Yesterday's action was an attack on the 99%, not a defense of it. The statement is laughable; every sentence is wronger than the last. New movement? You wish.

Even though a guy slammed his car into some protesters I'd call it a success. ...but since it's highly wonky union-related stuff most folks will shrug and say "oh, they fought the cops. They suck". It's hard to explain the situation without getting out charts and such.

Oh, and we didn't screw up football traffic! So there you go. :)

If you call success costing fellow 99%er truckers the opportunity to deliver and pickup another load.

Don't worry about the truckers. There's plenty of videos of them honking in support of us. ...and the trucker that couldn't get through because the bike cops blocked him in was definitely on our side.

Actually, do worry about the truckers. Most of them don't even get W-2s. The damage of idling for a shift is far less than the damage done by corporate limitations on organizing, mostly inflicted by apathy and lack of concern in a general population that is eager to hypocritically wail "what about the truckerssssssss".

You didn't give a fuck then and you don't do much to support their efforts now. If you really care then get educated and get active.

Propaganda much?

I kind of love that Occupy Seattle takes only actions the 99% can't easily see the point of. "You're not studying hard enough, of course you don't get it".

@9: Um, yes, that's the point of protesting. If people already understood then there wouldn't be need to protest.

For example, anti-gay groups appeal to simple low-information talking points against marriage equality which elicits wordy info-dense replies from pro-gay activists. When people are locked into a low-information belief it does take quite a lot of work to get them out of it. Sometimes it's an appeal to emotion but most of the time it's an appeal to logic.

If that weren't the case then gay activists could win the marriage equality fight by replying to "the bible is against this" by saying "no it isn't".

SHRUG. WONKS. STUDYING. EDUCATION.

@10

Ah, so Occupy is like the anti-gay-marriage movement.

Thanks for the explanation.

@5: Well, tell me then... just how will yesterday’s action win back the House of Representatives for the Democrats in 2014 and keep the Senate in 2012? That’s the only effective change for the long term goals Occupy wants. Trickle-up aggravation isn’t cutting it.

@5 Remember when the Democrats controlled the House, Senate, AND Whitehouse back in 2010? And how we got all of that meaningful change, like a single-payer healthcare system, labor reform, economic refort...

Oh wait. Holding both the House and the Senate didn't accomplish shit, because Democrats were trying to be "moderate," and "moderate" means "batshit-crazy conservative" in this country. This isn't about getting the guy with the (D) next to his name into the senate. This is about letting people know that the status quo is not quo, and we're not just going to sit there and take it anymore.

This barely made a blip on the national news cycle.

I've been following such things for a couple decades now, first as a member, now as an annoyed onlooker. It's always the next phase, these things are always great victories, everyone always really really supports them and on and on despite that none of it is ever really true.

It's alot like a church with an unquestioned ideology and absolute faith in ineffectual methods that only make the participants feel better. And hey, it is fun. You get to feel like you are part of some great struggle, the confrontations are exciting, and you can even wear a bandanna over your face!

The problem of course is that no one really wants a revolution nor do they want traffic blocked and people kept from their jobs. No amount of protesting is going to change the fact that the vast majority of people have food on the table, a place to live, and rarely feel oppressed by the government in any meaningful way. That is not the stock from which revolution comes.

Of course there are people for whom the above is not true, but if you want to engage the people for whom it is, then coming across as a bunch of anarchists playing revolution is not going to do it. Despite what various nutters might think we do have a democracy and history has shown that when properly motivated we can achieve change. It might be slow and it might not be enough, but it does happen. From social security to child labor laws to civil rights we have made progress and still are.

But getting voters to the poll, spending time in your local LD to make sure good candidates are supported, harassing the hell out of elected officials are not nearly as fun or exciting as erecting a barrier by the port and having a fight with the cops.

@16 We might not have gotten single payer, but we did get reform that will ensure that everyone can afford health insurance. That single act did more to improve people's lives than all Occupy's silly camping and carrying on has.

This reads like a breathless hyperbole filled communist screed.

Oh wait that's exactly what it is.

@18 Very well said giffy. You summed up my thoughts perfectly.

Generally speaking, I support the Occupy movement, but this whole thing seems really content-less. As an act of protest theater, it was fine, but they should have played up its symbolic nature instead of trying to claim it made any real dent in the 1%'s profits.

What I want to know is where these figures are coming from: "causing millions in profit loss to major corporations"... really?
Maybe if they'd started at 6 am and managed to shut down the Port all day, but this seems like an incredibly egregious bit of hyperbole being passed off as fact.

Blocking Port traffic for a few hours on a Monday night during rush hour generated a lot of attention, but that's it.... Until somebody produces some actual figures, I can't believe there was any actual effect on the economy.

It was a "success" like the chocolate ration in 1984 was "raised" from 10 grams to 5 grams

@12, Before you claim to speak for the port truckers, please read (really read) this: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

And know that not a single truck driver out of the dozens from close-up as they drove by last night gestured or vocalized anything negative to us. Half (maybe more) gave us supportive honks or waves as they drove by.

The truth of the matter is most MSM reported the successful West Coast Port Shutdown, ranging from CBC (which had twenty times more coverage) to Bloomberg News to the major TV and print sources.

No matter how you whine, it was a great success.

Oh, and the House and Senate just sold your Rights out this morning under SOPA, so you are officially now no better than Serfs.

heck, serfs had MORE rights than American Citizens do.

This story was ten times more informative than the rest of The Stranger's coverage put together. I was dubious about this action but I support it now.

And anyone who thinks real change can happen without both direct protest and electoral politics is wrong. Both require the other to avoid being meaningless exercises.

We needed champions and got clowns.

@26 Someone who has actually read about the history of effective movements. My god.