Occupy Baltimore: The Good, The Bad, and The Callow

Over the past month, I’ve been spending a lot of time down at the Occupy Baltimore protest down in McKeldin Square, across the street from the Inner Harbor. Several days out of each week in October, I was at the protest: participating, observing, and often inadvertently irritating the thin-skinned leaders of the local leaderless occupation. Like the Revolting Protester shown here, I risked, if not life and limb and unwanted back touching, then at least being called a dirty hippie by someone. I endured outrageous demands to “Get a fucking job,” although I have no experience in the sex industry.


The Revolting Protester (image credit: dorothyadele)

I support the general spirit of what’s happening nationwide, the movement that began with Occupy Wall Street in New York. It’s long overdue to see Americans getting out in the street to protest the sale of our democracy to corporate interests, and the hijacking of our government by the wealthy elite that the Occupy movement is calling the 1%.

Banks receiving government bailouts, while ordinary Americans are losing their homes in record numbers, is simply wrong. From that standpoint, I applaud everyone who has taken to the streets as part of this movement. I sincerely do.

The local Occupy Baltimore protest, however, has often been a cogent real life example of how NOT to seek consensus, how NOT to get people involved, how NOT to relate to the media, and how NOT to present a coherent message about anything. At times there have even been moments of clarity and sanity, in spite of the local movement’s callow self-appointed leadership.

In the coming days, I’ll examine a bit of what went wrong, and what sometimes, almost accidentally, went right.

Click here for part 2.
Click here for part 3.

Coalition of Candidates Calls Election Wired

A coalition of candidates for the office of City Council President held a press conference today to protest the lack of public debate in the race for the office of City Council President. There have been fifteen mayoral debates, many of them televised, and not a single one for the second highest office in the City. Candidates for City Council President formed a coalition, after they realized their voices were being silenced.

The candidates said that the single scheduled debate for them had been canceled after the recent earthquake, when the City put pressure on the Pratt Library to close that evening, even though the building was sound. The debate was not rescheduled.

Candidates Tom Kiefaber, Leon Hector, Armand Girard, and Renold B. Smith were present at the conference. Two other candidates, Charles U. Smith and David Anthony Wiggins, had signed up to suppor the coalition, but were unable to appear at the press conference.

The 3 minute highlights video is here:



Press Conference:



Q&A: