re-blogged from Occupy Bus Tour
Excuse me a moment while I get serious. The old era is over, and the new age is upon us. The social upheaval predicted by the First Nations people is here. We are the ones we have been waiting for. The Occupy Movement heralded the Idle No More Movement. The ideals of Occupy as expressed in the Occupy Wall Street Declaration of the NYC General Assembly, The Principles of Solidarity and the Statement of Autonomy are in complete solidarity with the Manifesto and Mission of Idle No More.
“Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water. Colonization continues through attacks to Indigenous rights and damage to the land and water. We must repair these violations, live the spirit and intent of the treaty relationship, work towards justice in action, and protect Mother Earth.”
Occupying is about physically taking public space back from the power elite. Public space is defined as everything — the earth and all human knowledge is public. Of course, we started out small — trying to occupy Wall Street itself, then the sidewalk around Chase, and finally settling into the privately owned public space called Zuccotti Park, halfway between (9/11’s) Ground Zero and Wall Street. Occupiers across the globe tried to exercise their inalienable rights to assemble in public space, seek redress for their grievances, and abolish a violently oppressive and destructive global-socio-political-economic-military-industrial-agricultural-educational-medical-etc system.
The act of occupying is a demand that our voices be heard, and action be taken to correct the situations. Maintaining an occupying action, such as Occupy Union Square, Occupy Trinity Wall Street and Occupy Goldman-Sachs, is saying the same thing the Idle No More Movement is saying — we will not be appeased, we will not be silenced, we will not give up. In short, we will not go home and let the status quo remain. We have had enough. Game over, yo. We are not amused.
We have given the power elite enough time to do the right thing, and it is obvious to everyone that they have only further indulged their destructive addictions to money, power and cruelty. It is obvious to everyone that the power elite cares not for the health of the Earth, or of the human species. The insanity of the power elite is killing the species through resource depletion, environmental pollution (including genetically modified organisms polluting the gene pool) and climate change. For the sake of our very lives, and of the lives of our future generations, we can be idle no more.
I occupy everything, everywhere. That is how I am idle no more. I am disappointed that the Occupy Movement failed at connecting with indigenous people around the planet. I am disappointed that the Occupy Movement did not reach out for guidance from the indigenous community. I am disappointed that the indigenous population needed to rise up outside the Occupy Movement. However, perhaps it is for the best as many Occupiers, in my experience, have no idea of their colonizer privilege — and therefore perpetuate the cruel injustices of colonial rule. Perhaps it is for the best that we in Occupy learn about reality the hard way. Perhaps it is for the best that Idle No More lead the way so Occupiers can learn. It is not about the money, it is not about the economy, it is not about reform. It is about people — all people-beings — plant, animal, mineral, spirit. It is about the land and water. It is about love. The age of greed is over and a new age is beginning. We can change everything but first we have to de-colonize our minds, occupy our hearts and realize we can be idle no more.
By our European Colonizer calendar it is the time of a new year. By the spiritual calendar of the indigenous peoples around the globe it is the time of a new era.
We are the 99%. We are all related. We are mad as hell and are not going to take this anymore! We are Idle No More! We will Occupy!
The Occupied Tampa Tribune 