[News] To Occupy And Unoccupy

[Anti-Imperialist News]

To Occupy And Unoccupy

Posted on 
<http://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/to-occupy-and-unoccupy/>October 
7, 2011
http://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/to-occupy-and-unoccupy/

“This is a war that’s been going on since the invasion of North America.”
- Rev. Pedro Pietri

With the ongoing Occupation movement on Wall 
Street and the growing occupation movements going 
on around the US, this is just a reminder that 
some of us have been dealing with occupation for 
centuries now. Although we support the ideas 
behind Occupy Wall Street and the other 
Occupation movements we want those who have 
chosen to use the terminology of “Occupation” to 
be aware of the hidden and unrecognized history 
behind that word when it comes to non-white peoples.

Those of us who are not white have had to deal 
with this “occupation” in one form or another 
since 1492 when Columbus “discovered” America, 
for himself. That discovery opened the door for 
other European nations hell-bent, fighting and 
tripping over themselves to colonize, rape, 
plunder and enrich themselves at the expense of 
indigenous peoples. From the genocide of the 
native populations in the Caribbean, North, 
Central and South America that this “occupation” 
brought to us over 500 years ago to the holocaust 
of the trans-Atlantic African slave trade and 
subsequent rampant colonization of Africa. The 
story of the occupation of indigenous lands 
doesn’t just end with wholesale murder but 
continues today in new forms of violence. The 
eradication of native peoples language, culture 
and history is the new “occupation”. With the 
success of the forced occupation of native 
peoples land, the only thing left to occupy is 
the minds of those who managed to survive


The greatest misconception that white people have 
is that only non-whites have to deal with racism. 
What whites have failed to realize is that racism 
is only the frosting on the cake of class 
warfare. What is done to non-whites under the 
guise of racism is a test run for what they will 
eventually do to you. The irony of the situation 
is that we non-whites who have been dealing with 
this “occupation” for over five centuries were 
the canary in the coal mine. But you refused to 
see the graffiti on the wall. Now that you have 
lost your homes to banks and your livelihoods to 
unemployment and your once bright white futures 
have been painted black, (pun intended) and you 
are beginning to feel what we have lived with for more than half an eon.

If you ever wonder why more people of color 
haven’t yet swelled your “occupation” ranks it 
may be because historically, once you have what 
you want, you’ll go back to occupying the 
comfortable role of white privilege that led you 
to believe that racism was different from 
classism. What you are experiencing is old hat 
for us, the forced removal from your homes, the 
inability to find work that pays a living wage, 
the police brutality, frivolous arrests, and your 
adventures with the justice shitstem, even your 
homeless encampment are just a few of the things 
we have lived with for longer than you would care 
to imagine. We have lived with a knowledge of 
things that you are now, only beginning to realize.

This is a warning to you that your “Occupy
” 
movement will fail unless you reach out to those 
who have a lot more experience with “occupation” 
than you ever will have. Let me reiterate that 
people of color support your ideas in striking 
back at this ongoing class warfare but this 
movement will fail if it doesn’t realize that 
this didn’t begin with the collapse of the 
financial shitstem in 2008
 it began long, long, 
long, before then. Unless you begin to deal with 
the roots of this occupation that began 500 years 
ago you’re current occupation will fail.

This is also an invitation for you to open up 
your dialogue to non-whites who have been at the 
frontlines of this “occupation” and have suffered 
the most casualties because of it. If you want to 
succeed in creating a more egalitarian society 
then it would behoove you to reach out to the 
ones who have suffered the most inequality. 
Otherwise you risk becoming the very same 
occupation that we have come to hate, and that 
you are only beginning to feel, and you risk changing nothing.

To Occupy And Unoccupy 
<http://twitter.com/search?q=%23nothingtobegainedhere>#nothingtobegainedhere 
<http://twitter.com/search?q=%23ows>#ows
<http://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/to-occupy-and-unoccupy/>nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/to-

<http://twitter.com/#%21/vgbnd/status/122434505859547136>October 
7, 2011 6:13 pm via 
web<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?in_reply_to=122434505859547136&related=vgbnd>Reply<https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?tweet_id=122434505859547136&related=vgbnd>Retweet<https://twitter.com/intent/favorite?tweet_id=122434505859547136&related=vgbnd>Favorite

As a side note: 
<http://ricanstructed.spreadshirt.com/>RICANSTRUCTED 
is a design company dedicated to the unoccupation 
of Puerto Rico from US colonial rule. If you like 
the UNOCCUPY PUERTO RICO design you can get it on a T-shirt  or a Hoodie.




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