Early this week, hundreds of citizens gathered in New York’s Zuccotti Park. Loud, unruly people chanted strange slogans while standing in the streets wearing strange costumes. The city’s police resources were pushed to the limit trying to contain the spontaneous gathering. The demonstration was similar in tone to similar gatherings in recent years in places like Boston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco and even Green Bay. In fact, demonstrations like this are common in cities with football teams after a Super Bowl or other major sports championship win.

I look forward to the city denouncing these Giants fans and press releases about how much this occupation of the New York streets cost the taxpayers.

Personally, I’m more afraid of football fans than I am anarchists, but all the Occupy water cooler chat this week was about this Chris Hedges piece, warning Occupiers that Black Bloc Anarchists are rotting the movement from the inside. A “cancer,” he calls them, and warns us that the Black Bloc will ultimately bring down Occupy itself with the same shortsighted narcissism that compels them to reject and denounce all movements and institutions. In their dogmatic refusal to work with political allies or authorities, the Anarchists have to be seen as a force that will resist all, even the successes of the 99%. They are eager to fight the police and they use Occupy as a shield as they commit wanton vandalism and perform dastardly Anarcho deeds. The mainstream shrinks away from support of the Occupy movement after violence and turmoil, all of which is caused by these Evildoers. The camera loves trouble, and these mischievous scamps are always ready to give America a show. Ultimately, they will destroy Occupy.

There is much discussion going on about this piece and about this issue. Many Occupy activists dread the appearance of the Anarchists at meetings and events. The occasion for this new concern about the Anarchist component is last week’s massive Oakland police action, which included 400 arrests and some broken stuff. Oakland has been the hotbed for the police vs. Occupy conflict since the beginning, and it has long been accepted that Oakland’s Black Bloc is the reason widows keep being broken and police clubs keep coming in contact with skulls.

I don’t have any special knowledge of what’s happening on the ground in Oakland, but I do know there are Anarchists running with Occupy in every major city in America. That includes here in Austin, where I associate Occupy more with yoga classes than police clashes. I don’t disagree that Anarchists are sometimes a prickly bunch, especially as a movement solidifies its goals and these consistently opinionated voices are always there to critique it. It’s perhaps true Anarchists are often going to want to go the other way, no matter which way everyone else is going. But those who portray them as nothing but an impediment may be overcooking the pie a bit. And to suggest the violence is always the fault of the Anarchists is a convenient out. There are plenty who wear the label who wouldn’t think of throwing a stone or raising a hand to a cop or anyone else. And every police action in an Occupy camp or march includes people kicking and screaming, many of whom think Bakunin was a character in Lord Of The Rings and believe Kropotkin is an itchy skin condition.

The streets are contentious, and to say it all boils down to a bunch of stone throwers is too easy an answer for why these things happen. If Oakland is all the fault of anarchists, why are things relatively peaceful in San Francisco? Anarchists may have a problem with authority, but they don’t have a problem driving across a bridge. There’s something in the water at the police station in Oakland. The reasons for the violence in that city may include a few pyromaniacs in the streets, but it also involves an especially contentious police force, rules of engagement that differ from those in other cities, and the tension already there between police and demonstrators. Remember Oakland is the scene of several cases of police violence against non-violent protestors. You can’t blame anarchists for all the rage that exists there. Nor can you pretend there aren’t anarchists in peaceful cities. There are.

Also, I don’t share the feeling of gloomy urgency, the idea that America is one masked hoodlum away from dismissing Occupy. It’s been a hard winter, but the ideas Occupy groups are galvanizing around are perennial. The Occupy encampments may be getting smaller or going indoors, but Americans aren’t rejecting the themes. Let’s talk openly about the Anarchist element and debate what they contribute (energy and a determination to avoid hierarchy) and don’t contribute (yoga classes and Obama voters). And let us continue to denounce the violence, as we always have–even before this discussion, the troublemakers in the Black Bloc are widely disdained, shamed and avoided by the Occupy rank and file, which is overwhelmingly peaceful and takes pains to remain so.

As the streets thaw in the big urban centers and the election compels Americans to focus on the issues Occupy has helped raise, the big demonstrations will bloom again. There’s an American Spring coming, and I’m not worried some kid in a bandana kicking over trash cans is going to bring history grinding to a halt.

