The 99% Spring training extravaganza took place April 9-14, with over 900 individual trainings in cities and towns across the U.S., and 1,000+ actions happening in the weeks since in a show of "the 99% Power", including Tax Day actions, bank Shareholder meeting takeovers, and more!
Is the 99% Spring an attempt to co-opt the Occupy movement and funnel the masses into electoral campaigning for the Democrats? We think not.
Is the 99% Spring training program perfect? Of course not.
The fact is, we at Ruckus try to use our precious resources as strategically as possible. For us, that typically means going for depth rather than breadth. But when the opportunity comes along to help introduce thousands of people to direct action, who previously may not have considered it, we’re going to do our best to make that effort a success. We want to build power broadly, and therefore, helping provide the stepping stones for people’s engagement in direct action is an important and worthwhile endeavor. But this work does not come without challenges – or criticism, from all sides. (But we’re used to it!)
For deeper background about the power (and challenges) of alliance-building and mass-organizing raised by the 99% Spring project, please check out these two great pieces from our friends:
- New Radical Alliances for a New Era: How the Left’s talk of co-optation missed the real critical questions that 99% Spring offers our movements by Joshua Kahn Russell and Harmony Goldberg, released Wednesday on Znet
- A Practical Guide to Co-option by Jonathan Matthew Smucker, on Beyond the Choir: