Now I'm not going to even try to figure out who did what. Its largely irrelevant. If all Sage is accused of is true, quite clearly this points to serious flaws within OWS. Anyone can come off the street and be a member. Unfortunately, if you don't screen people that you want to join your organization or movement, you cannot be surprised when you have problems with the behavior of some people. Occupy Wall Street has fallen apart and nearly entirely disappeared for a number of reasons. I think Sage is just being SCAPEGOATED for the collapse of OWS.
There was no attempt to remove Sage from Occupy for disruptive behaviors last fall. There was an attempt to remove him for fighting at the GA, but that was blocked. He's advocated Vibe for awhile. Now that OWS has poor turn out on the 4th of July, somehow its all Sage's fault?
Arun Gupta spoke to Sage at the national gathering. As Mr. Gupta states:
"It's unfair to blame Sage, who claims he was "born in a mental hospital". Virtually every occupation was beset by the same types, though New York seemed to have a surplus. Nonetheless, one seasoned Occupy organizer, by way of the Middle East, does blame the wayward behavior of a minority for "destroying Occupy as a functioning entity". He claims after the eviction of the Zuccotti Park occupation last November, there would be meetings of up to 300 people groping for a path going forward, but constant disruptions would "suck the energy out of the room".
I was personally there at those meetings. When I made the suggestion that perhaps only certain people proven to be sane be allowed to attend those meetings, I was told that wasn't the occupy way as occupy had to include everyone. Unfortunately, if you include disruptive people, you exclude everyone else who was serious about business. So its not at all the fault of the disruptors, if they did suck the energy out of the room. Its the fault of the rest of occupy for even tolerating them. Its the fault of occupy for not even doing a background check on these people, to ascertain who they really were and what agendas they really might have. And its the fault of occupy for trying to take on the role of mental hospital. OWS wasn't full of licensed psychiatrist, so if there were troubled people in OWS, they should have been referred to social services or mental hospitals. But now, occupy wanted to include everyone, and unfortunately has suffered consequences for it.
With that said, what's done is done. Moving forward, activists would be advised to take what they can learn from the failures of OWS, and not repeat them in future movements.
