<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><a href="http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/14856-occupys-response-to-disaster-go-on-the-offensive">http://readersupportednews.org/off-site-opinion-section/83-83/14856-occupys-response-to-disaster-go-on-the-offensive</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px; "><div id="attachment_20188" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 580px; "><a href="http://batmanwi.com/2012/11/22/occupy-sandy-distribution-hubs/" style="color: navy; text-decoration: none; "><img class="size-full wp-image-20188" title="Sign at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew on Clinton Ave. in Brooklyn (batmanwi.com/Jenna Pope)" alt="" width="320" height="214" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-color: initial; " id="fd3369f5-b4a1-44f6-9f24-ab549ae0301f" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:9632033F-1201-407A-9837-ED3D86EE524B"></a><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Sign at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew on Clinton Ave. in Brooklyn (<a href="http://batmanwi.com/Jenna Pope">batmanwi.com/Jenna Pope</a>)</div><div><br></div></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; "><h2 style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: bold; text-transform: none; text-align: left; font-size: 2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The best response to disaster: Go on the offensive</h2></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px; ">It has been more than a month since Hurricane Sandy. Windows of opportunity that have opened will soon close again, and we need to seize the moment. Compared to just a week or two ago, there are now fewer volunteers, fewer people reading the mass emails from Occupy Sandy, fewer hubs in active service. And just like before, the vultures are still circling, hoping to use this period of crisis to replace flooded bungalows and moldy housing projects with the fancy condos and luxury hotels they’ve always wanted. Just like before, the underlying systems and crises — social, economic, political and environmental — still exist, and are still causing damage much deeper than any hurricane ever could on its own.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; "><div class="postmetadata" style="clear: both; font-size: 1.4em; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); ">by <a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/author/yotammarom/" title="Posts by Yotam Marom" rel="author" style="color: rgb(34, 102, 170); text-decoration: none; ">Yotam Marom</a> | December 3, 2012</div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px; "><p><span id="more-20186"></span>We’re usually inclined to fight power when it is being carried out, but that’s often too late to stop it. Similarly, we’re inclined to fight power<em>where</em> it is most felt — in our communities, in the poor neighborhoods and communities of color around the city, in the ghettos that separate the many from the few who profit from their exploitation. That, too, is a mistake, because the powerful make decisions far, far away from there.</p><p>Yes, the windows are closing, but there’s still a bit of time and a ton of potential to make the shift <a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/11/occupy-sandy-from-relief-to-resistance/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(34, 102, 170); text-decoration: none; ">from relief to resistance</a>. If we want to protect our communities and prepare ourselves for the many battles ahead, we have to go on the offensive. If we want to really have a say, really change the rules of the game, we have to take the fight from where power is felt to the heart of the beast where it originates — from Far Rockaway and Staten Island to Wall Street and City Hall.</p><div><br></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; "><div class="entry" style="font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; "><div id="fb-root" class=" fb_reset" style="background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); cursor: auto; direction: ltr; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-shadow: none; text-transform: none; visibility: visible; white-space: normal; word-spacing: normal; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><div style="position: absolute; top: -10000px; height: 0px; width: 0px; "><div><iframe id="fb_xdm_frame_http" name="fb_xdm_frame_http" src="http://static.ak.facebook.com/connect/xd_arbiter.php?version=17#channel=f3f677708c&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwagingnonviolence.org&channel_path=%2F2012%2F12%2Fthe-best-response-to-disaster-go-on-the-offensive%2F%3Ffb_xd_fragment%23xd_sig%3Df371cd9ec4%26"></iframe><iframe id="fb_xdm_frame_https" name="fb_xdm_frame_https" src="https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/connect/xd_arbiter.php?version=17#channel=f3f677708c&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwagingnonviolence.org&channel_path=%2F2012%2F12%2Fthe-best-response-to-disaster-go-on-the-offensive%2F%3Ffb_xd_fragment%23xd_sig%3Df371cd9ec4%26"></iframe></div></div><div style="position: absolute; top: -10000px; height: 0px; width: 0px; "><div></div></div></div><div id="attachment_20188" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 580px; "><br><div style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; padding-top: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Sign at the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew on Clinton Ave. in Brooklyn (<a href="http://batmanwi.com/Jenna Pope">batmanwi.com/Jenna Pope</a>)</div></div></div></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25px; "> </span></div></body></html>