Occupy San Luis Obispo, CA — OccupySLO

Went with another OSLO member to take a first hand look at the activity down at the Courthouse. Mid-day, just after lunch hour for downtown workers. I didn't see any public education happening. No focus on the economic issues that spurred the OWS movement. Little interaction with the general public out and about on a fairly nice SLO afternoon. No awareness activism in any sense of the term.

What I saw were a group of folks camping, in the most literal sense of the term, on the Courthouse lawn. Most hanging out in their tents a few sitting on the paved plaza. Saw an Occupy Needs list on the white board - little else appeared to have any connection with the points key to the Occupy action spurred in NY and other large cities in the US.

They were doing no harm at all, that's not the issue for me. They were doing nothing - and that is. So, what's the point? Is occupying a space in and of itself the thing?

I can see some symbolic angle to the action, I guess. Just seems to get lost for me in what looked to be a "let's kick back down at the Courthouse" approach to it all.

One lone man simply stood at the curb for the hour I was there with a 99% message sign. He got some kudos from passersby and traffic. That was enough for me - I came away with the sense that the camp occupation is basically pointless.

So how can you help to make it meaningful?

Some members spend a lot of time at the courthouse even if you didn't happen to see them. Others are working long and hard both on and off site to set up a positive educational setting at the courthouse, as perhaps you can tell by reading elsewhere on this website. Have some patience and check back again.

I believe the educational committee is looking for people to help put together non-biased educational material to hand out at the court house. What sort of educational material would you like to see down there, and what questions would you like to have answered? Notocuplant made a post on the forums asking people for ideas regarding educational material, please feel free to add your own ideas.

Or if you would like to be more involved get together with one or two other OSLO members, choose a time when you are all free and go down to the court house. The more people we have down there who are educated in the issues being discussed the more positive the environment will be.

Spotted pony,

I Spotted pony,

I share most of your concerns. But I think a positive presence in a very public place like the courthouse is important to the movement. It is intended to be a public expression of the movement. It is an important part of the Occupy movement. Many of the occupiers ARE homeless and aren't terribly committed to the movement. But they aren't bad actors & we welcome & embrace them. They are part of the 99%. But there are a few bad actors, & we're working on that too.

If the only presence at the courthouse was committed people, there would probably be 2 or 3 people there. Or none. Our only presence would be a couple marches a week. People need to see that positive presence. And you're right, we need to do more on education. We're working on that.

Please continue to help all you can.

Tom

I was with Spotted Pony yesterday and spoke to a county worker who's office is in the courthouse . He told me he was having a meeting in his office a few days ago and looked out his window and saw a person squatting down to defecate in the bushes . He says it smells so bad outside his office window from people eliminated themselves, on a nice day like yesterday he can no longer open his window to get fresh air.

I saw one of the "occupiers" climb up in one of the trees, hanging out and then him and one of the other "occupiers" went across the street hanging out with the girls who were waiting to get tickets for the twilight movie.
You can blame "the homeless, etc. " for being the one's who are ruining the message of the encampment, it doesn't matter, what matters is public opinion at this point.

People say everyone needs patience , I agree but not in regard to get getting things "together" at the encampment. I truly believe the best thing for OSLO is to totally abandon the encampment idea - encourage more people to stand with signs when time allows like the gentleman yesterday and send a positive message to community members.
The Occupy Movement is about protest and education , not camping .

petty wrote:


Tell that to Captain America..!

This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.

One I've been down at the court and it doesn't smell. Two the problem is not with the demonstrators, it is all the other people that have been told they should go hang out on the corner. Nothing is perfect but the Occupation is far from a disaster. We know for a fact that some of the powers that be want us gone yesterday. I don't think any of this is an accident. The stunts that are being pulled at the court have been used across the nation to get rid of demonstrations. Don't buy into it.

just a note-the county worker who experienced a person try to defecate in front of his window - etc is a supporter of OSLO and is one of the 99% . And it does smell -I got a wiff yesterday.

this week there are in process of remodeling and creating an EVENTS area dedicated only to educational stuff, they are awaiting a special permit, in meantime the camp has been served three notices for eviction over this week, so sorry for your inconvenience. we are trying to develop several new committees to take over responsiblities of camp as well, overall, it is a mess at moment. wanna help, instead of complain? sure, i make the same complaints, but then i go back and try to make a difference and some improvement. ever hear of Hoovervilles. this is a statement, this is an expression, so to speak, of re enactiment of a hooverville. we are all swiftly moving in that direction, and will, until we stop the train wreck. open your eyes. you make fun of some powerless homeless, some self medicating, some mentally ill people at a courthouse, because they cannot give you the message and presentation you wnat? while the world is crumbling? and what are you doing for OWS?

Excellent Petty I'm glad to know there are two witness to the defecation and since you know this person is a member of the demonstrations please post who it is so we can make sure it doesn't happen again.

