Monthly Archives: October 2011

The Poetics of the Street

By Starhawk | Published: October 28, 2011
I’ve been on my feet all day, but I don’t feel tired. I’m exhilarated. What’s happening here is so beautiful, so powerful. It answers our most primal human needs: to have a voice, to have that voice heard and affirmed, to tell your story, to be seen, to be part of something, to stand for something, to stand together, to stand strong.
Posted in Occupy movement, political activism | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Return to Oakland

By Starhawk | Published: October 26, 2011
The only thing I hate worse than rallies is not having rallies. And I’m glad we’re having this one, and glad I’m here, aching feet and all. Because it’s the necessary response to the brutal police attack on Occupy Oakland. At 4 AM, the police surrounded the camp. According to reports, they ringed the square, fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs into the sleeping crowd, and then arrested over a hundred people, who are being held in custody for two days until their arraignment.
Posted in political activism | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Occupy Oakland

By Starhawk | Published: October 18, 2011
Yesterday Paradox and I went down to #Occupy Oakland—really inspiring! It’s like a small village in front of City Hall, with tents crammed together, a big kitchen, a media tent, a library and Free School, a long list of meetings for each day, a calendar for the week—really a model of how these things might go.
Posted in political activism, social justice | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Truth About Lisa Fithian

By Starhawk | Published: October 17, 2011
What do you do when a friend is slimed by Fox News? If you respond, do you simply feed the venom? But if you don’t respond, do their lies stand, unchallenged? Or is it a badge of honor to be called out by Fox, however nasty it feels?
Posted in Uncategorized, political activism, social justice | 11 Comments

Short Consensus Summary

By Starhawk | Published: October 11, 2011
All over the country, people are flocking to the streets to join occupations demanding a just system for the 99%. It’s an inspiring vision: thousands of people participating in direct democracy, making decisions, having their voices heard. And it’s a potential nightmare—thousands of ordinary Americans being subjected to really bad, ponderous consensus meetings, fleeing in frustration and anguish and ready to accept any tyranny over the prospect of more long meetings! Consensus process can be wonderful—or terrible. At it’s best, it can be empowering, creative and efficient. But for that to happen, people need to understand and agree upon the process.
Posted in political activism, social justice | 13 Comments

My Day–The Short List

By Starhawk | Published: October 7, 2011
Something is happening. Occupations are springing up all over the place. One of the young women organizers told me she’d passed on my consensus download to someone about to start Occupy Mississippi! There are union folks here from Wisconsin, displaced stockbrokers from New York, laid off policy wonks from here in DC, affable former corporate managers from Texas, ex-cons from the ‘hood here in DC, a lot of homeless people, and students who’ve woken up to the fact that they are debt-slaves. What will happen if ordinary folks all over the country get addicted to having a say in the decisions that affect their lives?
Posted in Uncategorized, climate change, political activism, social justice | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Freedom Plaza–The First Day

By Starhawk | Published: October 6, 2011
With so many people new to consensus process, the meetings are sometimes ponderous—and yet there's an archetypal quality to it all, people sitting under a tree debating and discussing and coming to decisions together in a process designed to assure that everyone has a voice. I think we crave that experience, somewhere deep in the soul. It is exactly what democracy looks like, and right now it seems that all over the world people are hearing the call.
Posted in Paganism/earth-based spirituality, political activism, social justice | 4 Comments

Why I’m Going to Freedom Plaza

By Starhawk | Published: October 5, 2011
Yet, here I am. Do I really need to do this? Well, yes. Why? Because in the end, it always comes down to the streets. When the greed, the hypocrisy, the assaults on our freedoms, our pockets, our future and our common sense go so far beyond the level of toleration, there’s no substitute for the outrage of the streets.
Posted in Paganism/earth-based spirituality, climate change, magical activism, political activism | Tagged | Leave a comment