I visited Occupy San Diego at the San Diego Civic Center Plaza at about 7:30 pm on November 14, 2011 with two other classmates. There were 30 people protesting in the plaza and about 15 police officers in the area. Many of them were unemployed and homeless. Several of the homeless appeared to be suffering from mental illness. A larger number of protesters were veterans; I noticed several of them wearing parts of military uniforms.
Some protesters are victim of this most recent economic downturn, and most claimed to know someone who was negatively impacted by the economy. I was able to observed how middle class people and homeless people were able to interact with one another. For example, one homeless person was the mediator for the entire group; regardless of his homelessness, the rest of the people listened and showed respect toward him.
Occupy San Diego movement helped me understand the needs of the poor population vs. the wealthy groups. People must become politicized in an organized struggle to overthrow the systems. In this movement, everyone is in charge and benefits from the movement. These people are frustrated on how wealthy people seek to maximize their own profits and their workers wages are low. The downside of this movement is that they are missing the element of a "leader". Because everyone is in charge, his or her movement is weak. For example, the mediator (homeless guy) read their rules from an old and dirty piece of paper. He said, "No alcohol allowed" but then he laughed and said, "Okay, maybe near the corner". The structure of how this movement is set up is very frail. On the other hand, this movement an example of conflict occurs between the individual and society, a conflict about change and authority.
Yes, I agree their is a lack of leader. However, I can say you do see facilitators. I do believe they are moving someone where because it is across all states and has been publicly seen in the media. Now people are aware of what's going on.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with you in order for the protesters of Occupy San Diego to accomplish their goal they need to have a leader. By having a leader can helped them reach their goal and change can occur. Also,they lack in organization so it makes it very unclear and difficult for them to overthrow the system.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Although they do not want a clear established leader, having one may aid their movement. When I went many of the protestors were very intoxicated so I guess drinking in the corner is common?
ReplyDeleteI feel people are aware of whats going on simply because there is no clear message being portrayed. I agree that in order for this movement to be effective their needs to be more organization and a clear leader who has specific goals for what is intended to come from the protest. Although this may limit the outcome, there will be an outcome. If there are thousands if not millions of people all proposing a different outcome for change then many of those will never be accomplished, however if there is a clear set of goals the likelihood they will be reach is greater.
ReplyDeleteI feel people are fighting for something that is undefined. There is no clear meaning and everyone has a different interpretation.
comment by Allison Welsh