Gary Goldstein and I have been marching our whole adult lives. Not always at the same time or in the same place, but for the same reason. There’s been a lot of criticism of Occupy Boston for not having a clear, sharp message. Gary’s Op-Ed included this:
The criticisms that there is not a single guiding message or an identifiable leader are premature and, perhaps, misguided. Successful movements don’t spring up, fully formed out of nowhere. They build gradually, attract more and more attention and gel around central issues. Looking back at popular history can be misleading. Charismatic leaders like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela didn’t appear overnight with full−blown movements of thousands. They emerged from long struggles carried forward by hundreds of anonymous supporters of causes and strategies that cohered over time. Workers’ rights, gay rights, women’s rights, social welfare programs, unionism, the ending of the Vietnam War, the reduction of nuclear weapons all resulted from the efforts of thousands of people, now unknown, who were fired up to demand change.
It started in Wall Street. In Boston and Chicago, it’s the Federal Reserve. There may already be a focus.
It has been endorsed by the SEIU 615, H.E.R.E. 26, the Boston Labor Council, and the AFL-CIO. Who knows, we might even hear from HUCTW.
Gary, I’m sorry I missed you. I need a picture not encumbered by copyright. No rush, we’ll be there for a while.
