Many people did not want to see the Occupation of L.A. come to an end. It is was the last big city occupation still intact. I believe some people are afraid the movement will end, as the occupations were the symbols of our collective anger and distress.  This direction of thinking leads to a defeatist attitude. I think Occupy has already accomplished much: I feel it has given a message to the American people, and indeed to Humans in every nation across the planet.

First, the Occupy Movement was a greeting to the global elite which essentially said, “Hello corrupt power structure, you have inspired the wrath of the world and the American people. Get ready for the largest popular movement in human history, we are unafraid to stand while others sit, and we aren’t going anywhere.” The next important purpose served by the occupations was to show the world that the American People can and will still rise up when injustice becomes to great to ignore. Lastly the final and perhaps most important thing the occupations have served to do, was to allow people of common sentiment to come together and form lasting bonds which are crucial for building a massive movement against the abusive power structures of the world.

So where do we go from here? Well, as was stated by someone at General Assembly on Nov 27th, the next great battle for The Occupy Movement is the one against apathy. We must continue to stand while others sit.  We must inspire others to get up and stand with us. We must continue to hone our message and repel co option by special interests, especially the Democratic Party. If we maintain our solidarity by continuing to adhere to the consensus process of the General Assembly, I believe we can keep the compromised political parties from hijacking our message.

What might be coming as far as the protests are concerned? First there are already plans for general strikes, as we are looking toward shutting down the entire west coast on December 12th. In the future, it is likely there will be massive boycotts. It is my hope that eventually shareholders will rebel against their companies policies, and people in government will come forward to condemn the status quo. I also predict that there will continue to be information hidden from the people which will come into the light. More police and military will hopefully denounce the policies of their organizations. Of course this all depends on three things. How organized the Occupy Movement becomes, how vigilant we are to suppress those who seek to bring violence to our non violent movement, and how strongly we rebuff attempts by the Democrats to subjugate us.

If we are vigilant, I believe we can overcome all of these concerns. If we are vigilant, we can win the freedom back for the people. Hoping for change is not enough, we must know that we are creating change. We must understand the fact that we are more versatile, more adaptive than the enforcers of the 1%’s policies, and that it really pisses them off too, which works to our advantage. Don’t give up on the movement because the land is not occupied, use this time to dig even deeper into that courage shown by all the occupiers. If we do, we will continue to gain support from the American population until our numbers are to great to ignore. And then we will win.