This piece provides a very candid look at some of the initial strains within the Occupy movement. This is not at all surprising to me given the many years of disinformation and capitalist indoctrination which has produced generations of people with a false consciousness based on materialist values and extreme individualism. The first stage in any type of recovery is to recognize the problem, and they are doing this and more: they are making a concerted effort to overcome these problems.
Clearly, as one would expect, there are real racial, age, gender, and class related differences among activists that can cause problems and conflicts. And, we can expect that the political operatives of the One Percent, in addition to censoring the movement in mainstream media, will do everything they can to exploit these differences.
Occupy has just begun. Whether it’s able to deal effectively with the substantial external threats and internal obstacles is yet to be determined. It will depend partly on the capacity for self-reflection and compassionate listening, as well as the success of channeling anger and frustration into powerful, constructive action.