By Susie Cagle, Truthout | News Analysis
Protesters face officers during an Occupy movement march outside City Hall in Oakland, California, on May 1, 2012. (Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times)
Occupy Oakland talks about itself as the vanguard of the Occupy movement, which may or may not be true, and which may or may not be relevant. In American politics, Occupy is the vanguard. It has made every other act of protest seem more reasonable in comparison, by pushing forward and, at times, creating a point of crisis so immediate and vital that it forces the populace to address it - and then allowed it a space from which to do so. The success of those on the left who wish to create reforms - which are sometimes sea changes that smash the system in a different way than the "smashy smashy" of protest by property destruction - rely on those trash cans and bandanas. Vanguard or not, what happens in Oakland's Occupy circles still has the potential to reveal the movement's character, and the nation's politics, on a larger scale.
