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Beyond Occupy: What Is and What Could Be

By Kerri Provost

December 01, 2011

One critique of the Occupy Hartford movement has been that a number of uninformed activists — new to the area or to activism in general — attempted to reinvent the wheel; instead of immediately reaching out to other organizations in the spirit of solidarity, or simply to learn the ins and outs of local community organizing, it took weeks of nagging by residents and several changes in the make up of the core group before Occupy Hartford began to reach beyond the muddy patch at the corner of Broad and Farmington.

Meanwhile, the movement has lit a fire beneath long-term area activists, many of whom have been involved in Occupy Hartford to some capacity, including some who left it in disgust.

Tonight at 6pm there will be a “meeting of Hartford grassroots groups or groups that are doing work in Hartford.” Organizers describe it as an “opportunity to listen and learn from each other and to see how we can all work together. ”

This will be happening in the Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART) office at 385 Washington Street.

But the anti-union sentiment that has popped up in the few months of Occupy Hartford — some are concerned that “the unions and Democrats” have tried to “co-opt” the OWS movement — raises questions about with which types of groups the Occupiers would be willing to build alliances. Again, the question surfaces: if Democrats and unions are not part of the 99%, then who is? The rhetoric and the math do not balance.

Meanwhile, the Hartford Organizing Group (HOG) has emerged for those wanting to take direct action. Who is involved? One Real Hartford reader says, “just about anyone who is anyone on the left has moved into HOG.”