Occupy AARP

By Phil Polizatto ,WWH – Remember the days when no one over 30 could be trusted? Oh, we knew who the exceptions were, but for the most part, we stuck to that adage because we proved to ourselves time and time again, or so we thought, that the old folk just didn’t “get” us. Isn’t there a similar belief within the inner circles of the Occupy movement? “Don’t trust anyone over 30,”… let alone 60? So should I be surprised when last week I am immediately stopped and interrogated as I enter the occupied encampment on the lawn behind the Community College? Who are you? What are your reasons for being here? I thought I was going to have to get a retinal scan before I’d be cleared to go beyond a certain row of tents. Paranoia strikes deep. Into your heart it will creep. I guess they have good reason. I have my press badge on and they’ve been getting some bad press recently, especially regarding sanitation and health.

“We deserve it,” a young man speaks up. He sweeps his arms encompassing the grounds and says, “Look at this. It’s fucking filthy. It’s disgusting!” His friends aren’t too pleased by his outburst. I find his honesty heartening and reassuring. I tell him so. And I try to reassure him by telling him he’s not alone. Occupy movements around the country are experiencing similar problems from within and without: Egos and in-fighting, people jockeying for position, arguing about who’s responsible for what, infiltrators, threats of police action, the hangers-on who are just there for the idea of rebellion, those inclined to vandalism and violence, anarchists who do not fully understand what anarchy is, and those who just do not “get it” but no one dare exclude them because they are truly part of the 99%. Unfortunately it is the sensationalized fringe elements of any movement that become the focus for the mainstream media and distort the picture for the people who only get their news from Fox and the like.

I tell the young man and his friends they remind me that most “occupants” are people of expanded consciousness who therefore are more conscientious, and that this is a good thing. When they see people around them not being conscientious, it bums them out. It’s only natural. There’s always going to be that handful that ruins it for everyone else, or so it seems at the time. Don’t be so hard on yourselves. You’ve already made a tremendous impact.

I tell them though Occupy movements in other cities share the same problems, others are thriving, healthy and working. Maybe they have more progressive city councils and police chiefs who resist the obviously coordinated and concerted efforts by Homeland Security to shock and awe all encampments everywhere in the middle of the night because by the light of day, such action would only garner more support for the Occupy movement. Maybe they just have better weather.

I tell them stories of the commune I lived in and how we had no rules, no leaders, and all decisions were made by consensus. We trusted that everyone had experienced a degree of consciousness that allowed them to understand why and how it worked. If you saw something that needed to be done, you did it. Maybe you asked the help of fellow communards. No one was ever assigned a chore, yet everything got done. I admitted it was a lot easier to do with 16 people than with hundreds. I tell them the place doesn’t look that bad. What can you expect from a hundred or so people occupying a little more than 2000 sq. ft. of lawn after two days of heavy rains? The young man and his friends appreciate this remark as I appreciate my hippie roots.

He takes me to the media tent and introduces me to the young woman “in charge.” She seems stressed while she asks me how she can help. I tell her I am interested in turning tents into symbols. I tell her I want to learn what their next moves will be. I ask if I can share some suggestions with her about which direction to proceed. I am hoping she will be my conduit to the meeting. She glares at me. My long hair and hippie credentials carry no weight with her. She looks at me as if I am just an old fart who can’t attend a General Assembly because he can’t drive at night. I feel less age discrimination when she yells at me as she would a peer, “Why is everyone always telling us what we should be doing? I get emails, phone calls, and people like you stopping by telling me what we should be doing. We’re not stupid. We’re doing something! We don’t want your advice, we want your support.”

I wanted to yell back, “Chill, sister. I’m only trying to help!” Perhaps I didn’t appreciate her situation, having to play a role in public relations, communications, and media; as well as a spokesperson, all while living out of a damp tent.

Michael Moore had just come out with a “vision statement” and list of “wants.” http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/8541-where-does-occupy-wall-street-go-from-here. They were almost identical to the “contract” of the Rebuild the Dream movement. http://contract.rebuildthedream.com/. I think they’re both excellent. I think “visions” and “wants” and “demands” do need to be clearly verbalized so they can be discussed, debated and eventually embraced by a majority of the people. Congress and the President will have no choice but to stop waltzing to the corporate piper’s flute. They will have to make sweeping changes to the way our government works… and for whom… or suffer the consequences. The People will no longer take the brunt!

I asked her if she thought Moore’s proposal was “advice” or “support.” My take was that Moore saw the need to make some order out of the chaos of anger and frustration. He saw a need for some defining of it so it could be addressed by the movement and then put into action… forcibly, if need be, but hopefully not. I thought it was both advice and support. At least it was something to hang your thoughts on.

