General assemblies in flux

It's a hidden class conflict. I've seen it coming for a while. From what I've seen, a good number of of the hard core contingent of drummers are New York city street people. Some might be homeless. You see gatherings of these drummers in New York City public parks, mainly on Sundays. When OWS occupied Zuccotti Park, drummers flocked there not for ideological reasons, but because it offered a place they could play 24/7 without being tossed out. And it turned into a wild party, which eventually got moved from the center of the park to the edges of it.

Yes, drumming can be a political act. It is a form of free expression. But these guys wouldn't stop playing, even though it was overwhelming the GA every night. The GA, trying to be sensitive and all-inclusive, let it continue. Then the neighboring community started complaining about the noise. It's not a "dirty hippie" meme. Hey, I live in NY and I support OWS, but I would complain about it too if I lived there. It is loud, constant, and not fun to hear if you're not in the middle of it, dancing.

If you read the notes of the GA minutes you'll see that the GA tried to balance the community relations with the drummer's interests. After much debate, the GA passed a rule that the drumming is limited to a few hours a day. The drummers got angry about this, feeling their rights were stepped on.

But my guess is there's another unspoken factor here. It's well known that OWS has raised $300,000. Many of the drummers, as I mentioned, are street people, on the margins, used to hustling for a living. I think they smell a hustle here. So they're claiming they need $8000 to replace a $5000 drum (!) and then changing their argument and insisting they get paid for their "work".

Well, nobody at OWS is getting paid for his or her work. Food, yes. But everyone, even passers-by, can have free food at ows.

Our society is broken, and it breaks many of our souls too. The desperate and homeless are used to surviving in a certain way in New York City. It's not a pretty or good way to be, but it is survival. What they see is a bottom line: the OWS has money, they need money. They're working for it.

Reality comes to utopia. It will be interesting to see how the OWS community resolves this conflict.

There's a generation of street people who've survived in the supposedly open spaces now taken over by Occupiers -- and they're losing income, either through being displaced from areas where they panhandle or sell, or having the police crack down on them harder, 'cause they don't have civil liberties lawyers on call 24/7.

Folks down on their luck, and have suffered without help, now see food and supplies become suddenly available, for people living in their places with enough resources to risk occupation. On the bus, they've already taken the viewpoint of the police -- they're a nuisance, but they'll go away soon.

There are social ecologies being disrupted here, and more outreach needs to happen, than that to unions and other fixed institutions -- or the most streetwise will start parroting the whiteshirts and assist in the violence, just to keep the boot off their necks.

is part of the piece I wrote. It will indeed be interesting to see how the drummers are handled. The initial idea of the OWS people that work needs to be done, but then there is a time for play makes sense to me. But this doesn't seem to be about what makes sense. I did read a wonderful story about Occupy New Haven where the homeless are very much a part of the occupation. But these homeless seem to be working together to create a livable space. They are working at urban gardening. Doesn't seem to be what is going on with the drummers.

maybe it is there, but I missed it, but maybe is has to do with the initial organizing of October 2011, which included Eric Sheptock, DC's best known homeless advocate. He is organizing a housing committee and there is talk of stopping evictions.

I have not been to McPherson Square, so I don't know the situation there. I know they have a drum circle, but DC homeless have not traditionally had drums that I know of. I do know that the McPherson Sq people marched to the local homeless shelter in a demonstration of support and DC homeless people have been active there.

The demonstrations have a lot to offer homeless people. Freedom Plaza has Porta Potties. That does not sound like much, but for homeless people it is a lot. And if you have been sleeping in doorways, it is nice to have a tent to sleep in instead. And there is free food and first aid.

But from a homeless point of view the biggest thing it offers is inclusion. For example, no one need know you are homeless if you are no comfortable with sharing that fact. You can participate in the General Assemblies and you are as important as everyone else. You would not fee unemployed, you would have a job, even if it did not pay.

Holding this coalition together under the constant pressure of police, bad weather, inherent friction of people who take politics seriously and don't necessarily agree is going to be very very difficult.

Sorry, I guess I need to clarify. The drummers are street people, but not necessarily homeless persons. I don't quite know how to explain this socio-economic niche to non-New Yorkers. The best I can come up with is street hustlers: People who make a living by panhandling, three card monte, washing plate glass shop windows, small time pot dealing.

The OWS have reached out to homeless people--they're feeding hundreds every day. But the drummers are part of a different tribe (with some overlap).