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“I could be fired for writing this.” Nowah Jacobs offers his viewpoint on the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, what he saw there, and the impact this article could have on his employment status.

(Andy’s note: Seeing as this is a fairly contentious issue, that I feel warrants a good deal of discussion from a range of perspectives, I’m hoping this piece provokes some debate. If you think you could add something with a companion/response piece, do get in touch.)

(Photo via @sassbutt - Used with permission)

I could be fired for writing this.

Today is October 5, 2011, and I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the folks at #Occupy Wall Street for the past two days. I arrived at the park with my voice recorder and the understanding that I could not, under any circumstances, be arrested this time. I didn’t actually record anything, though, and instead watched while major news outlets cornered protesters and asked them the same question we’ve been hearing this whole time: “Why are you, (The People), doing this?”

The major concern that I have heard from my friends and fellow rabble rousers on the road is that #Occupy lacks a list of concrete demands. A unified statement of purpose. A convincing rage. And until I got to lower Manhattan and saw these incredibly articulate individuals stumble on camera through the issues they stumble through together every night at general announcements, I was skeptical of The Movement as well. And then it occurred to me that I could be fired for writing this.

There is a distinct and important difference between #Occupy and other mass mobilizations like Madison, Wisconsin, or St. Paul, Minnesota, or Libya. The fact is that I could be fired for writing this because my contract stipulates that I keep myself out of other media, taking special care foremost to remain mum about “controversial issues” like OWS. And I know that that’s not something that many of you reading this might have to worry about, but I know that I’m lucky to not have babies I gotta feed.

The fact is that capitalism pulverizes us in ways that are entirely individual, contextual, and non-consensual. The fact is that ninety-nine percent of three hundred and seven million is a number that I can’t even begin to understand. The fact is that we The People outnumber Wall Street ninety-nine to one, and there is absolutely no conscionable way that anyone should consider that a controversial issue.

And The System knows this, so they work to discredit The Movement by preying on the gaping wound that they’ve found in the defenses of The People. I am writing this, though I could be fired for doing so, to posit that perhaps this weakness is our strength. It was important in Wisconsin to organize behind the union issue, and eight years of George W. Bush allowed us plenty of time to issue our demands. But the reason that the tiny park on Broadway and Wall holds such massive significance, the reason that my friend Marta feels like the whole world is actually watching this time, is because the diversity of oppressions is too great to anymore ignore.

I am the 99% because I’m expected to silence my voice for $7.25 an hour. I am the 99% because the love of my life lives hundreds of miles away and I wouldn’t be able to see them without this gainless employment, for which I have bitten my tongue too long. I am the 99% because I could never, ever, live with myself if I were anything but.

Nowah Jacobs would not lose sleep over losing his job for writing this, but would not turn down requests for freelance writing or audio production, just in case. In the meantime, he lives and zines in Bloomington, Indiana, while wishing he lived and zined in Brooklyn, New York. You can speak to him at yummyache.tumblr.com