Occupy/Decolonize Columbus

Last night I got teary over a bottle of wine with one of my besties, watching coverage of the around the world occupy protests. I know Columbus had a strong showing; I know Chicago protestors got arrested. And I know Rome saw some violence. All of this and I'm beginning to feel like there is a movement happening, locally and globally.

And I'm frustrated. I want a response. I want to believe that I think protesting will work. As my partner pointed out to me this morning, my own jadedness is frustrating me. And in my frustration, I ate a bowl of leftover pasta too early for it to be lunch. But I kept it down. And questioned the ravenous hunger my body was telling me.

Then I thought to myself: do I have time to go downtown, even if the standing causes me physical pain for the better half of the week? I continued to read my exam material around welfare policy and feminist interventions in understanding who are actors in the policy making process (everyone!)

Then I looked up Occupy Columbus happenings. I wrote down the next protest gathering (October 24th, OSU Oval) and began to feel jaded again. When is someone in power going to respond? How many gatherings need to happen? When will peaceful gathering not be enough? And what other kinds of tactics are there?

My partner reminded me of two things (via text message on her way to show support for OccupyChicago). That I can open a credit union account and pull my money from corporate banks before November 5th as part of a worldwide effort to allow the banks to use less of my money--something I've been planning for over a year anyway but haven't done because of the logistical pain in the ass. When I looked in my planner to find a time to do this, I realized I would have to cancel one of my pool visits this week. And I got anxious. I don't want to sacrifice what little exercise I'm allowed.

Then my partner sent another text, her second reminder: "Besides, we live our lives with revolutionary principle and action".

I don't feel very revolutionary lately.

But I think my mental health relies on my doing something. So no pool on Wednesday. To the credit union.And no more using debit and credit cards for every transaction. Banks get something off of that. Cash whenever possible.

And I guess, in my own small undergraduate literature course, I can keep teaching my students about structures of oppression and hope that some of them take it upon themselves to meet me on the Oval on the 24th.

But I want us to be asking for something bigger: I don't want us to be upset, as a country, about losing a middle class lifestyle that was never environmentally sustainable anyway, that relied on oppressive gender roles of a mythic norm. I want us to decolonize. To think broadly about what equality looks like and how the banks have continued to create global inequalities. Then I want us to ask as we're standing in solidarity: what can I do about my own lifestyle? What can I do to dismantle more structures of oppression? What, in addition to the banks, is culpable?