David Graeber, one of the founders of the Occupy movement, writes that Occupy is diverging from liberalism to become a revolutionary movement.

Occupy is shedding its liberal accretions and rapidly turning into something with much deeper roots, creating alliances that promise to transform the very notion of revolutionary politics in America.

I certainly identify with the liberal rather than radical tendencies that he is saying goodbye to. And although Occupy does not have any formal leaders, he is one of its most prominent informal leaders, and likely anticipates its future direction correctly.

I want no part of a revolutionary movement. As problematic as things are in this country, the idea that “nothing could be worse” is bunk. The history of the bloody 20th century shows that revolutionary movements often commit mass murder.

I don’t believe in tearing down the house you live in. If you look at history, evolution, not revolution, has the best track record. I would find Graeber’s vision of the future scary if I thought he had a chance of succeeding. Throughout history, however, anarchism has always been self-defeating,  and I expect it will remain that way.

Occupy has it’s moment, and it looks to me like that moment is passing away, as it turns it’s back on liberal accretions and other, even more conservative elements of the 99% to focus on a radical fringe.

I will continue to honor my pledge to give all earnings from my book through the end of this year to the Occupy movement. But I probably won’t be participating anymore (not just because of Graeber himself, but because I think he does indeed reflect where Occupy is headed).

My advocacy for a more mindful economics will have to find other outlets, for instance at the upcoming conference of the New Economics Institute,  and in the promotion of a more equitable, caring and lower growth economy that has a chance of being sustainable.

The Occupy Wall Street Meditation Working Group has released five videos. This one is a moving look back at meditations held at Zucotti Park in New York

The rest of the videos, including a tutorial on how to do a “grounding” practice are here.

As I’m in Boston, I participated in meditations in Boston rather than in Manhattan, but I did visit New York and saw the tree, altar and circle where the meditations were held, and a Hindu service that was going on at the time.

According to the NY Times, the New York Police Department has been spending quite a bit of effort spying on Occupy Wall Street protestors.  Coming on the heels  investigations of area Muslims that raised concerns not just among civil libertarians but reportedly even at the FBI, this suggests that the police department may have too many people assigned to these tasks and not enough for them to do productively.

I don’t dismiss the need to look for potential terrorists. One of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed 6 and paved the way for 9/11, lived on the same street in New Jersey as my parents.  But if the NY police doesn’t have enough productive leads on possible terrorists, the public would be better served if they reassigned cops to the beat rather than waste resources on nonviolent Occupy protestors.

This is so unbelievable and perversely funny that I have to post it, and I suppose it is tangentially related to the purpose of this blog, given that Dominque Strauss-Kahn was almost the French Socialist candidate for president, and I do favor a social democratic approach to the economy (i.e. capitalism heavily regulated and taxed to promote the social good). Anyway, DSK is in trouble again for attending orgies.

A lawyer for Mr. Strauss-Kahn appeared to confirm that he had attended the events, saying that his client would not have been aware if the women who entertained him were prostitutes.

“He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” the lawyer, Henri Leclerc, told a French radio station, Europe 1, in December.