An #OccupyPortland points of unity and solidarity

#OccupyPortland points of unity and solidarity - an individual occupier's viewpoint.

Sarah Morrigan
Resident Coordinator
The #OccupyPortland Interfaith Guild of Chaplains.

Nov. 9, 2011

As the Portland Occupier @PDXOccupier noted in its latest article, #OccupyPortland and its comrade #Occupy movements around the world is a social platform for transformation.  On the ground, we are reconnecting with humanity and engaging in dialogues, co-creation, and co-learning.

Regardless of what drove individual Occupiers to this movement and to the Occupation, I see that there is a common thread behind every individual narrative of what made this movement necessary -- for this world and for that particular individual.

The common thread is our discontent, grievances, and disapproval of the Institution that had become too big, too impersonal, too powerful, and too monstrous.  The modern society has come to idolize the Institution, and upholding, serving and defending the Institution became its religion.  Even though sometimes Institutions promote worthy-sounding goals, ultimately, the Institution became more important than the needs of each living, breathing individual human being.

Yet, we the humans created this monster called Institution.  We gave the Institution this untameable, super-human powers.  We are taking the power back to our own hands to address real human issues and concerns with our own ingenuity, creativity, innovation and our love for the shared humanity.

The Institution has harmed us.

The Institution often goes to war and murders people around the world.

The Institution destroys our liberties in the name of "law and order."

The Institution rather prefers to deny basic human needs so that it can "uphold its integrity."

The Institution rather forecloses people's homes in the middle of winter so it can make obscene profits.

The Institution pays lip service to social responsibility, welfare of the people, and charity while undermining the social justice and disempowering people it deems unworthy.

The Institution divides and conquers people along class lines, racial and ethnic lines, immigration and citizenship status, gender and sexual orientation, ever promoting the idea that there are "us" and "them" and we ought to fear "them" and don't even think of "them" as our equals.

The Institution attempts to curtail or deny our freedom to create, write and speak, unless the Institution can profit from it.

The Institution profits from institutionalizing human beings in many ways.

The Institution withholds and denies life-saving medical care to protect the insurance greed and government agencies.

The Institution profiteers from human miseries, so as to pay the Big Pharma, the for-profit prison business, the social service executives, and others.

The Institution exiles, displaces and deports humans and destroying communities and families both internally and externally, home and abroad.

The Institution shows utter contempt of human dignity, human rights, and true justice all in the name of "law and order" and "justice."

The Institution monetizes our existence, capitalizes on our human desires and needs, and commodify human experiences in the name of consumerism.

We have lost our humanity in the service of the Institution.

Like the prophets of old, we are calling for a healing of the world gone astray.  We are calling for the world to cease the idolatry of the golden calf called the Institution.  We put our humanity before the Institution.

Thus we occupy today.  We will keep occupying.

Until our land becomes the promised land.

This is not an official statement of the Interfaith Guild of Chaplains.