Zinn-Like Anarchy

For the last month I've been going to the Occupy Denver site to support a cause I think has the potential to change this nation. Unless the thugs and alleged "anarchists" promoting violence and property destruction destroy the movement. There's nothing wrong with anarchists in my opinion. Howard Zinn was an unabashed anarchist. Gandhi was an anarchist. Emma Goldman was an anarchist. At one time she promoted the use of violence but came to discover it diluted the movement and the cause of dismantling oppressive governments.

For the past month I've seen folks running around with handkerchiefs covering their faces apparently to identify themselves as anarchists. It is the dress code as much as we veterans wear our old fatigues or dress uniforms, campaign ribbons, boonie hats or some identifying thing.

It's obvious the anarchists don't like the tactics and much of the philosophy of the main Occupy Denver group. They make it clear by talking over the main group's megaphone and "people's mike" with their own megaphones. It has become a inane battle of megaphones at every gathering of more than a few dozen people.

Now I am as radical as they come in my thinking about tactics. At heart I'm an anarchist. I don't believe in national borders, don't think there's such a concept as an "illegal" person. I know the government isn't one for me or most of the people I am acquainted with. It has always been a government to protect the oligarchs in possession of the greatest wealth.

I came to realize I was duped as an enlisted Marine in 1967. And, unlike Smedley Butler, it didn't take me 30 plus years to come to the conclusion the military was nothing but a group of thugs trained to become sociopathic tools to destroy anybody or anything blocking the will of the racketeers in government and their rich masters. It took me the first month (January) I was in Vietnam in 1968 as an 18 year old combat infantryman.

I may have been stupid enough to enlist but I wasn't so stupid I couldn't see we were nothing but bullies with lethal force against the Vietnamese people. But rather than go to prison, I went along and did my job. My job was to seek out any and all individuals considered the enemy of the US or my platoon. And I became proficient in carrying out my job when it became necessary to protect myself or the men in my platoon.
On return to the US my emotional health and the shock of my 13 month experience in Vietnam led me to start my own personal resistance against the USMC. I walked away time and again despite all the medals, commendations and rank I had "earned" while in Vietnam. Eventually I was imprisoned in a Marine brig, a city jail and in a Marine correctional platoon. On one occasion the brig pod I was incarcerated in was gassed because of an uprising by some of us combat veterans. None of the punishments or threats had an impact on my resistance. I came to realize I was acting out my conscience.

Finally the Corps got tired of my shit and offered me a less than honorable discharge. Their threatened court martial wouldn't have looked too good once my ACLU attorney let some of his newspaper friends know the Corps intended on jailing one of their heroes with meritorious promotions and medals only heroes earned. One that had been wounded in action. I accepted the undesirable discharge with pleasure and actually felt it an honor to be considered undesirable to the USMC.

Once discharged I happened upon a national organizer of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He and I, joined by one other veteran, organized the Denver chapter. We sent a contingent to Operation Dewey Canyon III in DC. We threw our ill gotten medals over the fence at the Capitol. Later we had our own Winter Soldier's Investigation in Denver that followed the format of the national investigation in Detroit. We testified about war crimes and corrupt practices of the military we had witnessed.

A few of our local members were also members of the Black Panthers. We were constantly on J. Edgar Hoover's radar as being anti-American "communists". Local police and FBI constantly tried to infiltrate us and provoke us to act out violently. The problem with this tactic was the true veterans of combat were tired of violence. Our organization existed to stop violence, end the war and bring our brothers home. At one point the DPD intimidated a WSI witness by threatening to revoke his probation. He had been self medicating with drugs and ended up being arrested and tried for a felony.

Even in therapy groups infiltrators appeared. It sounds crazy but that was the case in my first Vet Center group. It took us a few weeks before we realized one of the group was an impostor. It destroyed the group.

I'm presenting this history as a way of giving myself some credibility to speak out about what I've observed at Occupy Denver. In today's social media, haters and flamers will usually come out of the woodworks if someone provides criticism about a movement or progressive organization. I don't really care if anybody chooses to hate me and attempts to discredit me. I do care about changing this world so my grandsons and granddaughter have a better life than is now projected for them.

Occupy Denver has good intentions from all sides but the rudeness and infighting that seems to be worse everytime I come to support the movement is palpable. And disturbing. And I'm not the only one feeling this. This past Saturday at the Fed the megaphone duel sent many mainstream supporters on their way.

The constant tactic of march and rally has diminishing returns. Most people have heard enough, read enough and experienced enough to know the issues. Teach-in time is over. It is now time to act on what is said to be common goals and beliefs. A next step is necessary.

Many of us veterans have experience in guerilla or insurgency warfare. There is a good deal to be learned from the tactics used against us. But non-violence has to be maintained. Centralized grouping may be good show but mobility has some advantages. Weekends are convenient but inconvenience can be inflicted on weekdays as well. Cooperation with cops and authorities about tactics and planning is poor strategy and lets the oppressive force of the government and their corporate masters dictate what will be done.

We are in a class warfare! The 99% needs to discover its power and exert it wisely and with tactics that are different than what was done in the past. Every revolutionary movement for change has to live in the present. The tactics of the past are well known to the guardians of the corporate and governmental castles.

We are in a class war and we had better be prepared for pushback. The opponents we face are well financed, influential and control much of our lives. They aren't stupid. We can rail against the rich and powerful and fail to give them credit or try to understand them and work to weaken their strength. There's plenty of opportunity to point out what the big "they" do, but isn't it time to uncover who they are and expose each individual?

As an individual I've had a history of being part of an illegal and immoral occupation. This is the time for a moral occupation by the 99% who don't have the security of that 1%. The moral occupation can't allow itself to regress to the violence the masters of war and greed want from us. We can strike fear in the hearts and minds of the 1% by growing the movement and keeping violence out of the equation. Anarchy can be useful and necessary but those who propose violence of actions or words will weaken the movement. It's that simple. You want to be isolated again, keep up the violence.