Minutes from Mayor Adams' deadline, an Occupier watches the camp dissolve |
On Friday night, Newshour's Jeffery Brown interviewed Mayor Adams and a spokesman for the Occupy Portland demonstration, Jim Oliver.
Oliver did well, too. He expressed the larger sentiments behind the Occupy movement clearly and distinctly. I was on board with everything he said up until the clanging defiant note near the end:
"...our encampment is firmly entrenched in Chapman and Lownsdale squares, and we intend to stay there."I've held that the protest was unsustainable, almost from the beginning. Oliver's remark was at odds with everything I'd seen.
Moral authority, the virtue of the cause, was the strength behind the Occupy Portland movement. As the camp became less and less a demonstration by political activists and more and more a hotbed of objectionable behavior (the assaults and overdoses, the attempted arson), that moral authority was eroded. And without it, the Occupiers can never muster the resolution needed to continue to defy Mayor Adams and the City of Portland.
I intend no disrespect to the demonstrators, but Oliver's remark seemed desperate and pathetic. Empty bravura.
Saturday morning
So, next day, I went to see for myself. I arrived at the Occupy Portland camp around midday. Things were bustling. People were breaking camp. Voluntarily.
There was some grumbling ("What happened to 12:01am?" was the kvetch I heard repeated), but there could be no mistake: the Occupiers were on the way out. They pulled up their tents. They packed up their gear. KBOO was gone. The kitchen was dismantled.
Big police presence |
Lots of garbage |
"Joseph or Tequila, whichever you like" holds court |
I noticed his use of the preterite tense. "So they know it is over, too," thought I. "So much for Jim Oliver's 'we intend to stay' remark."
Dismantled kitchen |
Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish chatting with local news |
One hour to go
That night, after viewing the new Clint Eastwood flick (more about that in a future post), Maty suggested we drive by the Camp to see how things were progressing.
Maty and the cops |
"Let's go look!" Maty said, to my utter astonishment.
We scored a lucky parking space on Taylor, then walked back.
The camp was chock full of people. A discerning eye could see, however, that most of them were spectators --weekend revelers, come to see the show. Many of the Occupiers were already gone.
A crowd gathers as midnight approaches |
"Nothing is going to happen," said I.
"The police just wait two or maybe three hours, then everyone gonna go home," Maty said. She chuckled.
What now?
So now the demonstration is over. Or almost over. As I write, media reports (CNN, no less!) indicate that some holdout elements of the Occupation have moved to Pioneer Square. Whatever. It's over. Let's move on, Portland.
I want to express particular gratitude to City Police. They've been great throughout the whole ordeal. Respectful and reassuring and competent. Good to see. The force has come a long way since the Vera Katz days.
The Occupy Portland demonstration may be over, but hopefully the movement will live on. Effecting change, reforming entrenched power structures, is surely not easy. But squatting in public parks is not the ticket. That tactic succeeded in capturing public attention. It may have helped achieve political victories in last week's off-year elections. It may have played a role in Bank of America's decision to nix their plan for a usurious new fee.
But the tactic is not sustainable. It's been an expensive demonstration for Portland tax-payers, between the overtime pay for Portland's finest and the costs of rehabilitating Chapman/Lownsdale. Tax-payers are the 99%. The very people the movement purports to represent.
The movement needs new methods of expression. Find a way to make things expensive for irresponsible corporations. Find a way to stick it to the Man, not the tax-payer.
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