到了賦予抗議活動以政治意義的時(shí)候了
????在洛杉磯的時(shí)候，我花了整整一個(gè)早上的時(shí)間,，與一位名叫卡洛爾的失業(yè)護(hù)士一起在市政廳外面的帳篷間轉(zhuǎn)悠,。卡洛爾是非洲裔美國人,，年齡或許跟我差不多,；她沒有告訴我她的姓氏。當(dāng)時(shí),，我發(fā)現(xiàn)她正對著一張有人貼在留言板上的傳單翻白眼,，咯咯地笑出聲來——那是一份尋找“素食主義博物學(xué)家”室友的傳單。她說,，她之所以來市中心,，是因?yàn)樗胗H眼看看抗議活動，試著了解一下這些人究竟在抗議什么東西,。她希望,，抗議者能拿出一些具體的要求，最終能夠取得當(dāng)年民權(quán)運(yùn)動所取得的一些進(jìn)步,。這份傳單顯然并沒有讓她看到希望,。“這場運(yùn)動不夠嚴(yán)肅,，”她喃喃自語道,。“太不嚴(yán)肅了,?！?/p>
????卡洛爾和我最終來到了媒體帳篷，發(fā)現(xiàn)占領(lǐng)洛杉磯運(yùn)動的組織者之一克拉克?戴維斯正匍匐在一臺筆記本電腦上工作,。事實(shí)上,，戴維斯也跟卡洛爾有著同樣的憂慮?！拔覀儨?zhǔn)備成為一個(gè)具有政治意味的組織,，探討一些嚴(yán)肅的議題，”戴維斯說,。但“現(xiàn)在基本上就是人們的一個(gè)宿營地而已,。”
????戴維斯的當(dāng)務(wù)之急是應(yīng)對加入抗議活動的無家可歸者——這種情況并非洛杉磯所獨(dú)有,?！拔覀冞@里的確有吃,、有住、有水,，有廁所,，這也是他們來這里的原因，我們歡迎他們,。但這就給占領(lǐng)運(yùn)動施加了一層外部壓力,，使得我們很難把關(guān)注的重點(diǎn)放在最初吸引我們來這里的原因上面——這場運(yùn)動的目的是為了給這個(gè)國家和全世界帶來積極的變化?！?/p>
????戴維斯敏銳地意識到,，不同于其他爆發(fā)占領(lǐng)運(yùn)動的城市，洛杉磯官方一直對這場運(yùn)動持支持態(tài)度（而其他城市則爆發(fā)了警方與示威者的沖突事件）,。洛杉磯市議會于10月份通過一項(xiàng)決議,，該決議指出，“我們的經(jīng)濟(jì)體系只能用破敗不堪來形容,，”市議會強(qiáng)烈支持“‘占領(lǐng)洛杉磯’繼續(xù)秉持憲法第一修正案所賦予的權(quán)利,，采用和平的方式在市政廳草坪開展富有活力的活動?！钡诖骶S斯看來,，占領(lǐng)運(yùn)動開始讓人們覺得已經(jīng)錯(cuò)失了機(jī)會?！八麄兓旧鲜堑戎覀冏约壕Ａ?，自生自滅，”他說,?！斑@一點(diǎn)真是令人泄氣?！?/p>
????要是當(dāng)天拉森跟我們在一起,，他或許會要求戴維斯和其他人“保持心中的憤怒,，”看看“他們已經(jīng)完成的不可思議的事情,，”不要過于擔(dān)心這場運(yùn)動將邁向何方，這一切尚未結(jié)束,。同時(shí),，他說，“我希望占領(lǐng)運(yùn)動目前這種初始的,、瘋狂的,、詭異的、沒有人確切知道究竟是怎么回事的階段將盡可能地延續(xù)下去,。只要能讓這個(gè)世界繼續(xù)猜測下去,，只要越來越多的人開始搜尋這場運(yùn)動的意義,，它就會變得越來越神秘?！?/p>
????離開洛杉磯的市政廳之后,，我驅(qū)車趕往帕薩迪納市，與圣公會教區(qū)長埃德?培根牧師共飲咖啡,。數(shù)周來,，培根一直在向其會眾（圣公會教徒有不少屬于所謂的1%陣營）宣揚(yáng)占領(lǐng)運(yùn)動的意義，就在前一天,，他剛剛拜訪了抗議營地,。所見所聞依然令他興奮不已。
????“這是一個(gè)建立聯(lián)系的機(jī)會,，我認(rèn)為馬丁?路德?金就是因?yàn)閯?chuàng)建了這種聯(lián)系才被謀殺的,，”培根說?！澳蔷褪?，并不存在相互競爭的社會問題。制造戰(zhàn)爭的體系,、銀行體系,、種族偏見——所有這些都是環(huán)環(huán)相扣的丑惡現(xiàn)象。一些人因此遭受肉體上的懲罰,，但我們所有人的靈魂都在受折磨,。我覺得，我們的靈魂,，美國的靈魂,，甚至世界的靈魂此時(shí)此刻都是扭曲的。我想,，整個(gè)宇宙都在協(xié)力幫助我們在這里迎來救贖的時(shí)刻,。”
????譯者：任文科 |
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Time to get political
????In Los Angeles, I spent a morning wandering among the tents outside City Hall with Carol, an unemployed nurse. Carol is African American and probably about my age; she wouldn't tell me her last name. I found her rolling her eyes and giggling at a flyer someone had posted on a message board, advertising for a "vegan naturist" house mate. She had come downtown, she said, because she wanted to see with her own eyes and try to understand what the protesters were protesting, exactly. She hoped that they were close to settling on a handful of specific demands that might lead some day to the kind of progress that the civil rights movement had achieved. The flyer did not give her hope. "This is lax," she mumbled. "This is too lax."
