End of an Occupation

The Occupy Pittsburgh encampment on Mellon Green was officially vacated this week, due to a court order demanding the removal of all protestors and their belongings. All that remains of the months long protest is the dead grass of a once beautiful park and chain link fencing installed to keep everyone out. Rumors abound that the protestors are planning on returning in the spring to set up shop once again, which would probably coincide with the reopening of the park itself to the general public that has had to do without the luxury of having a green space within walking distance of their offices for four months, albeit these were winter months when the park would not likely have been used much, but the point remains that it was, for all intents and purposes, occupied and off limits.

That said, it should come as no surprise that the occupation ended not with a bang but a whimper. The protestors were mostly nonexistent throughout much of their stay. Those that were present seemed more intent on spending their time huddled in masses and rarely, if ever, engaging the very public they were trying to get their message out to. Their ramshackle assortment of tents were the main occupiers and provided the symbolism of a public space that had been taken over in the name of economic justice or any other variety of issues. This lack of a coherent, agreed upon message is another matter altogether that did not help this movement and may have done more harm than good.

Much can be said about the merits of a non-confrontational approach to protesting. Signaling not only to the business community but to the very corporations that own and maintain the very space which you seek to occupy that you're not going to present a threat is a smart idea that can only generate goodwill and may engender sympathy and a willingness to take the issues at hand into consideration. There is no need to let the occupation spiral out of control into a daily confrontation with law enforcement. However, this very lack of passion or guile is probably what doomed this incarnation of the Occupy Wall Street movement from day one.

The meekness on the part of the protestors and their unwillingness to actually get their message out into the open other than through the simple activity of scrawling words on to a sign signaled to the public that these people were kind and well mannered. They may have issues with the current economic structure of the United States, but at least they aren't going to be bothering anyone on their way to work. However, when you refuse to try to engage anyone in conversation and your daily activities are decided on an obvious whim, then you're more than likely to not only fail at your primary mission but also wear out your welcome. What would most likely have been dismissed by those inclined to either not care about the issues or who are part of the problem, in this case the 1%, is now seen as nothing more than an eyesore and a problem that should be taken care of. When the most common remarks made are the fact that there doesn't seem to be anyone there and the incoherent message being espoused, you know your protest is not going well and is about to expire.

No one was clamoring for a standoff or a prolonged confrontation with law enforcement or drawn out legal proceedings, especially when the impetus for the original occupation withered on the vine long ago. It's a shame, though, that there wasn't at least a little spark that lingered, because the issues themselves are important. At the peak attendance, however, you had so many signs signaling that they were there protesting everything from income inequality of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to UPMC in general to numerous other causes. The experience of seeing all of these issues thrown at you at once is both mindboggling and exasperating. A deluge of issues is the only way to describe the bombardment.

One can't help but think that Pittsburgh got caught up in the moment and decided to try its hand at jumping on the Occupy bandwagon. However, no one seemed to put any thought into how this was all going to play out. It seems likely that the highest level decision consisted of where exactly to occupy. I don't know how the organizational structure of the various other Occupy movements that are still active operate, but there surely is a very basic rubric that they're following that's devised by some sort of hierarchy. Pittsburgh's, on the other hand, was leaderless from the start and quickly descended into a ragtag morass with little or no one to claim responsibility and, in the end, hardly anyone left to care. And now with a court ordered eviction and an off limits park, the movement comes to an end.