to the mainstream media. This is part of the Occupy plan:

On the Internet, the movement issues statements and calls to action through Twitter, Facebook, and its own Web sites. From the start it was clear that the movement would not rely on a mainstream media corrupted by corporate interests. 

(From Yes Magazine's book "This Changes Everything - Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement")

Jeff Sharlet put it very nicely:

My media colleagues' relentless dubiousness about #ows isn't journalistic skepticism, it's advocacy journalism - for the status quo.

Ok, sure, you're a smart, 21st century Internet user - You get your news from the Web, not filtered through Murdoch and the other 1%ers, right? Think again:

So if we can't trust Murdoch, TimeWarner, Google, Yahoo, MSN, or even Facebook, then how do we get the real story?!?!

Well, rejoice. You are part of the first generation of humans who can watch the whole world unfold live. But it takes a little work - the real world isn't packaged up into neat little bite-sized guilt-free, indigestion-free news snacks.

The first thing that you must do is get a Twitter account. It takes less than a minute, but it will change your life. Yes, I know, I know... I resisted the urge to become a twit for ever too. It was only when I was forced to setup an account for work a couple of months ago that I almost immediately recognised the incredible power of this resource.

You can have many different accounts to follow your different interests - I've very recently setup JamieOBE and have started to grow that persona in line with this blog. If you're interested in Sustainable Human Flourishing, then find me @JamieOBE and check who I'm following.

Now, to find out what is going on with the Occupy movement, and to follow the global revolution as it unfolds live, watch tags like #OWS and follow people like @OccupyWallSt. Find the tags and users relevant to your local Occupy group such as  @OccupyPerth, @OccupyBrussels, @OccupyLondon, etc.

Use Twitter to find the latest "official" live streaming video and other citizen media channels such as THEOTHER99 on USTREAM, and occupynyc, owsnyc, and global revolution on LiveStream that I've embedded below. Tune in and join the tens of thousands who are bearing witness.

Watch live streaming video from owsnyc at livestream.com

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

Watch live streaming video from occupynyc at livestream.com

There are also other incredible resources such as Storify which I'll revisit later. Here are some examples of Storify coverage of OWS and here is a little presentation showing how MotherJones uses Storify to help them do their job:

How We Use Storify to Cover Occupy Wall Street

View more presentations from Tasneem Raja

If you have other ideas and links for important resources, please drop me a note and I'll add them.

Finally, I will close with another relevant point made by the Yes Magazine article that I linked above:

When political parties talk about building a base, they usually mean developing foot soldiers who will help candidates win election and then go home to let the elected officials make the decisions. The Occupy Wall Street movement turns that idea on its head. The ordinary people who have chosen to be part of this movement are the ones who debate the issues, determine strategies, and lead the work.

This could not be any more clear than by looking at the "Tea Party" - the "alternative" conservative movement that is bizarrely yet predictably compared with Occupy in the mainstream press. Check out their transparently ridiculous coverage of Occupy to see this old-school "base-building"mindset in action. 

So, let's remember that although we can't get our Occupy news from the "mainstream" media, we can't trust all "alternative" media. Everyone has an agenda - The Occupy guys and girls are just a lot more transparent about their agenda than most. That is one of the main reasons that I support them.