An Open Letter to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Adbusters, Kale Lasn, the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Greece, Spain, Britain, Rome, France, Nigeria, South Africa, and the rest of the social justice movement taking place across the globe:
Words will never be able to express how deeply moved and inspired i am by all of you, but i'll try...
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I LOVE YOU ALL! During the summer of 2011 i had all but given up on hope for any social change to ever seriously happen on a global level, let alone in the United States. I was ready to give up hope on ever changing the beast. Hoping to relocate and search for a place internationally for alternative ways to live, in which i wasn’t supporting the death and destruction of our planet and the oppression of those who live on it. In preparation for this i drove from New Jersey across the open country into Washington state, then down into Oregon and California to see the other side of the country before i left it for good. I was traveling around attempting to live in the dense mountainous forests of the pacific northwest going into "civilization" as they call it as little as possible. To be as far away from the psychic assault that is the industrialized world, our modern Babylon. And to re-attune myself with nature and the planet and my own psycho-spiritual-physical being. I was on a meditative hot spring and waterfall tour attempting to cleanse my body and my psyche from the toxification of the consumer world. Trying to restore my health and happiness and spiritual state of being that the stresses of money and the influences of technology and toxic food and water so systematically strip away. Then one day i came out of the forest and heard Democracy Nows broadcast of the U.S. Governments murder of brother Troy Davis. The news instantly brought me to tears, previously thinking that they wouldn't dare "execute" him, and hearing his passionate plea just moments before his death for the movement to keep moving forward and fighting for justice.
This was in Oregon. The next time i came out of the woods i heard about Occupy Wall Street. At this time i had a farming job lined up in northern California so i started heading back down to be closer to the upcoming work. Once in town i stayed with the friend of a hitch hiker i had picked up about a month before and had been traveling with ever since. It was my first time in a house in a few months. The two of them then proceeded to show me videos of the Occupy Movement, and i was blown away and brought to tears several times realizing that this was the moment I’d been waiting for since i was fourteen years old and first became conscious. That there was a real genuine global movement of resistance building and that the people especially the young people of America were actually taking part in it!
That day with about a week to go before i started working, I immediately sweet talked my friends into buying my car (which was in perfect working condition) for a meager 600 dollars so i could buy a plane ticket that night and fly back to New York so i could be a part of it even if it was just for a few days. My timing couldn't have been better as i arrived in New York on October 15th, just in time for the global day of action. I didn't even know it was planned prior to being there. But i was truly blessed to be a part of something as beautiful and alive and hopeful as i saw that day...
I'll never forget the feeling i had the moment we broke through the police barricades and over took Times Square as the police tried to keep us out and force us to march all the way up town. I had tears in my eyes jumping up and down on a guard rail in the middle of the street holding my REVOLT sign high above my head with my fist in the air, watching the swarm of mostly young people on their way to shut down the most corporate part of New York City. That was one of the happiest moments of my life..
Later on, as the police marched in on us armed with horses, helmets, barricades, and billy clubs, for the first time in my life at a demonstration i felt completely and fully connected and at one with the crowd around me and suddenly any and all fear of police action or escalation floated away. During those tense moments locking arms with my brothers and sisters down there in front of the bright orange smoke stacks billowing out of the ground i felt all the love that flows through an entire generation, from New York to Egypt, from Paris to Tokyo... I felt the power that lives through the eternal revolution and i can't help but say that their was something uniquely and profoundly spiritual going on down there as tempers turned to tears into fear, flared back to temper only to fade into laughter and cheers as the police backed off and
"this little light of mine" sparkled through the florescent sea that is Times Square, with
"Occupy Wall Street protest shuts down Times Square..." flashing across the news ticker again and again. We definitely won a major battle that day. And the world definitely came together in a way it never has before.
I was only able to stay for two days due to time restraints and plane tickets, but they were two of the best days of my life. I heard and took part in some of the most imaginative inventive and brilliant conversations I’ve ever been a part of or even overheard. Liberty square at its peak was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been and i just feel so blessed to have been there. Sleeping there in the cold on the ground conversating about revolution and past demonstrations and community building. Looking into the eyes of other young people and realizing that we're all in this together no matter what, was such an amazing experience that honestly no combination of words could ever do it justice.
I then flew back to California, a few days late for my job, which i ended up loosing on the count of leaving in the first place, and stayed at Occupy San Francisco for two nights, before traveling up to Occupy Arcata for another two nights. And as i wait for the spring to come and Occupy to take back off in full force, potentially the American Spring or the Global Spring better yet, i will be back to Occupy. This time to stay until the job is done! And i acknowledge that this is what we've all been waiting for! That our time is now! That we are the ones who control the fate and the future of our planet! We are writing history as we speak! People will talk about this movement forty years from now the way people talk about the civil rights movement today. I am so proud of all of you and honored to be in your presence (even if it is only in spirit right now), to be sharing this moment, our moment in history as we globally move toward a better world based in compassion and love and respect for each other and all life. This spring is bound to be not only be another revolutionary one but the global blossoming of the hope within all of our brothers and sisters across the globe. Hold fast and stay strong. Stay focused. Stay alive, with out dead time, and stay Non-violent. This is an important public relations tool, and will help the movement gain momentum and support from mainstream Americans and suburbanites across the globe. The communities we are building in these parks and squares, on the streets will be spoken about long after you have all died, and for that again, from one freedom fighter to another I again thank you! Thank you for giving me hope that we can actually change things on this planet someday! The hope that world revolution is still possible. And don’t be scared to call this a revolution either. Because that’s exactly what it is... a transfer of power. The spirits and energies of those who fought and died before you thank you. The spirits of those freedom fighters locked up in prisons, secret prisons and detention centers thank you. Those freedom fighters displaced and in exile across the globe thank you. Those who have stood up for justice throughout the course of human history thank you for continuing their struggle... And the generations of children not yet born thank you for giving hope to their future. And again I thank you for opening the door and allowing me to join you in what will surely been known as the most revolutionary year humanities ever seen. I stand with you, in solidarity. As a comrade, a brother, and a friend.
Blessed Love, Revolutionary Love, and I’ll see you in the spring! See you on the streets! Occupy Congress! Occupy Wall Street! Occupy Chicago May 1st! Occupy Everything! Occupy Everywhere!
Donel
donelarrington@gmail.com
