By Greg Olson with editorial and
memory help by Clay Uptain
Tuesday night the monthly meeting
of the Rapid City
chapter of the South Dakota Peace and Justice organization hosted a panel of
Occupy Rapid City members. The focus of
this meeting was ‘The Significance of the “Occupy” Movement in Contemporary
America: A Discussion.’ The panelists
were volunteers and each of them spoke from their own point of view regarding
the Occupy Movement. The panel was
comprised of three noteworthy members of our Occupy Rapid City community and
yours truly. Each panelist spoke from the heart about the Movement with
emphasis on particular aspects that spoke specifically to them. While these panelists generally share similar
views they did not speak as representatives of the diverse membership of the
Occupy Movement.
Clay Uptain spoke of his
background as a criminal justice system professional and how the Occupy
Movement’s worldwide significance and his interest in the spiritual and social
aspects of what that means, not just for Rapid City, but for all of humanity.
Jim Petersen shared that he is a
Veteran pilot and feels that the Defense budget is way out of proportion and
that it needs a significant reduction. He also listed other issues that he felt
continued to be of specific relevance to the Movement. He elaborated on each of the items that he
referred to and how they related to the essential central issues of the Movement’s
Occupy Wall Street
beginnings. One of the key issues he mentioned was that our country has slowly
degenerated into a plutocracy. We are no longer a democracy. He also discussed
the National Defense Appropriations Act that eviscerated the Bill of Rights and
has put our nation under indefinite martial law.
Peggy Detmers related how her
background made many of Occupy’s central causes important to her. She has a background in biology and is
currently working with a biochemist identifying toxins in our environment. She
issued several challenges to the listeners to join in the activism of the
Occupy Movement. This call to action was
well understood and has been historically shared by most if not all of those in
attendance of this gathering of the local South Dakota Peace and Justice group.
For my part, I tried to express
how the Occupy Movement provides a venue or outlet for the “frustrated”
majority or for the percentage of the population that should be able to
associate with the movement, “the 99%.”
At the same time the Movement has avoided the partisanships of political
parties. The Occupy Movement provides
the bridge between many groups on issues that are important to all of us,
regardless of political, religious, or other divisive group definition.
All of the panelists seemed to
agree that the Occupy Movement was a continuing catalyst for activism as well
as for civic and social responsibility. Evidence
of this belief can be observed in action; two Occupy Rapid City members are
serving on a task force formed by the Rapid City Council that was successful in
getting the City of Rapid City
to formalize and update its procedures for where it keeps its money. The effort deemphasized the reliance on big
banks and financial institutions and focused on the city including more small
and locally owned banks and credit unions.
