Produced by:
KBOO
Program::
Air date:
Mon, 01/11/2016 - 12:00am
Jan Haaken and Tod Sloan on the Psychology of the Malheur Occupation
Jan Haaken and Tod Sloan discuss the occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They consider the largely progressive history of occupation, often as a response to exhaustion of other attempts at redress, and usually entailing personal risk, as in occupations of segregated lunch counters, or the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee by American Indian Movement activists. They note the potential overlap in outlook or rhetoric between some left and right perspectives on the value of the local, but that the underlying issues in the Malheur case have to do with narrow material interests, often coming down to the desire to privatize public lands. Jan comments on the traditionally conservative perspectives of ranchers (as opposed to dairy farmers), who are more distant from their animals and land, and can seem to deny their actual dependence on government subsidies and regulations. Similar observations apply to the incident involving gold miners last year in southern Oregon. Todd notes the Malheur occupation raises and faces similar struggles to the Occupy (Wall St) movement--who will speak for the group, how will occupiers be fed. Jan notes that soliciting material aid is also a way of declaring dedication and locating political support. They conclude with the importance of how to name the Malheur occupation and the grounds on which to critique it.
[image via wikipedia]
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