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发帖数: 2273 | 1 (CNN) -- A group of African-American church leaders announced Wednesday
their intention to join ranks with the Occupy movement in the nation's
capital, bolstering what some consider a mutual message of condemning income
inequality and social injustice.
The move comes against the backdrop of evictions of Occupy protesters
encamped in city parks and squares across the United States, raising
questions about whether the two groups can capitalize on momentum gained by
the months-long movement.
"We are occupying until poverty is eradicated," pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant
told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, near where a core
group of activists remains encamped.
The two groups plan to gather during a national "day of action" scheduled
for January 16, set to coincide with the commemoration of former civil
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
But could Wednesday's announcement signify that Occupy is now shifting
toward more established forms of influence?
"Every successful movement begins with a grievance and turns into an agenda,
" said Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings
Institution.
By linking up with black church leaders, he said, the group can tap into a
community with years of experience in social movements.
Since September, activists have gathered to draw attention to corporate
greed and the excesses of the so-called 1%, a reference to the nation's
elite, who protesters say wield disproportionate influence over the rest of
the country.
Their message, though popular, has also been criticized for its lack of
focus.
But on Wednesday, church leaders outlined a more specific call to lawmakers,
asking for a moratorium on foreclosures, an increase in federal Pell grants
to students and added national funding for job training.
In past months demonstrators have largely shunned established political
figures, wary of being co-opted by outside influence. And yet outside groups
have largely been involved, swelling demonstrator marches with union ranks
in cities like New York, where activists first encamped in a lower Manhattan
park.
"When they had physical spaces, then the point was to be there," added
Galston of the encampments. "But the movement has to move from occupation to
something else."
Last month, authorities in New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia dismantled
tents and arrested protesters who refused to leave city parks and squares.
On Saturday, police arrested 46 people in Boston, sweeping through a
downtown square to evict people rooted there since late September.
"I think there is a danger" the movement could lose momentum without these
physical spaces, said Elisabeth Jacobs, a Brookings fellow in governance
studies. "But I'm not sure that it's a foregone conclusion.
"There's a pretty lively Web space for this community."
But whether the movement can evolve into an "Occupy 2.0" could be key to its
survival as a relevant social movement in the months and years ahead.
That evolution may also require adopting more institutional forms of
influence, such as lobbying and use of the courts, which protesters have
often labeled corrupt.
"People might be a little frustrated that the movement is taking a new shape
," Jacobs said. But with the loss of landmark encampments in places like
Manhattan's Zuccotti Park and Boston's Dewey Square, "I'm not sure what they
're actually trying to accomplish if they don't adapt."
The group's Twitter feed, meanwhile, remained abuzz with online activity on
Wednesday.
"How do we take back our govt from corrupt and incompetent elected officials
?" read one post.
"Keep the dream ALIVE," read another. |
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