She agreed but said the movement would come up with its own demands. They respected the wisdom of their “elders,” but that didn’t mean they had to take any of their advice, even Moore’s. Still I felt I had to repeat my initial idea. I thought that getting people to put tents in their front yards, especially this time of year, would be especially effective. A thousand front yards. A thousand tents. A thousand signs reminding everyone that the 99% are everywhere. Decorate them with tinsel, ornaments, and lanterns. Then, even if urban encampments are swept away by the police state, people will still know the power of the 99% because it will be visible. We can occupy whatever needs the most occupation that day. Maybe it will be the local offices of a Congressperson or the Governor’s mansion. Maybe it will be in the halls of the state legislature or the Sam Rayburn building. Maybe it will be the Bank of America or Freddie Mac. With occupations happening in almost every area, people can be quickly dispatched to occupy whatever seems most appropriate at the time and have the greatest impact, and still have a home base where we/they can go to recuperate. We don’t have to be glued to a specific spot out of some misplaced ego. A few tents visible on each block will be the symbol of our involvement and the symbols will allow the individual to go wherever he or she is needed most.

“That’s not support,” she said, “that’s advice.”

I scowled. “Now you’re just getting into semantics. What I have proposed are simply suggestions. They are both advice and support. Would you rather I had just kept my mouth shut and given you money or food? Am I part of the 99% only when you need my body to add to the numbers of protesters or marchers seen on television?”

“Well, I could have really gone for a Krispy Kreme,” she pouted.

I laughed. “Great, pull on my guilt strings, why don’t ya? Next time, OK?”

I continued. “Two things come to my mind when I think of this revolution… one is that the solidarity must be visible at all times. The other, that the movement is not made up of only disaffected youth, but a spectrum of disaffected people of all ages, personal backgrounds and histories. That’s one of the reasons the hippie movement went into remission. It was devoured by the mass media, caricaturized, and co-opted by Madison Avenue and the retailers. It made it almost impossible to shake off the handles of “dirty fuckin’ hippie” on one end and “ditzy, stoned, flower child” on the other. “Pinko, commie, pervert?”… Well, them’s real fighting words… if only we weren’t such peaceniks! We still fight the stigmas today, but soon they’ll understand.

“I don’t want you to fall into the same traps. That’s why it’s so important that you don’t get yourselves stigmatized as a youth movement. That’s why your media committees need to understand the importance of capturing the true diversity of the occupiers.”

“That’s not support,” she said, “that’s advice.”

I begged her pardon, defending my ideas as very practical and concrete. Well how about this? Why not Occupy AARP? Surprisingly, she knew what it was. “They have 40 million members, the vast majority of whom belong to the 99%. If you could Occupy AARP, you would be increasing your numbers and visibility of the true spectrum of the Occupy Movement.”

She said “That’s what I mean by support. Now go do it!” She had busted me by giving me the same advice I had given the young man and his friends with the story of my commune days.

So, dear readers, PLEASE visit this page on Facebook and LIKE it: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-AARP/288641237841727. First, it will dispel any notion, once and for all, that the Occupy movement is a youth movement. Secondly, if we can generate enough numbers and if AARP is truly the advocacy group it is supposed to be, we can insist that AARP support the goals and demands of the Occupy Movement. If our numbers are large enough to warrant a voice, but AARP will not respond appropriately, then we know that AARP is just another large corporation that makes billions in revenues through its insurances and services, even though it is supposed to be a non-profit organization, and its executives get paid in the millions. That is the case, but we are still better off knowing who AARP serves more… the retirement community or the insurance companies. We can always cancel our memberships en masse. That might make them listen! Please support Occupy AARP! (If you are younger than fifty, LIKE the page anyway. After all, you are a possible future customer! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-AARP/288641237841727

Addendum: Since I started researching and writing this article a number of developments have occurred. Through misrepresentation of the facts and the complaints of a few, the encampment at the Community College has been removed. The final straw for the college’s Board of Trustees was a single source news item covered by four different mainstream news outlets in the area. The news items were all about rats, trash, drugs, dogs, booze, beer cans and used hypodermic needles. Oh, and some stolen soap. A young woman is also alleged to have been raped.

The facts are for the past twenty years you could walk up a urine-smelling-stairway on campus and see plenty of needles, trash and beer cans along the way. Dogs have always been hanging around, along with the booze and the street people. Rats are as much of an institution in the classrooms as the institution itself. And the young girl… she was seen half naked walking in the street, drunk and incoherent. Occupiers brought her to the encampment to give her aid and comfort.

What is really ironic is that at the same time the Board of Trustees was unanimously voting to have the encampment removed, Jawed Zouari, Fulbright Professor from the University of Tunis, was delivering a lecture titled “From the Tunisian Revolution to Occupy Seattle.”

Now, as is happening in other cities, occupying foreclosed homes seems to be one of the movement’s tactics. Hell, they did it in Christianastaad in Copenhagen forty years ago. They turned a defunct industrial area into one of Copenhagen’s premier art districts and tourist attractions! If the economic collapse continues on schedule, occupying foreclosed homes will be the rule, not the exception.

Namaste!

To contact Phil or find out more: check out his website and blog For a copy of HUNGA DUNGA
Phil Polizatto – Worldwide Hippies Bureau Chief – West Coast USA, is a graduate of The School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was a feature writer for the overseas division of UPI, a copywriter for CBS, and an award-winning corporate film producer. Mr. Polizatto is a published poet and a regular contributor to Worldwide Hippies as well as a variety of other arts and literary journals. Hunga Dunga is his first published novel. He resides in the Pacific Northwest.

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