Occupy and the Art of Communication

Occupy Wall Street has done more to fuel the discussion about the gaps between the rich and the poor and the rich and the middle class than has any single phenomenon in recent years. It wasn’t just the economic crisis, but the failure of government to reach people that spawned the Occupy Movement, a movement whose aim is, in large part, to improve relationships. The movement has inspired dialogue about how to improve the relationship between government and the people and how to minimize the relationship between the government and the rich. No matter what happens from this moment on, we can thank OWS for engaging us all – in person and on the Internet – in a more focused conversation of what ails us as a country and a people.

The art of conversation and of communication have long been under threat in America, and a culture of expediency that tends to ignore people’s needs and differences, even as we continue to diversify, hasn’t helped. Face-to-face conversation is how we really get to know one another and how we establish and exchange who we are as human beings. In many ways we can thank the Occupy Movement for reminding us of the importance of dialogue and listening well.

Packed inside parks 24-seven for weeks, living with virtual strangers inside tents and facing hundreds without a microphone, made it essential to get along, to get across what one needed to say and to coordinate peacefully, sometimes with hundreds of people and with more than one disparate group representing different ideals.

At assemblies, people gather to exchange ideas in a structured, highly democratic environment. The use of the Mic check call and responses encourage active and collective listening and thinking. At its recent meeting, Occupy Bergen County attempted this style of assembly, including the use of hand gestures to signal consent and dissent. The structure gives those who need to speak in a small group a chance to share ideas, limits time and facilitates focus so that an agenda can proceed and fairness be maintained.

On another level of communication, the movement has evolved the role of media and low and high tech. In reference to high tech, Occupy Stream utilizes various
technologies to livestream what is happening at any given Occupy site or people’s demonstration around the globe, and includes chat options that enable discussion about events and important issues among watchers and participants, even as they transpire.

The iPhone app, Vibe, has been used efficiently as supportive technology, allowing activists to message individuals who are nearby who may be total strangers. The app shows location, rather than address. The texting is somewhat like tweeting, and you can adjust volume and duration of the message.

The movement has revolutionized Internet communications and the role of social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter. Numerous pages, including that of Occupy Bergen County, exist on Facebook to support individual groups and the movement itself. In order to deal with the growing bill for Web sites and livestreaming, a site called LoudSauce now collects funds to support the 99 percent, so it can have more TV ad time, reach more occupiers and the one percent. Rest assured, the efficient utilization of such technologies and
the burgeoning support through the Internet do not signal the eventuality of
closing shop for the movement, but its ongoing rise and evolution.

The Occupy Movement hopes to reach people and make way for all individuals to have a chance to participate in a lively, democratic discussion about what matters to most Americans and what needs to change. The conversations carried on by activists, on the streets, in Zuccotti Park, and elsewhere about the lack of healthcare, jobs, security and opportunities, have grown exponentially on the Internet, drawing in even those Americans who were only vaguely interested in these issues before the movement began. While some encampments have been shut down, support networks among groups continue to strengthen, and discourse about the movement continues to flourish.