Poverty means nothing if we seek alternate meanings

Here’s a conundrum: Spokane isn't a place that has ever attracted big business. Therefore, Spokane is considered impoverished. However, big business is the reason for poverty, so why bow to it and try to incorporate big business into our area? But, if numbers mean anything, then something has to be done, because Spokane will only breed tragedy for a population ruined by poverty.

According to city-data.com, in 2009, 19.9 percent of the population lived under the poverty line in the city of Spokane, whereas, 12.3 percent of the total population of the state of Washington lived under the poverty line in the same year. That’s a 7.6 percent difference.  

The most unfortunate statistic is 5-year-old females: 43.6 percent lived under the poverty line, the highest rate for any age group in the city. The next highest were 6 to 11-year-old females at another whopping 36.9 percent living under the poverty line. Finally, 36.4 percent of 12 to 14 year old boys lived under the poverty line. These numbers are nearly double the state average for the same age groups.

How is it that we can allow the youngest of our population to live in such conditions? We know that poverty begets poverty, and the formative years of childhood are the most important. Children who go to sleep hungry every night will only learn that the world is an unstable place, and with instability comes the tragic downward spiral of deviance.

Whenever we hear the word “freedom,” in political speeches, we should infer “freedom to be greedy.” It’s nothing more than that. Big business, and those who chair it (the 1 percent), care little for the consequences they have on society at large. But, they’ll tell you that it’s not their concern. Their concern is profit.

How, then, can we go about creating a better community for our children here in Spokane without the help of ushering in an age of big business, because that will only serve to stratify.

When Occupiers go out and protest one question should always be on their mind: what does it mean to be poor, and how do we redefine poverty? Ask always how we can change the way we view and interpret the world around us, that way numbers mean very little. It’s not so much numbers, as it is our perception of the world we live in.

There is more to life than big business, such as true happiness. 

#M1GS — May Day General Strike

It’s probably no coincidence that May Day was chosen by the architects of the General Strike of the same name. With the American “Spring” on its way, and this time in the season of the same name, most Occupiers are waiting to make history.

Called for by Occupy Los Angeles, the May Day General Strike (known on Twitter by the hashtag, #M1GS) will be the first in a series of attacks on the system.

Utilizing Gandhian tactics, Occupy Los Angeles and #M1GS will be a serious boycott of the entire system:

“NO WORK - NO SCHOOL - NO SHOPPING - NO BANKING - NO TRADING. THE PEOPLE OF THE PLANET WILL TAKE TO THE STREETS,” reads the official statement issued by Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Long Beach on their Facebook page.

One of the only tactics that has ever truly worked in taking down a corrupt system has been to boycott the system. The Tao, an ancient Chinese book of wisdom, even understood a crude form of this concept when the author wrote: “There can be no rulers if no one obeys the rules.”

Over the centuries, war and violence has been the primary mode of operation for the overthrow of corrupt regimes. However, when history approaches the age of Gandhi, and his near-miracles in India, we see a rapid change in the way power is viewed.

Not 20 years after Gandhi’s death, and his successes in India taking down the British, we see Martin Luther King Jr. both quoting and utilizing Gandhian tactics.

What Gandhi had advocated all his life, with minor exceptions, is non-violent, non-cooperation. In other words, a boycott.

The easiest way to take down a system is by not participating with or within the system. And #M1GS will attempt just that: non-cooperation.

“[We] are calling on all people of the world to start planning NOW for a Global Strike. The goal is to shut down commerce worldwide and show the 1% we will not be taken for granted, we will not be silenced, WE WILL NOT MOVE until our grievances are redressed.” according to Occupy Los Angeles page. 

Fat Cat Tax Day Rally

Occupiers and activists of all shapes, colors, sizes, and genders marched the streets of Spokane on Tuesday to protest the tax breaks for the rich and advocate for the opposite.

The "Fat Cat Rally" brought together groups like Occupy Spokane, the Service Worker's Union, Progressive Democrats, PJALS, and WashingtonCAN! The march began at Riverfront Park and continued throughout the streets of Spokane, finally ending in Riverfront Park, with all of it very reminiscent of any previous Occupy Spokane Saturday march.

