Incredibly telling passage on why OWS is fatally confused and arevolutionary (if not entirely uninterestingly so):
Vague reports, vague threats: this does not even rise to the level of the terrible phrases foisted on the public in recent years, like “credible intelligence.” And oh, the noise, the “unsanitary conditions,” that have made businesses unhappy, “quality of life,” a phrase popularized by Bloomberg’s precursor, Rudy Giuliani, but remains no clearer today than in 1993: it’s a phrase that simultaneously encapsulates and occludes the very struggle at issue in Zuccotti Park. What does it mean to live a life of qualities? Is quality, by definition immeasurable, only describable, something that can be charted by the cleanliness of a street, the absence of certain smells, certain people? Is the absence of dirt, smells, noise, and people what the mayor means by “thriving?” Is there really a right not to see certain things, and can the mayor of New York City destroy individual property in its name?
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The default language we have for talking about rights is, of course, private property. If no city law makes my tent a 24-hour privately owned public space, then YOU CAN’T HAVE IT!!!!