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But speaking of arrests, what the Hell happened in D.C. this week?

About 300 protestors were tossed out of McPherson Square in Washington over the weekend. The protestors in the park had a structure they called “The Tent of Dreams.” The city, deciding it was time for Occupiers to wake up, demanded it be taken down and the 100 or so tents in the park be removed. The tent came down, but the process of removing the campers was contentious. Salon has an account written by someone on the ground there. Some number greater than 6 and less than 12 were arrested, depending on where you read about it. A few were hurt. I don’t know what’s next for D.C., but I do know the Republican Party is coming to town for their annual CPAC convention (today through the weekend) and it’s going to be Occupied.

What?  You want another story?  OK, but just one more and then you have to go to bed.  Here’s the story of what happened in Austin.

Friday night in Austin, the Occupy slumber party at City Hall was broken up by police, who arrived by bus in numbers that suggested they were looking for trouble. It appears the night before, the City Manager, without review or hearing, changed the policy on what would be allowed on City Hall premises. Naturally, the demonstrators were given no warning or time to appeal and instead were chased out. Occupy Austin returned to City Hall the next day, but now they are compelled to honor the 10pm park curfew (City Hall is not a park). So for the time being, OA is breaking up at 10pm each night, while planning their next move. Seven were arrested in the initial action. All of them were released the next day. The days since have been without major incident.

My theory? The normally peaceful Austin group has a cozy relationship with some of the city’s homeless citizens. Those without beds to go to after the police cleared City Hall were put on a bus and sent to a homeless-friendly abandoned building, far from downtown. Did the city just get tired of people without homes being so visible at City Hall, and create this action to get them moved safely out of eyesight?

That’s my theory, and I’m going to stick with it. But I admit, I wasn’t there. I was Occupying my bed in North Central Austin.

What’s coming up?

• February 9-11 in Washington D.C. – Occupy CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference)
• March 30th – National Occupation of Washington D.C. (Web Site)
• April 7th – Chicago Spring (Facebook)
• May 1st – Occupy General Strike (Web site)
• May 18th – G8 Summit in Chicago (Occupy Chicago)
• Last week of August – Republican National Convention
• September – Democratic National Convention

Still not sleepy? Here’s a little Occupy reading from around the web.

How did we get here? The Nation, on The Making Of The 99%. And who are they? Check out The faces Of The 99%.

In Oakland, after the recent police sweep that resulted in hundreds of arrests, some of the detained were denied medication. There were actually a lot of reports of malicious treatment of prisoners, but these stories about meds seem to be pretty well backed up. And did you know that of the hundreds detained, only a dozen or so have been charged? I’m sure both those things are the fault of the anarchists, too.

More foreclosures stopped by singing.

New rules for radicals.

At least 50 journalists have been arrested while covering Occupy events or police actions against them. Carlos Miller is an accredited journalist who was arrested in Miami. According to him, he was singled out by the police, who let several journalists pass by them, then stopped him. He was not allowed to leave the scene, and was among many charged for failing to disperse. Police tell a different story. But here’s where it gets interesting. Police took Miller’s camera from him and deleted video of these events. Later, he recovered some of them. He is having the data retrieved by a professional data recovery service. All his video appears to support his version of the story and makes the police look very bad.

I see a new training course for Miami Police: “Digital Cameras and Data Retrieval For Dummies.”

So let me end with a question, and maybe one of the 99% of America who reads this column has the answer. Every time I read a story about an Occupy group being evicted from a public space, the article says this is “among the last” or “the last” of the Occupy groups still active. It reminds me of how every target taken out in the Iraq war was “Saddam’s 2nd in command,” and no matter how many times it happened there was always a Saddam 2nd to be killed the next week. Every group evicted is the last one in America, and yet there are a handful of new ones evicted each week, and I know people who are still camping out.

Are Occupy groups like those clowns in the Volkswagon at the circus?

The media is eager to pronounce the death of the Occupy movement. I can promise you, reports of Occupy’s demise, eviction, the end of the bongo music, or death by Anarchist, are premature. Keep coming back to Occupy Fringe for your Occupy cheat sheet, because things are just about to get good.

See you next week.