In my first Mobilizing Ideas blog entry (Nov. 21), I focused on part-time or weekend activists in the Occupy movement. I noted that Occupy Seattle (OS) moved their camp to a local community college campus from their dowtown location. On Dec. 2, a county court ruled that camping on community college property is illegal and, in their emergency ruling, ordered the camp to be dismantled. The OS movement showcases competing elite viewpoints (elite in terms of the college community) as well as negative framing of the movement, particularly by the media, and the use of that framing in the decision by the college administration to evict Occupiers.
When it was announced that OS would set up its tents in a small square on the community college campus in late October, it seemed clear that the college, or at least many at the college, including faculty, were sympathetic and welcoming. Continue reading
Mobilizing Ideas 