Occupy Movement Changes Political Conversation, Activists Say at Ames Event

Many people at an Occupy Ames/Occupy ISU forum Sunday had already participated in Occupy protests and wanted to continue, but were curious about future goals and visions of the movement.

Stephen Toothman, a panelist at the forum and a participant in Occupy DSM, tried to answer those questions.

“What the Occupy movement has done is change the conversation. There will not be one watershed moment, but a series of small victories,” he said.

ISU graduate student John Dean, along with Carol Oliveira, and Toothman and Jessica Reznicek, who both participate in Occupy DSM, were on the panel at the Ames Pantorium Sunday. About 30 people attended the event hosted by the locally-based Alliance for Global Justice, Occupy Ames and Occupy ISU, as well as KHOI-FM Radio.

Toothman used the example of conversation before and after the Occupy movements began. Before, national political discussion was about lack of money and a bad economy; a month after the movement began, the discussion turned to the lack of jobs.

Some in attendance, such as Danielle Ryun of Des Moines who plans to attend in the spring, said she is concerned about the proposed 3.75 percent tuition hike at Iowa’s public universities and wanted to know if the Occupy groups planned any demonstrations.

“ISU and Ames (Occupy movements) are trying to connect more and engage one another. (But,) I do not know of any plan of action for the Board of Regents meeting,” said panelist John Dean, an ISU graduate student active in both the Ames and the ISU Occupy movements.

Dean said it is hard to know exactly what will come next. He wouldn’t be surprised if something happens in regard to the regents meeting, and that is the beauty of the Occupy movement, he noted. After the event, he said it is difficult to know more than three days in advance what will happen because events snowball so quickly through online social networking.

While much is unknown about the future plans of the Occupy movement, a few events have been planned.

On Dec. 10: The Occupy Des Moines group at Stewart Park in Des Moines plans a public hearing from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the Wellmark health insurance rate increase, according to their website. Daily gatherings also are planned.

On Jan. 10: “Occupy The Statehouse Day," Iowa CCI Action Fund, is at 9 a.m. at the Capitol Rotunda in Des Moines. The demonstration will respond to Gov. Terry Branstad's "corporate agenda" on the same day he delivers the State of the State address with "a powerful vision for a more just and democratic Iowa,” according to a flyer passed out at the forum.

A bus will bring people from Ames that day to participate. Buses also will be coming from Denison, Dubuque and Iowa City.

The day is co-sponsored by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement.

In Ames: Members of both ISU and Ames Occupy groups said they continue to gather once a week to express their views and meet to discuss what should come next.

Bernie Gerstein of Ames bluntly asked the group why they don’t channel their efforts to support candidates like Christie Vilsack, running to unseat U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, by donating money to the Vilsack campaign, and take time to knock on doors.

“Both parties are compromised,” Toothman responded, adding that neither party is interested in breaking up the big financial institutions and corporations. “Democrats and Republicans alike refuse to do anything about them.”

One panelist took the opportunity to clarify some points. Reznicek let everyone know Occupy DSM is not trying to take over caucus sites.

“We won’t be disrupting the actual sites. … There’s a lot of misconception about that. We are coming up with platforms to present to political candidates,” she said.

Forum attendee Katherine Fromm of Ames told panelists that while they might not occupy the caucuses, she thinks Occupy activists should talk to other people at caucus sites to help educate people about the movement.