It’s Time to Occupy Biden

A tough year is ending on a bad note. Not only are Covid cases rising fast but, because of Manchin and Sinema, the Build Back Better act is in serious trouble. On top of that, Joe Biden hasn’t exactly been the leader on the climate emergency, and on numerous other issues, that is needed. Joe is not Bernie. But, sigh, at least he’s not Trump.

Politics ain’t beanbag, I’ve heard it said. In the game of beanbag you either throw it in the hole or you don’t. In politics, the way it’s played in Washington, DC, big money, fossil fuel money, billionaire money corrupts and makes clear-cut victories for the people and Mother Earth rare. What victories are won are almost always partial or limited.

This reality makes it essential, absolutely essential, that we keep up the street heat, the mass demonstrations, the nonviolent direct action, the grassroots organizing. It is true, as the slogan goes, that “there ain’t no power like the power of the people,” but that power can only be realized when it is manifested publicly, out in the open, visible.

And that is why I am so glad that community organizers in Wilmington, Delaware, over a month ago, came up with the idea and began to organize for what has become Occupy Biden, a 24/7 nonviolent occupation less than a mile from President Biden’s house. It will begin at 12 noon on Christmas Day, December 25, and continue until noon on January 1, 2022. Those of us taking part in this action will be ending 2021 and beginning 2022 on the absolutely right note of resolute action for what is right and needed…