Democracy is a messy process

Organization has been one of the most astounding elements of every Occupy Camp I have visited. You can hear real fatigue in the voice of Mark Bond, the organizer of the Bozeman Occupy march two weeks ago, during our interview after the event. I have heard this in all of the organizers I have talked to since then. It takes tremendous energy to facilitate a social revolution. In this movement, we are all self appointed. We have no leader but each other. And this might just be the scariest part of our undertaking. Given the chance to organize, organizers will step up. Given the chance to antagonize, antagonizes will act out. Given the chance to challenge, challenges will be made for and against our movement. Yet given the chance to live, many have stepped up to create the society we want to see. All of these things have happened. And that is why this movement needs exactly what has occurred: voices en masse, different and similar, coming together to demonstrate life and democracy. Democracy is a messy process when dealing with all of the elements that deserve a voice, not just the convenient ones.

I hear this when I ask people about the major successes and set backs of their camps. Unanimously the biggest problem being the presence of the homeless, addicted, and mentally ill individuals in camps and their associated issues: safety, drug use, and general undesirableness. The other unanimous consensus I find is the decision that these people are as much a part of the movement as anyone else. And though they may take a lot of energy to deal with, evolving society has to start with them. Democracy is a messy process when dealing with all of the elements that deserve compassion, not just the convenient ones.

This isn't the easiest thing for myself, not in philosophy but in practice. One element of the Portland Occupation was the vast number of homeless the camp housed and, again, their related issues. The group of people that welcomed me into their camp also welcomed in a lot of vagrants. And while I know that the only way to have a real social revolution is to address, head on, the problems that these people face, it is still hard for me to feel comfortable in their presence. Democracy is a messy process when dealing with all of the elements that deserve understanding, not just the convenient ones.

So, if democracy is a messy process when dealing with all of the elements that deserve attention, not just the convenient ones, who really needs an education? The middle class in my blood would say we need to educate the street people who need help. But the street person, a very new side to myself no doubt, says my middle class blood needs an education in how to care for real. Homeless, transient, addicted individuals have problems innumerable to my own. They aren't dealing with debt, war, or even a recession. They are dealing with themselves. And many of us turn away in reaction. The real education needs to teach understanding amongst the middle classers, for we are the ones who can change.