Lessons from Duarte Square: More on Trinity Wall Street

More about the OWS protest in Duarte Square, the property owned by Trinity Wall Street.

First, let's review the arrests. Retired Bp George Packard was the first over the fence in his purple cassock, and was arrested. His wife was not arrested, but was in a group standing in the street and assaulted by the police. We have now seen over and over again the disproportionate violence practiced by the police in dealing with nonviolent OWS protestors. Bp Packard writes,

From MSNBC

This became an opportunity for individual and gratuitous violence by policemen. The simple arrests were done, why were they messing with these people? Which brings me to the melodrama of the day and the forecasts by our leaders. The only "force or arms" present on Saturday was not in (or at) the han ds of demonstrators....The cop who kneed my wife in the chest three times and threw her into other demonstrators was the same Officer who walked me harmlessly to the paddy wagon.

A police force that has lost respect for the people it supposedly protects is dangerous to Democracy. These acts were done on behalf of Trinity Wall Street, and by extension, TEC. I am waiting to hear "church officials" speak out loudly and with dismay about any acts of violence against non-violent protestors done on behalf of the church.

Put your sword back in its place...for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. (Matt. 26:52)

Next, another protester, the Rev. John Merz calls out Trinity Wall Street (from The Lead):

Privately I must remark on the shocking dissonance between their professed support, their vast resources and power and the things they provided: leaving a drop in center open, allowing group meetings in other space literally a handful if not less of times, deleting posts on their blogs that enjoined them for basic relief of human needs (porta-potties). They never intended to connect, listen to and support this movement in any real way.It is a re hash of their 9/11 record and as many know all too well, locally in times of social crisis, they do the right thing only if self preservation (image) requires it and even then only haltingly.

From GoThereGuide

Ouch.  Trinity Wall Street has assets of over $10 Billion. And apparently, many of the Vestry are not even members of the Congregation:

[T]he vestry list reads as a who’s-who of the rich and powerful in New York, including Wall Street bankers, media and real estate executives, and in the most telling case, a former executive vice president of Brookfield Properties, the company that owns Zuccotti Park and pressured the city to evict the occupiers in the first place.

I think every church deals with the balancing act of investment for the future and protection of the institution, and action in the here-and-now. I'm sure some on one edge think that the church should sell everything, and "follow Him". But you won't effect much change as an itinerant, once you've spent the money. The other extreme might be what Trinity is doing--which appears to be pretty much the minimum, and protecting its massive assets. And in response to a protestor who says, "We have nothing, you have more, give it to us," one can understand to some extent. That's theft, right? Or Godless Communism? Or is it instead a voice demanding Biblical justice?   And how do you tell the difference?

But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17)

The challenge to the Church is to walk the balance, and it's a fine balance indeed. Because a beautiful church building with an endowment to maintain it is not a bad thing in and of itself. A  beautiful liturgical space that offers spiritual sanctuary  is not a bad thing.  Taking steps to protect it is not a bad thing either. The question surely comes about how much is needed, and whether or not "building the endowment" takes precedence over justice. Does it become about the money as an end, rather than a means?

Bishop Gene Robinson famously says something like this: "Pulling drowning people out of a river is a good thing. But it's even more important to go upstream and stop the person who's throwing them in the water." Similarly, feeding the hungry is a good thing. But it's even more important to stop the policies that are driving them to hunger. As an institution (and yes, one with beautiful buildings and endowments, and that's okay), TEC has a strong voice, large in influence and bigger than its numbers. It's time, surely to use that voice for prophecy. Even if it costs.

As one commenter on Bp Packard's blog wrote,

Upon seeing you in the crowd I was confused why a Bishop was among our ranks in full regalia, but when the stairs went up and I saw you climbing into the park, tears of joy started streaming down my face. I cannot describe the hope and inspiration you gave me in that moment.

And because I can, let's finish with one more Bible quote:

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53)

Trinity Wall Street vs OWS

You may recall that  St Paul's Cathedral, London, wound up with egg on its collective face when it decided it wanted the Occupy London protestors to leave its property.  All in all, the C of E was not covered in distinction with that one.  Alas, it has happened here as well, with Occupy Wall Street protestors wanting access to an unused (but leased out) piece of property owned by the very, very rich Trinity Wall Street parish, and Trinity refusing.

Despite requests from Bishop of NY and the Presiding Bishop not to do so, today the OWS protestors entered the property and were promptly arrested.  But they were led by a retired Bishop, George Packard, leadingto this iconic image (from the Lead) .  Now there's a Bishop for ya.  Nice move, wearing the purple cassock.

