Thursday, December 29, 2011

Personal message to everyone who thinks the permit holder for Occupy Seattle should be on a rotating basis



I have accepted the personal invitation of the Mayor of Seattle to occupy City Hall for more than two months now, making this the most successful and long-lived occupancy in America. No one else did that. Not to go all Ayn Rand on your ass, but I did that, and without one single penny of funds or ounce of encouragement from the Occupy movement. Mike McGinn has been kind enough to offer me, not you, a permit to sign every week, and every week I have accepted. This occupation is only continuing because I now have a proven track record of making agreements with the city and abiding by them. The only other person in Seattle with such a track record is Vivian McPeak, permit holder for Hempfest for 20 years, my mentor, and the only person I consulted before signing my first permit. (FYI, he considers the idea of "rotating permit holder" to be absurd and counter-productive, and I'm infinitely more prone to listen to his advice than anyone else's.)

There is no precedent for any of this. We're all blazing trails in the wilderness. We can't follow any previous revolutionary model. This is a new thing. I'm not following any game plan other than keeping it alive. A US mayor offering a chunk of city fucking hall to a political organization in order for then to live and thrive so they can expel corruption from the bowels of government in conjunction with hundreds of other Occupy sites around the world? Impossible. Yet it's happening because I've persevered when others gave up, I actually trust that Mayor McGinn and the city council have got the movement's back, and I won't let this incredible relationship be jeopardized by some peculiar notion that personal success must be punished and all duties must be shared. 

It's not like it was ever my goal in life to be a permit holder. The only reason I am one is because nobody else was willing to step up and sign the paper, but this isn't what I want to do. I want to write best-selling novels and make movies in Hollywood with a swimming pool full of bimbos. Instead, I'm a permit holder in a leaky tent in Seattle. C'est la fucking vie. If anyone else wants the duties of permit holder, I got no problem delegating authority. You want to run the tent, all you've got to do is ask. You want me to tell the city that your signature is as trustworthy as mine, I won't, because I don't know that. I just met all of you, and we're the easiest organization on earth to infiltrate. I have no idea what you have in mind. You might be a CIA agent or undercover cop or just plain psycho out to destabilize the movement, because that's what a "rotating" leadership is, destabilized.

The only person who can evict Occupy Seattle from city hall is Mayor Mike McGinn, and he can do it with a snap of his fingers by simple withdrawing his invitation. We mysteriously have a relationship of respect, made obvious when the Mayor emailed my phone number to Police Chief Diaz as the person to talk to if he has any more problems with the Occupy movement. I've asked to be on the police oversight committee, where I believe the Occupy movement needs to be represented. Anyone else ask to be on that committee? Please don't be shocked if it turns out to be me just because I was the only one who asked. (More likely, no one from Occupy.)

In any case, as long as a permit is offered me, I will accept it. We are not a leaderless movement, we are a leaderful movement. If anyone else wants a permit, please, I actively encourage you to go get one. We need more Occupy sites. I hope to inspire you. But this one's mine.

No comments: