Tomorrow's History Essay

I was recently thinking back to my school days. The process of writing an essay about the Industrial Revolution in my first university English course, to be specific. And the fact that you can't talk about the Industrial revolution without talking about the social conditions and existing technology leading up to the Revolution. Likewise, you can't write about Darwin's theory of evolution without covering the impact that preceding geological discoveries had on shifting scientific, religious and cultural attitudes.

It didn't take long for me to start thinking about where Occupy would fit in an essay about the next great social-cultural-political revolution. Will it be the discovery of dinosaur bones or the theory of evolution? Will it be a step en route -- something that paves the way for greater social consciousness of the forces at work in our daily lives? Or will it be the beginning of the change that many, even those who do not support Occupy, agree we desperately need?

The change people want is not easy to describe. It cannot be proffered in a soundbite or elevator pitch. It is multi-faceted in its response to economic, environmental and social stresses. It surpasses our comforts and pleasures and demands sacrifice and the discomfort of examining our individual roles in the world; a world that is now home to over seven billion people.

Seven billion. How many people are there going to be 50 years down the road? One-hundred? Are we going to do anything to pave the way for future people to be able to exist on this planet, never mind enjoy their time on it?

But that is a future essay. Today, we are contributing to history, and there have already been steps leading to this moment. First there was the Arab Spring, with revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Libya. From this came a call came for a global day of protest -- October 15, 2011. Last summer, responding to frustration aimed at Wall Street, Adbusters magazine invited New Yorkers to "Occupy Wall Street" and air their grievances. Thousands showed up on September 17 and many have been there since.

Then more Americans began Occupying in their own cities. On October 15, cities from around the world joined in the call for Global Revolution. To date, nearly 2,500 towns and cities in over 80 countries have had or have ongoing peaceful protests. Never before in history have we seen this kind of unity as people all around the world add their voices to the growing discontent that stems from corporate greed and political manipulation.

The Global Occupy movement is grassroots at its rootiest. The seeds haven't been planted for long and are just beginning to germinate. Don't ask your local Occupy chapter for a demand; that is not what this is about. Not yet.

Each chapter is garnering resources, building support, working out technical issues like IT architecture and communication channels. Each chapter is doing this organically, independently of one another, and without any initial resources. Once each chapter is established enough to deal with local issues, the next step will presumably be for chapters around the world to unite under a banner of global economic, social, and political justice. Then, and only then, will they will be able to work together to formulate the demand that will fix the world.

I will leave you with a poem I wrote for my own meditation some years ago. It seems apt, somehow.

Impatiens

by Kat Code

Patiently, the seeds do wait

beneath the thawing ground.

Summer mustn’t come too late,

when flowers shall be found.

A lesson from the flowers:

I should not the spring forsake.

Essential are her hours,

for summer to awake.