Last month, I wrote that the Occupy Wall Street organization looked like a child from a marriage between Animal Farm and Animal House. In an insider account written by an Occupier alarmed at the hijacking of the movement — and its funding — from the OWS “General Assembly,” it’s clear that the analogy didn’t go quite far enough. It’s Animal Farm meets Animal House, all right, but with Niedermeyer running the Deltas.
It’s impossible to do this justice through excerpts, so be sure to read it all. ◼ A Chill Descends On Occupy Wall Street; "The Leaders of the allegedly Leaderless Movement"
On Sunday, October 23, a meeting was held at 60 Wall Street. Six leaders discussed what to do with the half-million dollars that had been donated to their organization, since, in their estimation, the organization was incapable of making sound financial decisions. The proposed solution was not to spend the money educating their co-workers or stimulating more active participation by improving the organization’s structures and tactics. Instead, those present discussed how they could commandeer the $500,000 for their new, more exclusive organization. No, this was not the meeting of any traditional influence on Wall Street. These were six of the leaders of Occupy Wall Street (OWS)....
When I pointed out the contradictions these differences present to the Council’s stated principles, the leaders of Sunday’s teach-in insisted that the Spokes Council was the most participatory, democratic organization possible—the same slogan they repeated last month about the General Assembly. I felt like I was watching a local production of Animal Farm..... Read the whole account
