By J. Randolph Evans

So, just how fast can things move in the modern political climate of unrest with the help of the internet’s instant connectivity, a little bit of money, and some cable news coverage? The answer is very fast, and it is changing the face of American politics.

The latest example of this mini-movement phenomenon is the Occupy Wall Street gatherings. Although this ‘movement’ now consistently makes some part of the nightly cable newscast, the group is just a few months old (formed sometime around July 13, 2011). They called upon “every person, and every organization, that has an interest in returning the US back into the hands of its individual citizens.”

Interestingly, the initial web posting ended with “Solidarity Forever.” This is the name of a song written by Ralph Chaplin for the Industrial Workers of the World in 1915. It has become the union anthem for other unions and was included in the Little Red Songbook – recently reprinted as Songs of the Workers to Fan the Flames of Discontent.

The first Occupy Wall Street ‘protest’ was on September 17, 2011 in New York City. Their stated target was “the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations.”

One thing that most Americans agreed on was that this has become the greatest recession in generations – lingering long past the time when the economy should have recovered, and creating a growing unease about the ability to move past it. Notably, the Occupy Wall Street organizers attribute little of the current economic crisis to the growing deficits and federal debt, overregulation strangling small businesses, or the market uncertainty from fluctuating tax rates.

But, the group does identify where its tactics came from. Here is how it describes itself: “Occupy Wall Street is a horizontally organized resistance movement employing the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to restore democracy in America.”

To assist in the effort, the group uses the “Quick Guide on group dynamics in people’s assemblies” prepared by the Commission for Group Dynamics in Assemblies of the Puerta del Sol Protest Camp (Madrid). So how did the manual from Madrid operate in the real world? Well, it “works towards consensus. The Assembly looks for the best arguments to take a decision that reflects every opinion – not positions at odds with each other, as happens when votes are taken. It must be pacific, respecting all opinions: prejudice and ideology must be left at home.”

Of course, with no frame of reference, weird things happen in the real world. For example, when there was no consensus that Civil Rights Leader Congressman John Lewis should be heard, he was turned away because he was not on the agenda. When Mayor Kasim Reed tried to reach a resolution to the group’s extended stay in Atlanta, his staff was rebuffed and his press conference disrupted.