You can reasonably argue that just by virtue of being OWS, the protestors don't have the right to seize and occupy private property at their whim.  And of course, that's true.  But there's more to it than legality, and in this era and at this time, it's past time to ignore legal niceties, and seize an opportunity to be prophetic.  Trinity Wall Street could have added a powerful voice to the dispossessed.But instead, it sided with the "1%" which isn't surprising given its incredible wealth.  Just like St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Poor Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori hasn't had a good day. I'm afraid her letter to OWS doesn't come out so well, and then it turns out that Sudan has disinvited her from visiting because of those pesky gays.

What has happened to us?

In Davis, CA, university police stepped into a circle of students who were sitting in passive civil disobedience and began pepper spraying them. The police were not threatened, but committing an act of deliberate violence. Some reports have said that as students covered their eyes and mouths with clothing, the police pulled that clothing away and sprayed the chemical directly into their throats.

Look at this photograph, of the calm policeman who walked down the line, spraying each student, and then walked back and continued spraying.  As one would spray bugs in the house.  Utter and total disdain.

  James Fallows:

Watch that first minute and think how we'd react if we saw it coming from some riot-control unit in China, or in Syria. The calm of the officer who walks up and in a leisurely way pepper-sprays unarmed and passive people right in the face? We'd think: this is what happens when authority is unaccountable and has lost any sense of human connection to a subject population. That's what I think here.

At least 50 years ago, they didn't have pepperspray. Then, they used firehoses.

This is America?

US continues its fall to the bottom

Shared by the PoliticalProf:

More from London and St Paul's

You know, it's hard to imagine how they could have handled this worse.

From the Telegraph , an unflattering exposé

One figure who is understood to have taken a particularly dim view of Canon Fraser’s outbursts is the cathedral’s registrar, Nicholas Cottam, a retired Major-General. He has, so far, managed to keep a low profile, but he is described as “the power behind the throne”, and central to convincing the dean to support evicting the protesters. ....“He runs the cathedral like an army operation and sees the canons as his troops who should follow orders and not speak out of turn,” says one insider. ....

Senior figures at the City of London Corporation had decided that the protesters must be evicted, and backing from the cathedral Chapter was the last touch needed to give it moral authority. As the fallout from the Chapter’s poor handling of the row has descended into an embarrassing debacle, it has cast the Church in an unflattering light. The canons have been accused of selling out to the wishes of politicians rather than carrying out their gospel duties to care for the poor and downtrodden. ... 

The Rt Rev Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, said that it was not just the public who were bemused by the closure. “Cathedral deans I’ve spoken to are mystified as to why they would do it,” he said. “It’s made them look like idiots. Anyone who looks at the camp can see that it is complete nonsense to claim that it was done for health and safety.” The health and safety report published on Monday listed “rope/guy-lines” and rodents among potential dangers posed by the presence of the camp. Sources close to the Dean say that he was baffled as soon as he saw how weak the evidence was, and moved to have the building reopened as quickly as possible.... 

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has spoken out at the damage being caused to the Church’s reputation, but Dr Rowan Williams, the current incumbent of Lambeth Palace, has remained silent. 

 From the Independent:

A highly critical report into the moral standards of bankers has been suppressed by St Paul's Cathedral amid fears that it would inflame tensions over the Occupy London tent protest. 

The report, based on a survey of 500 City workers who were asked whether they thought they were worth their lucrative salaries and bonuses, was due to be published last Thursday, the day that the Canon Chancellor of St Paul's, Giles Fraser, resigned in protest at the church's tough stance. 

But publication of the report, by the St Paul's Institute, has been delayed in an apparent acknowledgement that it would leave the impression that the cathedral was on the side of the protesters. 

The Independent on Sunday understands that the decision has upset a number of clergy, who hoped that the report would prove that the church was not detached from a financial crisis that had its heart yards from the cathedral itself. The decision will fuel the impression that the wider established church is attempting to stifle debate about the tent protest, as leading members of the Church of England, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, have failed to comment publicly about Occupy London....  

Shocked!  Shocked! There's gambling going on in this establishment!

Update:  And now the Dean of the Cathedral has resigned.  What a mess.

St Paul's, Occupy London, and a sitcom....

