OWS raised political awareness in US

A respected activist says that the anti-capitalist Occupy movements are taking direct action to educate Americans about the traits of the next presidential candidates.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Acacia Brewer from the Occupy Boston movement to further discuss the issue.

The following is a transcript of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, tell us what the Occupy Boston movement has been doing today.

Brewer: A few days ago we were at the Dewey Square encampment, and since then we’ve been having general assemblies down at the Boston Common which was where we first started.

We’re trying to plan our next steps in this movement. It’s looking really good right now, but it’s still a new phase and we’re just trying to see where to go next.

Press TV: Of course, we saw yesterday the Occupy protesters getting involved in shutting down ports in Oakland and elsewhere. Does this mean that the Occupy movement protesters are now planning further action, even more direct action, so to speak, rather than just rallying or organizing sit-ins?

Brewer: Yeah, absolutely. Most of the occupations have been doing direct actions since the beginning. But now I think we’re going to start redefining these actions and making them really worthwhile. We’re not really allowed to have encampments. Direct actions are the next best thing.

I know in Boston, as well as in most of the other occupations, we’re really trying to gather up a lot of creative ideas for direct actions. This is something we’re just talking about yesterday in Boston. There are a lot of great ideas, and I’m excited about to hear.

Press TV: And what’s the overall view among the protesters and among the Occupy movement in particular about the election process ahead for America, whether it’s wise to take part in that election, and if it is, how to vote?

Brewer: As far as a whole, we’re not going to back any candidate. I think that if we continue doing what we’re doing, stating our views, our concerns and fears about how the country is going right now, right now our target is the people who are going to vote not the people who are candidates.

If we can make them aware of these problems, and make them a little bit more educated on these issues, maybe they can make a better vote.

I don’t know who I’ll be voting for or if I’ll be voting, but right now it’s very important for us to educate everyone who plans on voting and everyone who doesn’t plan on voting just so that we can keep this global dialogue going. It’s been very important so far and I hope that we can further it.

Press TV: Basically, do you think, however, the current authorities, the current government, those in power – lawmakers in Congress, in the Senate – have they been giving you the kind of response that you’re expecting? Have they been listening to you? Have they tried to bring about changes that you would want?

Brewer: I think it’s still really early on in the movement to see if there’s been any kind of changes. I think from our standpoint, just the occupation, just getting everyone talking have been, so far, the biggest accomplishment that I would say has happened.

I think that this movement will be around in years to come. Years from now we’ll start talking about if there have been big changes. These things can’t be fixed overnight.

And if we just keep continuing what we’re doing…I’ve have had a lot of politicians come down to Boston and, basically, tell us everything we wanted to hear. While that’s really nice, that’s sort of what politicians do.

Right now, I’m not interested in backing any candidate. I’m just interested in finding out what are some of the issues that we can tackle. There are so many issues but we need to find a couple that we can, realistically, find solutions to.