The following is a "reflection" that was published on the ARC Muses blog, Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Occupy as Form: Cheryl Meeker
The Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley is sponsoring the working session "Occupy as Form" on February 10, 2012. Participants have been invited to post some brief thoughts on the topic in advance of the event. This guest posting is by Cheryl Meeker, artist, activist, art writer and co-founder of stretcher.org.
Keyword: Horizontal
Taking an axis as a keystone, the Occupy groups utilize an organizing form that is diametrically perpendicular to, if not opposed to the vertical hierarchies employed by corporations, institutions, the academy, the church, and the patriarchal nuclear family. As an artist that has worked in a variety of collectives and collaborations, coming up against the embedded habit of top-down hierarchy has always worn me down. What happens to the discontent that remains from not being heard under majority rule? Relief from the stunting affects of vertical hierarchy can be found in groups that operate on the basis of consensus.
The Socratic method and the dialectic owe something to the horizontal, while the wisdom of the massive mycelium growing under forests spreads horizontally, as does the thin atmosphere coating the surface of the planet. These systems embody the connectedness of all life. Horizontal organizing acknowledges the importance of a space for each body and a time for each voice to be heard, as well as an understanding and appreciation of the process itself. Paul Stametz says we need to understand the organisms that sustain life on earth or we will destroy life on earth and ourselves in the process… that we “need a paradigm shift in our consciousness -- what will it take to achieve that?” Perhaps horizontal consensus based organizing can help us understand interconnectedness by subjectively changing us in the process. General assemblies and working groups are open to the public and Occupy can benefit from the contribution of each individual.
I am interested in how the methods of Occupy can be used in the broader social/political/economic field to support the 99% and find the possibility for saving as many species as possible in the coming years. I am also interested to find out if those who feel more comfortable with vertical hierarchies will choose to involve themselves, in order to experience another way first hand.
Will Sit / Lie Stand?
Will Sit /Lie Stand? Capitalism Is Over! If You Want It
November 17, 2010, Cheryl Meeker
Check out this map that allows us to see which neighborhoods voted in favor of Prop L, the Sit-Lie Law. People in the Haight voted NO, even though perception is that the proposition was generated from that neighborhood. This was posted on the FaceBook page of San Francisco Stands Against Sit / Lie
Also of interest is a piece in the New York Times questioning the bias of the reporting on Prop L in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Countering that trend was an in-depth article written by the wonderful new owner of an independent bookstore on Haight, Praveen Madan. He effectively articulates the subtleties of the arguments pro and con, and clarifies the issue actually at hand: frustration with the homeless themselves, who are already under immense pressure from laws that make practically everything they can do illegal -- as if being homeless isn't hard enough.
November 17, 2010, Cheryl Meeker
Check out this map that allows us to see which neighborhoods voted in favor of Prop L, the Sit-Lie Law. People in the Haight voted NO, even though perception is that the proposition was generated from that neighborhood. This was posted on the FaceBook page of San Francisco Stands Against Sit / Lie
Also of interest is a piece in the New York Times questioning the bias of the reporting on Prop L in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Countering that trend was an in-depth article written by the wonderful new owner of an independent bookstore on Haight, Praveen Madan. He effectively articulates the subtleties of the arguments pro and con, and clarifies the issue actually at hand: frustration with the homeless themselves, who are already under immense pressure from laws that make practically everything they can do illegal -- as if being homeless isn't hard enough.
We couldn’t possibly lock up every homeless person even if we were legally allowed to. The July 24th issue of the Economist had a cover story on America’s record of locking up people. According to the Economist, “America incarcerates five times more people than Britain, nine times more than Germany, and twelve times more than Japan.” Noted criminologist Michael Tonry has decried America’s over-reliance on the criminal justice system as a lack of “political maturity and public civility.” It’s ironic that proponents of the rebranded civil sidewalks law think they are promoting civility.
Market Fatigue
-- And in "Market Fatigue," "Dan and Cheryl stay in bed because they have run to the end of their credit limits, are exhausted by looking for jobs, and to protest the proposed sit-lie law." Organizers say it will be at Yerba Buena Gardens, but the artists "so far ... have been too tired to decide upon a date."
--Leah Garchik's column, July 28,2010, San Francisco Chronicle
--Leah Garchik's column, July 28,2010, San Francisco Chronicle
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