????Eventually Carol and I made our way to the press tent, where we found Clark Davis, one of the organizers of Occupy LA, hunched over a laptop. Turns out Davis is worried about the same thing Carol is. "We're ready as an organization to get political and start talking about some issues," Davis said, but "right now, all we are is a bunch of people camping, basically."
????Davis's immediate concern was dealing with all the homeless people who had joined the protest—a situation not unique to Los Angeles. "The fact that we do have food here," Davis said, "that we do have shelter, that we do have water, we have restrooms—they are coming to us and we welcome them. Although it's creating an external pressure on the movement which is making it difficult for us to focus on the reasons why we're here, which is to create positive change in this country and throughout the world."
????Davis was keenly aware that unlike other Occupy cities, where police have clashed with protestors, official Los Angeles has been supportive. The city council passed a resolution in October that states "our economic system can only be called broken," and strongly endorses "the continued peaceful and vibrant exercise in First Amendment Rights carried out by 'Occupy Los Angeles' on the City Hall lawn." But for Davis, on this day, it was starting to feel like a missed opportunity. "They're basically letting us do ourselves in," he said. "It's discouraging."
????If Lasn had been with me that day, he would have told Davis and the others to "keep that anger in their guts," appreciate "the incredible thing that they already have done," and not worry too much about where all this is going, not yet. Meanwhile, he says, "I hope that this initial, crazy, weird, nobody-quite-knows-what's-going on phase of the movement goes on for as long as possible. As long as you can keep the world guessing, the more people will be pumping for meaning, and the more mystique this movement will have."
????After I left City Hall in Los Angeles, I drove out to Pasadena to have a cup of coffee with the Rev. Ed Bacon, the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church. Bacon has been preaching to his congregation (which includes more than a few one-percenters) about the Occupy movement for weeks, and had visited the camp just the day before. He was still excited by what he had seen.
????"This is an opportunity to make the connection that Martin Luther King, I think, was killed for making," Bacon said. "And that is that there are not competing social issues. The war-making system, the banking system, racial prejudice—all of these are interlocking evils. Some people get it in the neck physically from that, but all of us get it in the soul. And our soul, the American soul, and I think the soul of the world is distorted right now. I think the universe is conspiring to help us have a redemptive moment here." |
