New York, New York

It's a hell of a town.



Now they've gone and done it.

Of course if every other city is having success clearing their Occupations, New York, the cosmic center of the Movement-Becoming-Revolution, must be cleared as well.

And so it was in the dead of night as these things generally are. The precious sensitivities of the neighboring residents be damned, the City would clear the encampment once and for all. Zucotti Park would be liberated from the rabble and peace and plenty would return to the land. Or at least to Lower Manhattan.

Oh. My. God.

Well, I woke up to the scenes of piles of debris lining the margins of the Plaza, tents, books, various items of clothing and food. All of it being hoisted into Department of Sanitation trucks. Amy Goodman asking the man: "And where are you going to take this?" "To the dump," said the man.

To the dump. The notice said that the owners of the stuff would be able to retrieve it at a certain location in Manhattan after noon today, but of course if it's all at the dump... oh. Sorry about that! [Snicker.]

Amy -- and others -- are horrified mostly about the loss of the books. The raid itself seems to be taken as par for the course; bound to happen. And the overall destruction is also par for the course. The "alternative" to the Established Order cannot be allowed to stand. It is A Threat. By now that should be clear as crystal.

But the destruction live on the Livestream -- if not on your teevee -- is horrifying to behold, even if you're not an Occupy enthusiast.

WTF?

But as others have said, it is all a metaphor for what's really going on in this world. You and I are nothing more than debris to be shoveled away by the employees of the 1% when and how they choose to do so. We have no voice they are obliged to listen to; we do not live in a democracy; there are no exits; we are not in control of our fate. We are at best "product." Generally speaking, we are simply in the way.

And so the New York Occupation is destroyed casually and brutally, its property is thrown into the dump trucks and taken away for disposal. And that is that.

Occupy is Over.

Right?

They know not what they do.

[Again, I hope that those who are interested in the topic of the Occupy Wall Street Movement will refer to what has been going on in Europe since the heady days of last summer when the Puerta del Sol encampment was established in Madrid. That camp is no longer there, but if anything, the Indignatos are more of a social and political force in Spain today than they have ever been. Athens, Rome, Lisbon and so on have their own versions of the Global Revolution; London, Paris, and Berlin, too. The more this movement is suppressed, the more it rises and the farther it spreads.]


♫New York, New York, it's wonderful town!♪