The energy at OWS has evolved. The tents change the feel
of the occupation - a hunkering down. It reminds me of shanty-towns that I had
seen in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and in sections of New York City that people
choose not to know of or go to. However these tents, for the most, part are not
occupied by the destitute. While there are actual homeless and people who prefer
to live on the fringes in Liberty Park, for the most part the occupiers have
resources, families and homes to go back to. Listening to the conversations
floating around me, many people commented on the quality and/or size of the
tents.
There is a cynicism at OWS that wasn’t there two weeks
ago. Profiteers have arrived, selling 99% t-shirts and OWS buttons. In the past
I had to ask where to give a donation, now there are many people with a
bucket/cup/pitch attempting to cash-in on the support coming to OWS:
- A skinny woman in a deflated looking Santa suit with a cardboard sign asking for money to help Santa’s elves
- A college student asking for funds to support his education
- A Homeless couple with baby asking for change
- Occupants inside the tent city with their own bucket asking for donations
New concerns and agendas have emerged: A flyer with a
picture of a man who was expelled from the occupation for sexual assault; Many
signs in support of the anti fracking movement; a poster being prominently
displayed throughout the camp that says “occupy for innocence” with the image
of a young white girl-child relaxing or sprawling in the street with a wall of
nondescript protesters on the sidewalk behind her. I felt my heartstrings being
tugged like a hallmark card and I resented it. Why does a young white
girl-child represent innocence?
The individual requests for donations have nothing to do
with the demand for equality and for a change in how America governs itself and
the world. The irony of the situation is that the people selling t-shirts and
buttons are African-American; are there to make money; and are not concerned
about the ideals or the goals of the occupation. So if they are asked to take
their merchandise elsewhere and stop profiteering off the occupation, are the
people asking them to cease and desist in this location being racist, classist,
and stopping a marginalized person from trying to make a living? Or are the
profiteers providing a service as people buying the buttons will hopefully wear
them and spread the message to other locations?
Money co-opting an occupation that is in protest of the
co-option of money, in the symbolic center for the making of money…
A few feet from the people selling OWS merchandise,
there is a table making and giving away OWS buttons for free (with a box for
donations), and in the art section of OWS people are silk-screening and giving
away T-shirts for free. They are countering the profiteers, however I had to
accidentally find or know to look for the tables with free OWS stuff, as they
are not as prominently displayed as the people selling merchandise.
After walking around Liberty Park my gut feeling was
this was not the place for a performance. It was a place to educate and inform
the curious and the gawkers about the issues behind the occupation and how to
address the increasing and glaring inequalities in America. It was a place to
come and be in solidarity with the people doing the hard work of occupying the
park and help generate a tension so “power” will have to come to the
negotiation table.
Martin Luther King on April 16, 1963 in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail wrote:
“You
may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't
negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for
negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent
direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community
which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It
seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the
creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound
rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension."
I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive,
nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth… The purpose of our direct
action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will
inevitably open the door to negotiation.”
I decided to go ahead with the performance as I had
promised Andrea I would. There were two key differences in the performance: 1. Paloma
was unable to join us, so just Andrea and I did the movement score. Three was
more powerful than two. Two people implied individuals on a journey, whereas
three people implied a community on a journey. 2. Because so many people are
asking for donations and selling merchandise, the symbol of a dollar bill
across our mouths, was hollow. People in the occupation were not silenced by
money. They were actively asking for it.
Comments that I remember in response to our performance
were:
- “Can you give me a dollar” - Tourist.
- “What’s wrong with making a dollar?” Street vendor selling OWS buttons.
- “That’s profound. Do you get it? They are silenced by money, struggling against the dollar.” - CUNY student for OWS
- “What are you saying?!! This is why they call us crazies” - OWS organizer
As a performer I felt empty and adrift. I felt that I
wasn’t contributing to the movement. I couldn’t find a way to take the
negativity and transform it into positivity. I could become an abstract modern
dancer and become the “craziness” and interact with the crowd, occupying space
with them, challenging them with my presence and silence, or I could choose to
become stoic. I choose stoic as I felt that it allowed Andrea to engage with
the crowd’s energy and I became a base for her to return to. After the “What
are you saying!!!” comment by the OWS organizer, I wanted to cry. I wanted to
immediately stop the journey/performance, but I had made the commitment so
continued feeling spiritless inside.
A dance performance – because it is open to
interpretation and thus confusion - diffuses the core intent of the occupation.
I can say I am there to support, however is a dance performance the type of
support that the occupation actually needs? When the occupation is already
being derided as a bunch of crazies, I feel doing an abstract dance performance
at Liberty Park makes us one of the crazies and gives critics ammunition to use
against the occupation. I can argue that my intensions are pure, however the road
to hell was paved with good intentions. We become a distraction from the
message. Our performance does provide compelling visual images – but do those
images generate a tension that will bring “power” to the negotiating table and
cause people to reflect, or do those images diffuse the tension by allowing
people to dismiss and deride OWS and the 99% movement.
I felt our performance was about a need for catharsis, a
desire to contribute to the occupation as a dancer/choreographer, and an
exploration of concepts regarding crowd engagement. It came from an individual
artist centered perspective as opposed to a communal activist centered
perspective. Instead of imposing our art on the occupation, we need to meet
with organizers of OWS and discuss how dance can support what endeavors are
already in place, as well as create its own initiatives.
Our performance and the occupation needs to spread out
and happen all over the city. How can we as performers help to apply pressure
and draw attention to the issues: for example by taking dance actions to
Goldman Sachs, Moody’s, Bank of America, and Bedford Stuyvesant where I live.
Bed-Stuy was badly hit by sub prime and predatory loans. (The sub prime mess is
the biggest drain of wealth out of the African-American community in American
history). As we perform, have people with literature and video cameras who can
interview and talk with observers - “What do you think the performance is
about, takes this flyer for more information, etc...” How can each of us occupy
our own block, our neighborhood, and get people communicating, invested and
involved. I don’t care if you are a tea-party member, a libertarian, an OWSer,
a 99%er, a democrat, a republic, WE all need to be involved in the political
process and hold our representatives accountable. Not just at elections, but as
an on-going part of living in a “free” society.
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