Two men, known only as Ziggy and Justin, spoke through the megaphone at Wells Fargo, condemning bad practices and anything else that has to do with wealth and oppression.

“The men that run these places pay next to nothing, while the rest of us have nothing,” he shouted.

Young men and women hung a sign that read, "Occupy 99%," from Bank of America's parking garage as the march zigzagged through the streets. They dropped leaflets that read, "We're going to Occupy the shit out of you!"

Perhaps the greatest part of the march was the "Fat Cat": an inflatable, 25-foot high cat in a business suit, strangling a construction worker, being towed by a car like a parade float. It certainly was as big as a parade float.

Then the singing group infiltrated Wells Fargo, singing anti-capitalism songs in the lobby of the bank.

Harpman Hatter, one of the most visible of the Occupiers, did his usual sidewalk chalk art.

Towards the end of the march it was clear that May Day is going to be big. 

KONY 2012 goes off without a hitch, literally though.

Real protests involve real causes. Real activists are active.

The Kony kids are neither real activists, nor are they for a real cause.

Case in point: Friday, April 20, 2012, was, among being Hitler’s birthday and national get stoned and eat yourself into a heart attack day, “Cover the Night.” The event, sponsored by “Invisible Children Inc, was supposed to get Joseph Kony “famous.”

It didn’t do that exactly, because no one showed up, at least not to the Cheney/EWU event. Even in downtown Spokane, where, according to my own following of the “Spokane Cover the Night” on Facebook, many hundreds of people were supposed to show up, “cover the night,” and get Kony “famous.”

“Okay so tonight at AMC. Do we have an idea of who's actually gonna show or how many,” posted Lindsay Ackron on the Spokane Kony page.

“I know of 10 fer sure,” replied Mike Guarisco.

Then, around 9 p.m., well after the desired time, posters started writing that no one had showed up. By Saturday morning, all of those posts had been removed by the admin, as if to “cover their tracks” so no one would know of the dismal turnout.

Kony posters did show up around town. On Francis Avenue in north Spokane, Kony’s face was plastered along poles from Crestline to Nevada. Downtown, too, had a few littered around. But it was no where near the amount promised by Jason Russell, the group’s leader who, among other things, touched “it” in public (by “it” I mean penis), wholly and unequivocally tarnished his movement’s reputation forever.

One positive outcome of the Kony fiasco is that is shows real activists that average Americans aren’t as foolish as originally thought.

 Many Occupy Spokane supporters took to the Internet to “Cover the lies,” and spread the word that there are bigger problems to fight for.

“We need to turn our attention to the bigger problem. Flake out the night,” posted Chris Sturm on Facebook. 

The Reawakening

It’s been a long winter. But growing from the cold snow is a new sense of solidarity. Something has awakened in the American spirit. Occupy everything is back.

Critics of the movement that started in New York in September of 2011 have galvanized their opposition, but the same is even truer for the opposition itself. Like seeds of a dandelion blown from Ground Zero in NYC, Occupy movements are now blooming around the world. The Earth is now a battleground: the war is for our humanity.

In New York, new forms of protest have arisen, and in Berkeley, California, once a symbol of the radical 60s, is again revamping that image. In many ways, Berkeley is now the battleground for our future.

A place as small as Binghampton, New York, or even Sandpoint, Idaho, now has their own Occupy movements. From Perth in Austrailia, to Moscow, Russia, Occupy is everywhere.

With calls for an American Spring, similar to the revolutions in the Middle East, this season, there is a sense in the movement that something big is about to happen. And not just in America, but everywhere.

And here in Spokane, Washington, a seemingly backwater town in the isolation of the Inland Northwest, people are moving. Over the winter, some of the best minds from many different groups have come together to create a network of activism and dissent. Plans are for major demonstrations to take place as frequently as possible. People are once again taking to the fountain in Riverfront Park, ready to risk it all; to tell the world of their grievances; to spread solidarity for the entire planet; to make a real difference; to speak the truth; and to fight for what’s right.

The war for freedom is on the horizon, and Occupy Spokane is ready to take to the streets once more in anticipation of the American Spring.

It couldn’t be any more serendipitous than that.