Today in East Lansing, MI a flyer was hung around town seeking people (as in MSU students) interested in discussing the Occupy Movement. The only problem is that the flyers were hung by the Northstar Center, which is an exclusive and authoritarian group.

Under the guise of having guest speakers and politically oriented events, Northstar appears to be a grassroots organizing center for Lansing's post-industrial wasteland. But scratch the surface a little, and one finds that not only are certain people and their events not welcome (especially notices for chicago anarchist events), but the space has an exclusive leadership by the chosen few.

Here is Anonymous' new problem: while Anonymous is really good at hacktivism and digital resistance, the Occupy movement is flesh and blood, with all its power trips and authoritarian weirdos (like the Northstars). Anonymous treats the 99% as if it were homogenous, that is, united against the power and authority which Wall Street has been given. But this is not quite the case, for some people, as exemplified by the Northstar Center's "Leaders", think they can select their members from the 99% and insert them into their own hierarchical organizations.

We might be back at square one again, as Tahrir Square is presently ruled by a "Military Council". Is that what the square was occupied for, to become a military dictatorship? What makes American activists think they'll get a different outcome? And yes, the mainstream media is once again ignoring the Occupy Movement, until the next 700 arrest day. We have to think, people!

A new leader is no better than the old leader, whether he or she claims to be grassroots or not. When we begin to see the will of the 99% embodied in actions from the directives of people's councils, we may begin to sense a break from the past. From a class perspective, the Occupy Movement (and indeed, Anonymous too) is overwhelmingly middle-class (as is the leadership of the Northstar Center). Thus would we expect to have the revolution "managed" by authorities, as the Northstar Center offers.

I hate to be the fly in the ointment but we've got a long, long way to go. It must be stated that middle-class managers who intend to supervise the movements become targets. That's class analysis plain and simple. If one thinks that by simply "guiding the uneducated" he or she is making a first step toward change, he or she is as misguided as Gandhi whose India is the poster child for oppression.

There is a strange feeling that the Occupy Wall Street movement, as a pacifist rebellion, is suicidal - that is, it has no means to support or protect itself from the ravages of the police to apply pressure to the (financial) state institution. (Is it "unsustainable"?). (The Tea Party had the Koch brothers).

I hold out for 10/10/2010 to see what may transpire. I still offer my best wishes to those who try. But just as in the anti-war movement, issues of class, wealth and hierarchy IN THE MOVEMENT cannot be ignored. I will not stop my attack on "managing revolution by an educated class" until Occupy and Anonymous clarify themselves.

Best,

Filiberto