Occupy Redux?

That title is misleading, because despite all the post-mortems, the Occupy movement has been alive and well since the security state disbanded the last physical camp a little over two years ago. It's branched off into Occupy Our Homes, Occupy Sandy, The Fight for $15, Movement Against Monsanto and GMOS,  Anti-Homelessness and Year of The Rent Freeze Coalition, Stop/Stop and Frisk-Stop Mass Incarceration Group, End The Fed, Ban Fracking Now, People’s Power Assembly NY/NJ, Occu-Evolve(OWS), Nationalize the Fed, Money Out Of Politics, The Alternative Banking Group of Occupy Wall Street, and Golden Farm Workers, among others.

So get ready for a re-occupation of Zuccotti Park and scores or even hundreds of other sites this Friday in what has been dubbed a Worldwide Wave of Action. The date, April 4, has been chosen to mark the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. as he protested with striking sanitation workers in Memphis. 

Friday's events in New York City will begin with a march of the grossly underpaid airport workers and their supporters from JFK Airport to LaGuardia Airport. Later that morning, proponents of a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street will hold a sit-in. Afternoon events include a "Disobedience School" for newbies by some of the original Occupy organizers.

It should be interesting to see how new Mayor Bill de Blasio, elected on a wave of progressive populism, will react to the events. I suspect it will be positive... as long as it's a one day only affair. You may recall that Mayor Mike Bloomberg himself was initially barely tolerant of Occupy and its predecessor, Bloombergville. It was two months before the final Homeland Security-orchestrated national onslaught against peaceful protesters began. And this being a midterm election year. I imagine Democratic candidates will be jockeying for camera position to gush their support.

The Worldwide Wave of Action is set to run through July 4. You can find more information here.

Meanwhile, I'd be remiss in not reporting that this apparent resurgence of Occupy is being described as "psy-ops propaganda" by some, because some of the publicity is a little strange and the demands are a bit free-floating. I think those Anonymous masks are also freaking people out. Plus, just as in the original Occupy movement, there is a hefty dose of libertarianism and LaRouche in the mix. Michel Chossudovsky has more.

Another possible red flag is the participation of establishment types. Former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan, for example, is enthusiastically blogging about it on the Huffington Post.

So, I am keeping an open mind. Remember, it was AdBusters magazine, a commercial enterprise, that initially publicized the Zuccotti Park encampment.

Update: What exquisite timing. As expected, the Supreme Court just dealt a huge blow to democracy by unleashing even deadlier torrents of unlimited cash into the political system. The 5-4 decision on McCutcheon vs. FEC has been described as Citizens United on Steroids.