I do not like "the homeless" being spoken of as 2nd-class citizens (or maybe 3rd, or 4th, or ...?) who are disgusting, irrelevant & gosh, why can't they just go crawl back under a bridge where they came from? Almost every single one of them represent what's going on in America today. Some can't get jobs. Some can't get mental health care. Some can't get residential care, or rehabilitation assistance. Some are incorrigible &, golly gee, isn't that just the way people ARE? Here you see a veritable cross-section of America. We're all going to be "homeless on the continent [our] fathers conquered" if something doesn't change & SOON. (see full quote in context below) To marginalize & disparage people who are human just like us is a carbon copy of what the elite rich do to EVERYONE regardless of social standing (with the exception of their own, of course). Let us not act like our oppressors. To assert that people who happen to really be homeless & hungry can't & aren't contributing anything by just BEING THERE is part of the problem, in my opinion. Let us not dehumanize each other. Does anyone remember the "sit-ins" of the 60s? The students took over entire buildings (complete with bathrooms, electricity & running water - how brilliant of them!) & sat in the halls & on the stairs. Occupying the building WAS the "educational action." They were educating the powers that be with their disgust at business as usual. They were making the administrators uncomfortable with their mere presence. Do people camping out on the courthouse lawn make the overpaid bureaucracy uncomfortable? Good. They're part of the problem. As long as homeless people & angry activists are out of sight, out of mind & out of olfactory sensation, the bureaucrats can go about their business as usual & not worry about anything but themselves & their next idiotic household purchase. And this is the problem with America. The Titanic is going down & the passengers still want to eat, drink & remodel the master suite. If the bureaucrats really cared about their fellow human beings' sanitation issues, they would have ordered portapottys & handwashing stations be placed down at the courthouse long ago. But no. They just want "the problem" to go away.They want to get back to business as usual ASAP. And all the "sympathizers" who drive by & honk? How many of them do you suppose are building contractors hurt by the economic downturn which the global banksters engineered? I imagine most of them wouldn't relish the thought of camping out at the county courthouse, but how hard would it be for them to get together & have some portapottys placed there as a show of support? In fact, how hard would it be for the bureaucrat who claims that some of We The People are defecating outside his window to spearhead the move to get portapottys placed, since he has his nose as a motivating factor? Some people CLAIM they are supportive, but then they don't DO anything, which completely belies & negates their claims. The world contains movers & shakers & whiners & complainers. One is active & the other is passive (aggressive). Which one are YOU?

Tom, thanks for your input. ~ spottedpony

SCMLA, I didn't intend to marginalize nor disparage anyone. Nor do I think I did. My comments were about being effective and on point. Your cited quote from T. Jefferson's a good one - and it's on point. The banking system, especially post regulation, is a key player in the economic inequities we want to bring to the public forefront. The housing bubble and its collapse was a function of unregulated and unethical practices of banks, lenders and a complacent federal beaurocracy. I would guess that the "overpaid" county emplyees you mention are as much a part of the 99% as any of us - and I include the marginalized, the homeless, the unemployed, the underemployed, students, seniors and our youth in that picture. Thanks for your comments. ~ spottedpony

i spent almost five days and nights... i did not smell anything, though one intoxicated insane woman peed on a tent. there are mentally ill people, tweakers, abusers and bullies. Whether they be HOMELESS or not, they need to be found another facility. So, let us stop making this about HOMELESSNESS. either we stand by our rules of civility, and disallow bullies and abusers, drug or otherwise, or stop pretending we are OCCUPY SLO. 12 abusers have managed to bring down our group of hundreds. something else is horribly wrong if 500 or more people cannot control or manage 12 people. public defication should at least get three days observation.

True that I have a heart for homeless people everywhere regardless of circumstance & undoubtedly this came through in my mini-diatribe...

However, I was really addressing the original question of why there should be an encampment, especially one that doesn't seem to be visibly DOING anything.

I say encampment IS the doing. Just BEING THERE is a thorn in the side of the status quo & the folks who think that if they just keep on going along to get along then everything is going to be all right (for THEM) & to heck with everyone else. We do not need to move the hearts of the globalist 1% (who by all accounts appear to be heartless & unassailable). It's our fellow man whom we need to appeal to - to get off their hind duffs & DO something &, especially, to stop HELPING the 1% in their efforts to oppress us all. It's for this reason I think the "occupy" idea is brilliant (really, an updated version of the 60s "sit-in"). It's non-violent civil disobedience at its finest. It has an undeniable here-I-am-&-I'm-not-leaving-now-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it-in-your-face-type message. It's shocking in its audacity. It makes people sit up & take notice. It makes them wonder why you would go to all that trouble. It makes them take you seriously for once. In short: It makes them THINK. And thinking generally precedes action. (One would hope.) We want action. We want change. True, not all actions/not all change are good ones, but it takes a huge amount of energy to overcome inertia in the beginning & that's where we are right now: At the beginning. Movement on the part of the "establishment" (to use a 60s word) needs to happen first & THEN the stream of action can be directed/redirected as necessary. That's my point.

I'm out.