BREAKING: HISTORIC ACCORD BROKERED ON OWS DRUMMING; BONGOS AND TAMBOURINES INCLUDED IN EARTH-SAVING DEAL

* THE VERY EXISTENCE OF OWS HAD BEEN IN JEOPARDY DUE TO AGGRAVATED PERCUSSION:

OWS is over after Tuesday:

Friends, mediation with the drummers has been called off. It has gone on for more than 2 weeks and it has reached a dead end. The drummers formed a working group called Pulse and agreed to 2 hrs/day at times during the mediation, and more recently that changed to 4 hrs/day. It's my feeling that we may have a fighting chance with the community board if we could indeed limit drumming and loud instrumentation to 12-2pm and 4-6pm, however that isn't what's happening.

Last night the drumming was near continuous until 10:30pm at night. Today it began again at 11am. The drummers are fighting amongst themselves, there is no cohesive group. There is one assemblage called Pulse that organized most of the drummers into a group and went to GA for formal recognition and with a proposal.

Unfortunately there is one individual who is NOT a drummer but who claims to speak for the drummers who has been a deeply disruptive force, attacking the drumming rep during the GA and derailing his proposal, disrupting the community board meeting, as well as the OWS community relations meeting. She has also created strife and divisions within the POC caucus, calling many members who are not 'on her side' "Uncle Tom", "the 1%", "Barbie" "not Palestinian enough" "Wall Street politicians" "not black enough" "sell-outs", etc. People have been documenting her disruptions, and her campaign of misinformation, and instigations. She also has a documented history online of defamatory, divisive and disruptive behavior within the LGBT (esp. transgender) communities. Her disruptions have made it hard to have constructive conversations and productive resolutions to conflicts in a variety of forums in the past several days.

* BUT NOW, "CRISIS AVERTED:"

UPDATE (12:44 AM): Crisis averted: tonight at the General Assembly, the working group of drummers, Pulse, in a spirit of conciliation and generosity, brought forward a proposal to limit their drumming from 12 to 2 and 4 to 6 PM only. The proposal had been worked out through weeks of mediation with the direct action working group. It was considered a first step toward showing the community board that the community in Zuccotti Park can regulate itself. The proposal was approved by consensus by the General Assembly, with applause and rejoicing on all sides. One of our observers said there hadn’t been such happiness and relief since the victory over eviction.

Because this crisis obviously affects us all, and has world-shattering implications, I am going the extra step and reaching out to the party who I believe calls people "Uncle Toms" and "not Palestinian enough" to get his/her side of the story. (I think it's easy enough to guess this person's identity based on other articles, but until I have confirmation for this, I'm holding off naming him/her.)

Important Question: Are Poisonous Drummers Endgangering OWS Movement? And some more questions and comments about the crisis:

We, the 99%, object to 1% controlling the financial system. Should will let a tiny minority of drummers dictate noise levels that affect everyone’s ability to speak and our continued ability to stay in the park?

What if we wanted to read poetry or play acoustic guitar in the space that the drummers occupy?

...

One of the ways the US “tortured” prisoners in Guantanamo was by playing music so loud the prisoners were unable to sleep. So, what is the volume at which drumming ceases to be non-violent and cause sleep deprivation?

...

The drummers are reinforced by people watching them and dancing. Should we organize flash mobs to show our disapproval of the drummers with the non-verbal signs that are practiced in General Assembly?

With one or two exceptions it is impossible to speak to any of the drummers.

Rational discourse with the drummers has failed, there is no point in attempting to talk to them, as opposed to using body language in a non-violent and non-aggressive manner, while still showing our disapproval.

"Rational discourse with the drummers has failed." Comedy gold, as Mike Flynn from Big Government says.

BREAKING: HISTORIC ACCORD BROKERED ON OWS DRUMMING; BONGOS AND TAMBOURINES INCLUDED IN EARTH-SAVING DEAL&bodytext= * THE VERY EXISTENCE OF OWS HAD BEEN IN JEOPARDY DUE TO AGGRAVATED PERCUSSION: OWS is over after Tuesday: Friends, mediation with the drummers has been called off. It has gone on for more than 2 weeks and it...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 12:12 PM

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