Just like the hair-raising haunter from the horror flick Poltergeist, they’re back – and planning to be a nuisance in the nation’s capital. Under the guise of Adbusters, the same out-of-work people who love to set up camp and Occupy Wall Street – and other areas devoted to those Americans who do toil in the salt mines – the malcontents are organizing an attempt to “lay siege” to the White House.
Yes, seriously. Arming themselves with phones, supplies, unicorn farts, and fairy dust, they say it’s time to stand up for economic freedom. Posted on the Adbusters Facebook page, the invitation read in part:
“It’s time again for dramatic, decisive action. Which is why, on September 17th, in the original and enduring spirit of Occupy, we and tens of thousands of our fellow citizens will stream into Lafayette Square, in Washington. D.C. We will lay siege to the White House. And we will sustain it for exactly fifty days. This is the #WhiteHouseSiege.”
They do have a Tactical Briefing. They must be legit: although General George Washington is likely popping antacids in his tomb over the misuse of military jargon.
Wind? That’s All You Got?
This time around, the occupation is “drawing wind” from Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion – although neither organization has scheduled the impending White House siege. Frankly, Adbusters and Occupy Whatever is not in fashion. And folks don’t appear too concerned that unwashed backpack carriers will soon be lolling about, singing songs, and littering while trying to take down “the man.”
The “siege” is set to commence September 17 and conclude after the 2020 presidential election. To date, the only published information has yet to define the mission except that the crowd must be sustainable for 50 days: “You dig in, hold your ground, and the tension accumulates, amplifies, goes global.” Sans demands it might just be a bunch of folks that aren’t going to vote worrying about who the rest of the electorate intends to back. They also want to gather in the tens of thousands to “protest against Trump’s ‘lethal bungling of coronavirus.’” How wonderfully ironic?
Yeah, no one knows what this is all about. Perhaps they are envious of the attention that BLM and CHOP Seattle has gotten of late with calls to defund the police. But that seemingly is not on the “to-do” list for Adbusters. A laborious combing of the recesses of the internet reveals only that it appears the group just wants to defeat Trump and steer the nation toward a “global movement of systemic change … a cultural heave towards a new world order.”
So, is it about money or COVID-19 or a new world order? Does invoking BLM help to attract the latest issue-protesters, or did the wind in their sails peter out years ago, not to be resurrected? But credit must be given for the ability to fight for economic equality while finding ways to make money off the faithful; hawking Occupy swag:
“This is the best way to get to know us. You’ll get a one-year print + digital subscription, three back issues, three campaign posters, a revolutionary pamphlet, a 2020 Moonday Action Calendar, and our infamous corporate America flag — all for $100!”
Revolutionaries have to eat, too.
Unless the Wind Changes Direction
Of course, the drive-by media will cover Occupation Swamp as it fits neatly, somewhere, in the quest to defame the current president. But as movements go, Adbusters’ “siege” is not as well funded, exciting, defined, powerful, or as violent as BLM and Antifa. They have no tangible stated goals with a five-line manifesto that vows to “make secrecy taboo … bend the straight line in a wobbly new direction.” What does that even mean?
Before attempting to “lay siege to the White House,” it might be prudent to delineate just which way the “wobbly” direction is heading. Goals. Objectives. C’mon man!
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