The Activist's Handbook

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Randy Shaw. The Activist's Handbook

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The Activist’s Handbook

Winning Social Change in the

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When Oakland Officials cleared Occupy Oakland’s encampment and arrested dozens on the morning of November 14, one activist told the media, “I don’t see how they’re going to disperse us. There are thousands of people who are going to come back.” But thousands did not come back. Occupy Oakland’s focus on police misconduct, occupying public buildings, public camping, and vandalizing property had alienated it from “the 99 percent.” The thousands who had joined the November 2 Oakland General Strike wanted to target Wall Street and “the 1 percent,” not Mayor Quan. Many would have stayed involved had Occupy Oakland not strayed from its original course.13

Police were also clearing out Occupy encampments in other cities. Many longtime supporters publicly questioned the Occupy movement’s direction, and a poll taken November 11–13, 2011, by the progressive organization Public Policy Polling appeared to confirm these doubts. The poll found that more respondents opposed (45%) than supported (33%) “the goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement.” A month earlier, the same poll had found voters equally split about Occupy. Yet more important than these numbers was the overwhelming support among respondents to the November 2011 poll for raising taxes on those earning over $150,000 a year, and their strong backing for other measures addressing income inequality. Pollster Tom Jensen noted, “What the downturn in Occupy Wall Street’s image suggests is that voters are seeing the movement as more about the ‘Occupy’ than the ‘Wall Street.’ The controversy over the protests is starting to drown out the actual message.”14

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