I've been busy with the local food co-op and haven't taken time to put thoughts to paper, or virtual paper... but the Occupy movement has captivated me. I love the public rising up to point out just how broken the system is. I wish there was someplace close I could "occupy". But where I live, small town, dying, leaves me in the spectator seat.
One of my frustrations with Occupy is the WHO. When you protest against the system by occupying the bastions of the system, you make a statement. That is great. But, what you are asking is for the system to change it's self. Big money may notice you taking up space in their green space, or causing public concern, but they are not going to change. There is NO motive for them to change. Occupy might make the news (less and less it seems...) but they can't motivate big money to change. The reason is that we (the rest of the 99% who don't get out to protest) are all dependant on the system. It pays our wages (pathetic as they may be), provides our energy, our technology, our water, our food, everything... so we may protest actively, or in our hearts, but at the end of the day we support the system. They win.
But, what if there was a way to change the system? What if we could occupy something that we could actually change?
Here's a part that you can occupy. The food system. It isn't fast, but it can be done in less than a year. If you push for locally produced food, buy local first, support local farmers, etc. we can change the system in one area. The rest will follow. In my tiny county FOOD is huge. 31000 people spend more than $64,000,000 a year on food. Most of it could be produced by local, small scale producers. But right now we buy all of it from a few big producers. Food is a system we can OCCUPY! Seek out local producers and buy from them. Find ways to help local producers get more market access. STOP supporting the system.
OCCUPY THE FOOD SYSTEM. You might not be able to camp out on Wall Street, but you can choose to not support big money.
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2 comments:
A marvelous approach. I will share, because locally produced food is a win win. Thanks!
and yet, what i must have missed is it is a political option. If you want to occcupy something with teath, occupy the food system. If we choose locally produced we choose to not support the system. That is a big choice.
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