Democracy and Pragmatism in Occupy Albuquerque

General Assembly Meeting

OWS-Albuquerque

Wednesday, October 26^th 2011

At the last minute, I decided to attend the Occupy Albuquerque general assembly meeting for my third observation. I was joining Amiee, and her son Jason, for this observation. As I arrived near Yale Park, the majority of people were moving away from the spot. Amiee grabbed me as I was crossing the street, and we went back the way I had just come from. The police had just informed everyone associated with OWS that they had been ordered off the park. Coincidentally, this occurred just at 6:00, when the meeting was slated to start.

The people moved to stand in front of the nearby Satellite Coffee and Schlotszky’s with the permission of the owners. As this was privately owned, the police could not pursue. What followed was incredibly interesting from an analytical point of view. This group, following the lead of other groups across the country, has developed incredibly pragmatic ways of dealing with interesting challenges. Their whole process is incredibly democratic, and the rhetoric is fascinating as well.

The People’s Microphone

In some areas, laws have been instituted to remove megaphones and microphones from protesting groups, under the guise of noise ordinance laws. In response, the People’s Microphone was developed. Anyone who wishes to speak simply speaks up fiorst with “mic check” and everyone around them who hears them repeats (the goal being to repeat in unison) “mic check” and then the speaker talks in short phrases, and everyone repeats, amplifying the words so that the whole group can hear, and without using any electronic support.

Straw Poll

Propositions were made freely, from anyone in the group, and then each one was written down, read (using the people’s microphone) and then reworded as people suggested. Once the verbiage was to the majority’s liking, each one was voted on using a “straw poll” which was simply done. If one agreed with the proposition, they held their hands, fingers up, and if they disagreed, they held their hands up fingers down. Each and every one was voted on, with comments and stand-asides, and sub propositions that wound up combining several into one. The entire process was highly democratic and well organized for the chaos that preceded it.

The focus of the meeting was first focused on what the immediate reaction to the eviction by the police should be, and then down to other points on the agenda. Once decisions were made, the group broke into working groups for ideas on how to accomplish the larger goals of the group and keep the movement progressing forward. The whole process was pragmatic in the approach, dealing with immediate problems in the clearest and fairest way possible, while still generating new ideas that work toward the ultimate goals of the group.

Irony (I posted something very similar to this on my Facebook page)

After getting kicked off of Yale Park and discussing steps to take, an individual walked by and called the protesters "Idiots". The word "idiot" is descended from the Greek word, Idios, which means private person, or individual. This specifically relates to anyone who was not part of the Polis, or the political workings of Athens. The protesters were in a group, in the midst of a highly democratic decision-making process (voting on proposals) actively using their First Amendment Rights to freedom of assembly. So who's the Idiot? I love irony.