I'm curious as to why you say that fewer protesters in NYC will mean more protesters in other areas.
I say that because I know how organized this movement is. This young adult generation is something America hasn't seen in a long time, not since the 1930s and early 1940s, in fact.
Are you familiar with the generation-cycle theory of history developed by the late William Strauss and Neil Howe, and published in their books
Generations and
The Fourth Turning? In capsule, it holds that we go through an interlocking cycle of generations and "turnings," the latter being shifts in public mood and events. Both cycles are fourfold. The generations are the Idealist, Reactive, Civic, and Adaptive types (recurring in that order), while the turnings are the High, Awakening, Unraveling, and Crisis, again in that order.
Each turning is made to be what it is by the generations that are entering the four phases of life (elderhood, midlife, young adulthood, childhood), and each turning features a characteristic pattern of child rearing and coming-of-age experience that establishes the new generations.
We are currently in a Crisis turning. The last time we went through a Crisis it began with the 1929 stock market crash and ended a little after World War II was over. A Crisis turning features Civics as the coming of age generation. Our current Civics, who are called the Millennial generation, were born from 1982 to 2005, so they are aged six to 29 and dominate OWS. The last Civic generation was born 1901 to 1924, and we call them the GI Generation or the so-called "Greatest" generation. They exhibited the same kind of civic consciousness (hence the name) and organization and team consciousness that the Millennials do. But the Millennials have a tool that empowers their natural tendencies towards teamwork and organization that the GIs never had: the Internet. And it's plain amazing what they're doing with it.
Much of this was predicted by Strauss and Howe years ago, including the nature of the Civic generation and the fact that we would enter a Crisis turning and roughly when (they predicted some time between 2005 and 2010, and the actual start date seems to have been 2008).
Long story short, this protest is arising out of a highly organized on-line movement that preceded it. It's leaderless, but that doesn't mean disorganized, not with a Civic gen.
Will someone be paying to transport protesters to other cities? If so, where will the money to do that come from? And who will be co-coordinating the funds to move and house them?
Organized transportation is indeed very likely. A lot of money has already been raised. Here, check this out:
"1. The Occupy Wall Street movement, through the local general assembly, should elect an executive committee comprised of 11 people or some other odd number of people that is manageable for meetings. Ideally this committee should represent each city in the U.S. that is being occupied.
"2. The executive committee will then attend to local issues such as obtaining permits, paying for public sanitation and dealing with the media. More important, the executive committee shall plan and organize the election of the 870 delegates to a National General Assembly between now and July 4, 2012.
"3. As stated in the 99% declaration, each of the 435 congressional districts will form an election committee to prepare ballots and invite citizens in those districts to run as delegates to a National General Assembly in Philadelphia beginning on July 4, 2012 and convening until October 2012.
"4. Each of the 435 congressional districts will elect one man and one woman to attend the National General Assembly. The vote will be by direct democratic ballot regardless of voter registration status as long as the voter has reached the age of 18 and is a US citizen. This is not a sexist provision. Women are dramatically under-represented in politics even though they comprise more than 50% of the U.S. population.
"5. The executive committee will act as a central point to solve problems, raise money to pay for the expenses of the election of the National General Assembly and make sure all 870 delegates are elected prior to the meeting on July 4th.
"6. The executive committee would also arrange a venue in Philadelphia to accommodate the delegates attending the National General Assembly where the declaration of values, petition of grievances and platform would be proposed, debated, voted on and approved. The delegates would also elect a chair from their own ranks to run the meetings of the congress and break any tie votes. We will also need the expertise of a gifted parliamentarian to keep the meetings moving smoothly and efficiently.
"7. The final declaration, platform and petition of grievances, after being voted upon by the 870 delegates to the National General Assembly would be formally presented by the 870 delegates to all three branches of government and all candidates running for federal public office in November 2012. Thus, the delegates would meet from July 4, 2012 to sometime in early to late October 2012.
"8. The delegates to the National General Assembly would then vote on a time period, presently suggested as one year, to give the newly elected government in November an opportunity to redress the petition of grievances. This is our right as a People under the First Amendment.
"9. If the government fails to redress the petition of grievances and drastically change the path this country is on, the delegates will demand the resignation and recall of all members of congress, the president and even the Supreme Court and call for new elections by, of and for the PEOPLE with 99 days of the resignation demand.
"10. There will NEVER be any call for violence by the delegates even if the government refuses to redress the grievances and new elections are called for by the delegates. Nor will any delegate agree to take any money, job promise, or gifts from corporations, unions or any other private source. Any money donated or raised by the executive committee may only be used for publicizing the vote, the National General Assembly, and for travel expenses and accommodation at the National General Assembly ONLY. All books and records will be published openly online so that everyone may see how much money is raised and how the money is spent each month. There will be no money allowed to "purchase" delegate votes as we have in the current government. No corporate "sponsorship"."
This is the kind of thing that's happening, and most of it is happening out of sight of anyone who isn't involved in the movement, because it's all on line. That level of it has been happening for years. I knew that something like OWS was going to happen long before it did, although I didn't know the specifics (and they emerged somewhat spontaneously).
So while it's not currently planned, the organization and funds to bus people to events anywhere in the country certainly does exist. All it would need is a reason, and the police shutting down OWS would qualify as a reason.
Finally, don't let the insistence on nonviolence fool you. This is potentially a revolutionary movement. Revolution can perhaps be forestalled by real reform, but not by anything else. A revolution doesn't have to be violent; the overthrow of the Soviet Union for example was not.
The last Civic generation unionized the workplace, won World War II, ended Jim Crow, built the interstate highways, gave us (either through their votes and organization or when they were in charge of the government) Social Security, Medicare, and the EPA, and put men on the moon. And that was without the Internet as an organizing tool.
It would be a great mistake to underestimate our new Civics. They are very powerful, and will have a tremendous impact on our institutions throughout their lives. This is only the beginning.
