Twelve weeks after Occupy the Farm embarked on an arduous pursuit of local farming, the shine of the once promising movement has withered away like the leaves of a weary crop.
Last Monday, the Albany City Council voted to approve the University Village Mixed Use Project, which entails building a senior housing complex, mixed retail center and Whole Foods Market on UC-owned land in the city.
We are in favor of the council’s decision and frustrated by the uncooperative approach of the protesters.
Originally, we were excited by the occupation of the UC-owned Gill Tract, where community and Occupy members protested the project and advocated for a sustainable local farm. Yes, we were bothered that they disregarded university research on the land, but the occupation seemed to have potential.
Throughout the encampment, the campus attempted to compromise while the protesters remained stagnant and stubborn. The university said it was open to the possibility of a farm, but time and time again, the farmers were not receptive in entering discussions with the campus. After the police’s May 14 raid on the camp — it is, after all, university property — the campus even dropped its lawsuit against 15 of the protesters. And on July 7, Occupy the Farm members broke into the Gill Tract to weed and harvest the crops they planted during their occupation — yet the police, in good faith, did not arrest them.
Still the members of the Occupy the Farm movement won’t even acknowledge the campus’s favorable attitude. The campus has continually extended olive branches to the protesters only to be spurned. Enough is enough.
The protesters are standoffish, and their goals are unclear. The land they had been occupying is not even the land where the University Village Mixed Use Project will be built. If the members had been just a little flexible, just a little willing to talk, or even compromise, maybe they would have had more positive results.
In the end, the protest never evolved. And Occupy the Farm blew its chance.
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Thank you!!! In all honesty, the members of this movement are making me frustrated and annoyed. I can’t understand why UC Berkeley hasn’t acted more strongly against them. I think they did a good job of raising the issue and making their voice heard, but unless they start cooperating their voice is no longer going to be heard. They need to jump on board with those who are now talking with UC B. about what an urban farm on that land might look like.
The Daily Cal is right on this one.
This has been the unfortunate history of the overall Occupy movement. They could bring people, but they didn’t have focus or clear purpose. I have never seen such a large protest fail so dramatically. So when all the tents are gone, nothing has happened except for local police forces getting some extra overtime pay. I hope people learn from this and abandon the Occupy format of protest, because it doesn’t work. Your protest needs to have intelligent leadership that can speak for everyone about specific issues and goals. Otherwise, you are just camping on a really lousy campground.
The incompetence of this Occupation is staggering. They have successively managed to alienate the University, the researchers, the local community, the Albany city council and now (at last) The Daily Cal. I guess arrogant certainty and ideological rigidity eventually does have a cost after all.