As I was trying to sleep a few nights ago, I began thinking about Robin Hood[1]. Not the Robin Hood tax, but the man, the myth, the legend. The era told within that myth is not unlike our era. The rich not only living high while the surfs and peasants suffer, but the lowest classes in England were forced to pay the ransom of the king in a foreign war. This being through excessive taxation on those could afford it the least. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? That of course brought me to the response of Robin and his men (as portrayed by popular mythology).
Robin and his group of freedom fighters did not encamp in
the constables’ back yard. He did not subject his troops to the direct assault
by the Sheriff of Nottingham. They created their encampment and community of
out-laws deep in Sherwood Forest where the community could find safety.
All of this brought me to thinking about the encampments of
Occupy around the USA. The goal of the occupy camps was to make a presence known
that could not be ignored. It was to get the message across that there are many
more people across the land who does not share the gold in this gilded age. While
heaped with scorn, and abuses and violation by the various operatives of the
executive branch of the government, they attempted to build a cohesive
community of activist. Therein is the difference.
Robin of myth was trying to protect the unprotected from the
wrath and torture of the authorities. Occupy was trying to hold a beachhead
from which they could launch non-violent protest. It would be nice to think
that the goal of Occupy Wall Street was to protect vulnerable people, and build
up at risk communities, but it wasn’t. The goal of Occupy Wall Street was to
point out the destructive effect of the Oligarchy running the USA.
We’re just going to have to look elsewhere for the Robin
Hood to build a community where people can be safe from the ravages of the
Oligarchy’s Executive Enforcement Agencies. Perhaps we need to look within
ourselves.
[1] The
Robin Hood Tax is “a small tax on Wall Street that could transform Main Street.”
(see http://robinhoodtax.org/ for
details).
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