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| Monday October 31st, 2011 |
by Lee GilmoreAs the drama of Occupy Wall Street continues to develop across the globe, reporters are certainly not bereft of new angles to explore. The commitment of East Coast campers is already being tested by an early snow, and a long winter looming. Occupiers on the West Coast are calling for a general strike in Oakland this coming Wednesday.
While questions about the direction and long-term sustainability of this movement continue to unfold, what does seem clear is that the Occupations have tapped into a deep well of resentment nationwide. When I visited Occupy San Francisco over the weekend, what was most striking to me was the number of ordinary middle class folks who braved the cultural barriers between the scruffy bohemians and the bourgeoisie to offer their support. It seemed that many just wanted a space to sound off with one another about their own troubles and mutual disgust with the system.
Some journalists have sought—with varying degrees of success—to find the story's religion angle. Many Occupations include a "meditation tent" or some other form of "sacred space." Occupy Boston in particular seems to have a vibrant spiritual presence, and clergy elsewhere have come out to show their support. But, for the most part, the numbers of activists of faith seem thin on the ground; indeed, the Los Angeles Times recently concluded that this is a largely secular movement.
Meanwhile, it's Halloween today, and I had long planned to write a nice little post on Pagans at Halloween, which is often the only time that the growing Pagan movements receive mainstream media attention. It is likely that contemporary Paganisms have at least a million, perhaps more, adherents in the U.S. I argue that many more share at least some perspectives in common with Pagan values, including the broader turns toward DIY spiritualities and green sensibilities.
So where have the Pagans been in recent days? Some of them, at least, are Occupying. For example, Starhawk, one the best known Pagan leaders, has been supporting the Occupations in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. She wrote recently for the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog, that the movement's "core message and ethic is profoundly spiritual, even prophetic." At a large Samhain ritual on Saturday night, she purposefully adopted the Occupation movement's potent "People's Mic" ritual, which enables speakers to be heard by large crowds without a sound system, by speaking in short bursts (Mic check!) which are then repeated by the audience (Mic check!).
Another internationally recognized Pagan leader, Thorn Coyle, spent much of last week sitting in silent meditation at Occupy Oakland. She's also turned her attention to raising funds via social media networks to rent and service porta-potties for the Oakland encampment. There's something in these gestures that makes a fairly profound statement about core Pagan values—connecting the spiritual and the earthly, and empowering humans to act in both realms.
Out of all this tumult, perhaps the most impressive news last week—which may have as yet untapped religious dimensions—was that Egyptians in Tahrir were standing in solidarity with protestors in Oakland. With the crackdown in Oakland, "Americans" suddenly became a group with whom people in Egypt could directly relate—an oppressed people struggling against many of the same injustices and learning to use the tremendous power of grassroots activism.
The Occupy movement may have seemed lunatic and naïve when it first sprouted on Wall Street, and its long-term significance remains to be seen. But, at the moment at least, it has ignited a potent social energy that pushes the always porous boundaries of the standard "religion and spirituality" beat. It may be a mostly "secular" movement, yet the term "Occupy" itself draws people to understand its meaning in broader terms—as containing an invitation to mindfulness and participation in ways that are simultaneously spiritual and earthly: Occupy the Earth, Occupy your Life, Occupy Everything.
Lee Gilmore teaches in the American Studies and Religious Studies programs at San José State University. Her recent book, Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man (University of California Press), explores the cultural and religious significance of the Burning Man festival and why many participants describe it as a spiritual and transformational event.
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