Recently there has been more and more media coverage of the Occupy Movement, as well as an International wave of protests. What started as one Occupation of Wall Street that has evolved into Occupy Everywhere essentially. We even have several surrounding us here in Orange County: Occupy Long Beach, Occupy LA, Occupy Santa Ana, and even Occupy Irvine is celebrating its one-week anniversary of peaceful protest.
To bring these events into perspective, I sat down with UCI Senior Lecturer of Film and Media Studies Professor Marie Cartier. Not only is she a strong force in the film department, but she is also an avid political activist. She has been active protestor since she was fifteen up through college and now is also supporting the Occupation movement. I sat down with her to get her thoughts and opinions on recent events:
Me: What are your thoughts on the American people coming together in an effort to take hold and keep their rights they not only deserve but essentially pay for? What was your first reaction?
Prof. Cartier: I think it’s long overdue, and I think many of us have wondered how things were allowed to happen the way they were happening and continue to go on. For instance my student loans from Clairemont were 140,000 dollars and right now they are in forbearance … I think you see that everyone is trying to deal with something like this…they are just so many things that get increasingly hard that eventually something’s going to crack.
Me: Do you think the protests will last? Grow stronger?
Cartier: Yes I think if people are pissed off enough, and I’ve been in enough movements to think yes.
Me: Fox News has referred to occupy wall Street as a “Woodstock, Burning Man” type of gathering. What would you say in response to that?
Cartier: Did they go to Woodstock? Did they go to Burning Man? There were negative things I could say about Woodstock, but it was a music festival, they were celebrations of a new being in the world, not an occupation…let’s hope the people from Woodstock and Burning Man show up.
Me: Since we are in the OC, as a UCI prof what would you say to the students who may be children to parents in the 1% knowing they may be hesitant to the protests because they think it could potentially affect their lifestyle?
Cartier: Who do you want sitting at the table with you? Once you do nothing and the 99 percent falls away, the 1 percent is not protected, it’s basic economics. You can’t assume you can protect yourself. No civil rights movement was done for the people in need, you have to take a selfish angle to it, because selfishly they didn’t want to live in a world of racism. I live in the world, I don’t just sit in the corner with my own little privileges. I hope it does affect their lifestyle, people are barely trying to style a life, [which is] why they’re sitting and saying I’m done. Being able to have a lifestyle means they have a choice, it’s not like living every day because you have no choice. If I’m sitting at a red light I don’t want to be sitting next to someone that’s about to blow a fuse because they are economically unstable. If you go to McDonalds don’t you want the person serving you food to have health insurance?
Me: What advice would you give to readers that are thinking about joining in the protests?
Cartier: Go check it out for a day. Don’t plan to lay down or get arrested unless you know what you’re doing. Go and be there. Help some of the people, bring them food. Be a helper first, be a cog in the wheel. Show up and make the thing turn.
Me: Any other general thoughts about these events on your mind you would like to share with readers?
Cartier: Susan B. Anthony never voted and she started the women’s suffrage movement. I was a part of the movement that helped starting battered women’s shelters. A revolution is not just people who are willing get arrested or occupy, it’s the people on Facebook or are talking about it. When Susan B. Anthony saw how hard it was for women, I think selfishly she had a better life knowing she was fighting for something. If you feel something about this I think your life will be better. There are things I’ve worked on that haven’t happened, and there are a lot of things I’ve worked on that have happened.
In class afterwards she went on providing a response to a student questioning the Occupiers agenda: “Everyone has there own agenda (housing, student loans, healthcare, education). How did Wall Street get away without an agenda? Why do we?”
If you would like to get involved, there are many ways and websites to do so:
Join the Facebook pages:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Irvine/268797163142399
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyTogether
Educate yourself:
http://www.occupytogether.org/
http://www.occupywallst.org/
Lastly, make a decision. Where do you stand in this revolution?
I leave you with a poem by Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me and there no one was left to speak out for me.
Sources:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-5-2011/parks-and-demonstra…