Singing Occupella With The Elders
In November 2011, Elders from the Civil Rights, Labor, Farmworkers and other social change movements fanned out across the
country to visit Occupy sites, offering encouragement and support to the (mostly) young
activists. Here is an account of my night with the Elders in San Francisco:
I’m learning that all plans regarding the occupations must remain fluid and unfixed. Things change in a heartbeat. Police tear down encampments and they relocate somewhere else. A scheduled General Assembly is mysteriously rescheduled right at the time we were planning to have a singing circle. It is a wonderful practice of letting go and flowing with what is actually happening, not clinging to what I thought was supposed to happen.
I’m learning that all plans regarding the occupations must remain fluid and unfixed. Things change in a heartbeat. Police tear down encampments and they relocate somewhere else. A scheduled General Assembly is mysteriously rescheduled right at the time we were planning to have a singing circle. It is a wonderful practice of letting go and flowing with what is actually happening, not clinging to what I thought was supposed to happen.
So, the Interfaith
gathering at the main SF occupation site (Justin Herman Plaza in the
Embarcadero area), at which I was to help lead singing, spontaneously moved a
block down the street. A group had re-occupied a street area they were evicted
from the day before, pitching two tents in the middle of the street. A large
crowd gathered, with media, a bullhorn, and speakers from labor, from the
occupation, from the clergy, and from the Council of Elders who had come to
support and dialogue with the occupiers.
So there we
all were-
The elders
and clergy, the assorted occupiers, folks who came to sing with Singing For
Peace/Occupella, and the police. The police were in riot gear, a tight boundary
line at one end of the circle of 100 or so people, and many other police
further away, milling about.
Amongst the
speeches, my co-songleader Leslie Hassberg and I wove in songs that all could sing- We
Shall Not be Moved, This Little Light , Down By The Riverside, and
more- all with new words for the focus of this movement.
“No more
corporate wealth, we shall not be moved... We’re the 99% we shall not be
moved...We’re standing for the students...Banks should pay their taxes...”
No matter how many
times I lead this kind of singing, I am still moved and astonished all over
again by the effect it has on a crowd. It has a way of pulling people together,
unifying, energizing, calming and focusing—especially as we circled closer
around the tents to protect them, and the police moved closer, forming a line
at the edge of our circle. I felt a familiar feeling of restless and perhaps
nervous energy in the crowd (what will the cops do? Do I want to get
arrested tonight? Will I or anyone get hurt? Can I really be non violent under
pressure?) But as we sing, we feel the strength of ourselves and each
other. We feel the power of the deep roots of these songs, sung through so many
movements that changed our society over the last century or more- and there’s a
palpable shift in the crowd. Plus, I feel that the police are subtly calmed and
reassured by our singing. A crowd that is singing positive, hopeful,
songs isn’t likely to also be throwing bottles, yelling angry taunts, or
breaking windows. Singing takes all that energy, anger, fear, hope,
determination, and gives it a focus, with breath and heart behind it, the whole
body feels a higher truth, a different kind of power, coming through the songs
and the singing.
What I want
to say to the occupation movement today.
We have to REALLY
know they we more powerful than the state – this deep knowing grounds us,
and makes retaliatory violence/acting out less attractive. As one of the Elders
said last night, the dignity of non violence comes from a deep inner assurance
that your moral stance has a power stronger than institutions and corporations,
and their self serving agendas. It’s not just a tactic, tho it’s a tried
and true effective one- but it is a much deeper inner relationship to truth and
power.
The question was
raised with the Elders about “diversity of tactics”- is property destruction an
effective strategy? Can a cohesive movement include both non violent action AND
property destruction tactics? This is an unresolved question , even among the
elders.
So I’ll throw my 60
year old hat in the ring. As a mother, I know this--children flail and tantrum
and break things because they feel powerful emotions inside, but don’t have the
physical or intellectual/emotional power to assert their needs and truths into
the world. Parents/adults can remain calm in the face of storms and others
acting out because of an inner confidence in their own power and authority,
derived in part from their role as “older/wiser” (we hope), and in part from a
deeper source, where they/we draw on a sense of truth and wisdom that puts
ground under our feet. This provides the strength and restraint to not
retaliate or respond in kind. We can feel how responding in kind weakens our
innate human authority and dignity. It feeds the disdain and dehumanization the
state powers easily direct against us. Remember how you feel when you see an
exhausted parent whack a child who has pushed them too far. We are horrified
and-hopefully- compassionate. We know instinctively that that adult has, for
the moment, lost their true authority and is feeling desperate (I’ve been
there, I know!).
Non violent, wise
responses come from an inner assurance that one DOES have power, and truth on
their side. False powers don’t fool us. And we begin to see the fear and
vulnerability behind the masks and armor of the state.
If the state truly
felt powerful, they wouldn’t need to send out large armed masked men and women
to beat us down, tear gas us, jail us for non-violent protest.. Look
closely at the video of the students at UC Davis being pepper sprayed, and how
the police respond when the students, without raising a fist, call them to
conscience, (Shame on you!) and actually reassure them in loud unified
voices that they can leave the site-the students won’t follow them or harm
them. ( You can go, you can go). It is one of the most moving
moments of powerful, compassionate action and speech that I’ve ever seen. These
students felt their innate and limitless
power, despite their relative youth and size, and drew on that to back the
police off --not by scaring them but by reassuring them, by seeing and speaking
to their fear.
The youth
are our leaders, we shall not be moved...
The elders
walk beside us, we shall not be moved
Just
like a tree that’s standing by the water
We
shall not be moved.