SEATTLE – In the dead of night, as drunken Halloween revelers streamed into the street from nearby bars, Karen Strickland tried to teach Occupy Seattle protesters how to get their message across to politicians.
Other lessons—including the history of labor movements, writing a “position statement” and the language of a Martin Luther King Jr. letter—were held as community college instructors from around Seattle gave free classes earlier this week in an attempt to bolster a protest that had been struggling to capture the attention of a city with a vibrant history of protests.
And as the Occupy movement shows signs of fracturing after violent outbreaks in Oakland and elsewhere, instructors here say they’ll continue efforts to mentor the mostly young people who have taken to the streets over the last several weeks.
“We didn’t talk about their particular strategies,” said Strickland, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers Seattle Local 1789. “I guess my impression is that these are people who are thoughtful. They certainly don’t have all the answers. They make mistakes along the way. Does that mean they’re ineffective or pointless? I don’t think so.”
From San Diego to New Mexico, Occupy protests have also played host to academics volunteering their time to provide free classes. In Seattle, the teacher’s union for the city’s community colleges supports the protesters and quickly organized the lessons at Seattle Central Community College, where the local movement recently relocated.
For weeks, Occupy Seattle was unable to attract more than a handful of people to camp overnight at the downtown plaza where it began in early October. Their numbers dwindled after a combination of cold, rainy weather and a police-enforced ban on tents.
An internal debate over whether to move the occupation to City Hall after an offer from Mayor Mike McGinn also divided the group. It got to the point that even a writer at the liberal alternative newspaper “The Stranger”’ complained about Occupy Seattle.
