Monday Night at Occupy Seattle: Same Bat Time, Same Bat Place

Events at Westlake can almost always be judged on a continuum from infuriatingly to inspiring. On some days, the palpable solidarity between a large, diverse group of people seems powerful enough to overcome any obstruction. On other days, a dwindling huddle of activists waste hours pontificating and bickering, occasionally provoking the police in pointless acts of martyrdom. Unfortunately, Monday saw more of the latter.

Like many of the movement's most frustrating days, what stood in the way of consensus was location, and approach toward the police. The General Assembly descended into ugliness after a speaker asked whether or not police should be allowed to attend meetings. Some who spoke out argued that the police were part of the 99% the movement is fighting for, and if they were more familiar with the platform of the protests, relations between occupiers and officers could be improved.

Much of the crowd seemed amenable to this line of thinking, but a strident, vocal faction was unwavering in their distrust of the police and opposition to any sympathetic gestures towards SPD officers. Character and motivations were called into question, as the issue became a jumping-off point for some pointed statements about privilege, race and class: "if I hear one more pro-police white boy talk, I'm gonna be sick," one protester said.

This ugly line of discussion was mercifully cut short as someone pointed out the obvious: a discussion in which every word is shouted in unison by a crowd of hundreds won't be any more secret if the police are asked to stand a hundred feet away, rather than right up close.

Closer to Westlake Park's closing time, a meeting was called to discuss a possible change of camp site, in light of the second removal of tents from Westlake. Once again, the discussion was tortuously slow, but much less heated and more on-topic. The ideas of moving to Seattle Central Community College, Denny Park, Seattle Center, and privately-owned public spaces around downtown were all floated. There seemed to be some support for a move to SCCC, but no consensus could be reached, so those spending the night were left to choose for themselves. As of 11:00pm last night, there were no campers at SCCC.

Around 11:20pm, in what has nearly become a nightly ritual, the police entered the park, set up a cordon of bikes, removed the one tent occupiers had set up, and arrested a defiant protester inside who refused to move. As in previous incidents, tension briefly ratcheted up, but no broader confrontation kicked off, and no one was arrested who didn't want to be.

We saw more of the movement's weaknesses on Monday: inability to reach consensus, division between more and less radical factions, and preoccupation with confronting Mayor McGinn and the Seattle Police Department rather than the movement's declared enemies: the overly-powerful economic elite and their enablers and cronies in government.

For reasons I've previously stated, I support Occupy Seattle, but nights like Monday, I leave feeling more frustrated than encouraged or empowered.

Still, even numbing nights like Monday give flashes of hope: as I left City Hall, I passed a group of wealthy-looking Frenchmen who were utterly perplexed by the scene on the Plaza. They might have written the scene off as some incomprehensible American curiosity, but when they return home, they'll find French members of the same movement demonstrating in Paris, Marseille and all over the country. The occupation movement is now as global as the financier class whose power they oppose.