An update 10/06/11:
I, Brianna Holmes-Burton, when making the statement below, was not speaking for the IWW as a whole, nor was I speaking for the Kansas City Branch of the IWW. I have asked other branch members if someone else can manage the Kansas City IWW facebook page and will not be using it except to check for IWW inquiries so that no one is ignored while we are waiting for someone else to volunteer to keep up with the page. I consent to being named publicly as the source of this problem and concede to all points against my statement. I offer no defense for any contested point whatsoever. This is entirely my fault and I should never have posted a personal opinion on the Kansas City IWW page. I did not seek input from my branch or any member of the IWW before making the statement.
Also, on a personal note, I do not condone racism or any other similar forms of hate in any way whatsoever. That was not my intent in any shape, form or fashion. I am so sorry.
Please contact me if there is anything else I can do to help fix this
Since the politics of the occupy movement are pretty vague/up in the air at the moment, most of the discussion we have seen has been of the nature of liberal vs. radical/anti-capitalist tug-of-war. However, there is another crew (or handful of crews) that also want in - the far right.
This is from a blog entry about Occupy KC, where someone posting as the KC IWW on facebook said:
KansasCity Iww
Occupations, please do not fall for divide and conquer tactics! this is not about partisan politics, this is about class solidarity among the 99%. Tea Party members are part of the 99%. If we reject each other based on political affiliation, we will fail. We need to focus on what we have in common as 99% of the world population who is suffering at the hands of the 1%. Find one demand that we can all
embrace. It is there. Find it. Turn no one away. Explain to the racists why race is not the problem, explain to liberals why the Tea Party is not the problem, explain to conservatives why Obama is not the problem. Tell everyone, the 1% is the problem. We are the 99%
There are multiple problems with this:
1)"this is not about partisan politics, this is about class solidarity among the 99%" - Not sure we're down with this 99% thing, as it seems to imply a broad class front that includes everyone but the richest of the rich. There are plenty of people left out of the category of the super-rich that I don't want solidarity with, like fascists, white nationalists, police/FBI, politicians, Stalinists, the bourgeoisie and some of the petty bourgeoisie that make up the bosses and landlords that we have so many problems with, etc.
2) "Tea Party members are part of the 99%" - White nationalists seeking to push the Republican Party back to the days of lynching. Fuck 'em, they may technically be part of the 99%, but they want to be part of the 1%.
3) "If we reject each other based on political affiliation, we will fail". - Couldn't disagree more with this.
4) "Find one demand that we can all embrace" - Overly simplistic and class-reductionist, the 99% is much to diverse for this (especially ifit includes people that are not part of the working-class). Watering down our messages/goals is not a good idea. Furthermore, we should not begging for scraps. Attack the root of oppression;capitalism. Do not beg for the improvement of the issues created by it.
5) "Turn no one away" - This is probably our biggest issue with all of this. Within ARA we do anti-fascism from the "No Platform" approach, which means we don't allow fascists (or others on the far right) to have a public say. To do so is to allow a victory for fascists, as they get a chance to get their message out to the audience or organize in a community and possibly make some new contacts. We don't prefer to peacefully protest, we shut events down or prevent them from happening in the first place. This "turn no one away" approach means a passive approach to neo-nazis, Klansmen, Minutemen, etc., but it also means a passive approach to white nationalists, Tea Partiers, third-positionists, anti-semites, conspiracy theorists, and other shitheads that can pass off their ideas as mainstream and legitimate because they don't wear SS uniforms or white sheets.
6) "Explain to the racists why race is not the problem" - This one is also bullshit. We get what they are going for, but racial oppression is a major problem in this country and needs to be directly addressed and not pushed to the side. Open discussion of race and white supremacy is something that should be at the front of our organizing, just like class, gender, the environment, and other issues that we have identified.
The other example cited was of a 9/11 Truther passing on anti-semitic propaganda through facebook on a page related to Occupy KC. A Pennsylvania Tea Party group has already public stated:
"Listen upPatriots! We have access to over 50,000 kids on Occupy Together! Go
educate them to the truth".
These two examples should be enough to prove our points, but we're sure we are going to see more. It is sort of similar to the way Tea Partiers deny they are racist, but consistently attract Nazis, Klansmen, and other white nationalists to their events but don't really seem to have an answer as to why it happens. If the Occupy Movement situation is made repugnant to anyone that would want to push oppressive ideas, they will be much less likely to participate or successfully participate) that if we allow them their say.
The other recent post on OPP details Occupy Boston's creation of an anti-oppression policy early on, which looks like a much better idea than being tolerant of fascists and white nationalists if they want this movement to be liberatory and not just another populist agenda that is divisive on class issues.