You may be unaware of the drama in London, where the Occupy London protesters have camped next to St Paul's Cathedral. While at first the Cathedral welcomed them in the interest of social justice, they soon got cold feet, leading to an unprecedented shut-down of the Cathedral, threats to remove the peaceful protestors, and a resignation of the Canon Chancellor, Giles Fraser in response.

The BBC report is here. Needless to say, the Cathedral is not coming across well in this, looking like a defender of its own wealth and that of its City allies, rather than peaceful protesters. When the Pope calls for worldwide discussion of economic inequality, St Paul's looks to maintain the income from a stunning £14.50 entrance fee. That's over $20!

On the serious side, the Guardian, of all papers, called out the Cathedral:

If the dean and chapter continue their steps towards evicting they will be playing the villains in a national pantomime. There will be legal battles and, eventually, physical force. At every step, the cathedral authorities will be acting in the service of absurdity and injustice. Yet this is where the logic of their position is leading them. They must see this, and stop. Jesus denounced his Pharisaic enemies as whited sepulchres, or shining tombs; and that is what the steam-cleaned marble frontage of St Paul’s will become if the protesters are evicted to make room for empty pomp: a whited sepulchre, where morality and truth count for nothing against the convenience of the heritage industry.

while other commenters have decried the union of the established church with the Establishment:

The problem with these good intentions is that over the centuries what has evolved is a naturally cautious and inherently tepid Church. ... by and large we remain, as a Church, suitably compliant and that is because we have been genetically engineered to be that way.

...At best the Church's role is to act as a counter-balance to the predations of power and the aching emptiness of materialism – to provide a different perspective on wealth and poverty.

Over the past 50 years we have all felt the cold hands of capitalism squeezing more and more of our humanity out of us. We have all by and large allowed it to happen, believing it was progress. The Church of England has just gone along with it, and we are now utterly embedded in that system.

Under the banner of balance, we at some point took it upon ourselves to "steady the ship" even if it is – as now many of us feel intuitively – going in the wrong direction. As priests we are not supposed to uphold the needs of the State – we are here at best to provide balance against the excesses of power, both political and financial. But we have not remained true to our calling.

And there is also the delicious irony that the Cathedral has been leading efforts to study executive pay , which might prove a bit embarrassing....

It can also be disclosed that a damning report Canon Fraser had been due to publish on Thursday about bankers’ lack of ethics, had been shelved by the cathedral amid concerns that it would only escalate the row.

Of course, true tonational character, there's already a satire sitcom script. The British do this kind of humor so well. Go have a look.

Political regression

Are we finally "as mad as hell and not going to take it any more"? Are we finally going to reclaim our country? Robert Reich contrasts progressive and regressive movements, and the attempts to drag us back into the horrors of the Gilded Age.

Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the other tribunes of today's Republican right aren't really conservatives. Their goal isn't to conserve what we have. It's to take us backwards.

They'd like to return to the 1920s -- before Social Security, unemployment insurance, labor laws, the minimum wage, Medicare and Medicaid, worker safety laws, the Environmental Protection Act, the Glass-Steagall Act, the Securities and Exchange Act, and the Voting Rights Act.

In the 1920s Wall Street was unfettered, the rich grew far richer and everyone else went deep into debt, and the nation closed its doors to immigrants….

In truth, if they had their way we'd be back in the late nineteenth century -- before the federal income tax, antitrust laws, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Federal Reserve. A time when robber barons -- railroad, financial, and oil titans -- ran the country. A time of wrenching squalor for the many and mind-numbing wealth for the few.

Nicholas Kristoff points out some facts:

• The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans. 
• The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.
• In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 65 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent. 

Here are some actual data

Kristoff goes on:

More broadly, there’s a growing sense that lopsided outcomes are a result of tycoons’ manipulating the system, lobbying for loopholes and getting away with murder. Of the 100 highest-paid chief executives in the United States in 2010, 25 took home more pay than their company paid in federal corporate income taxes, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. …

I believe that over the last couple of centuries banks have enormously raised living standards in the West by allocating capital to more efficient uses. But anyone who believes in markets should be outraged that banks rig the system so that they enjoy profits in good years and bailouts in bad years.

And far from helping us, this inequality is a hindrance. The IMF, hardly a socialist bastion, reports that increased inequality impedes growth

In fact equality appears to be an important ingredient in promoting and sustaining growth. The difference between countries that can sustain rapid growth for many years or even decades and the many others that see growth spurts fade quickly may be the level of inequality. Countries may find that improving equality may also improve efficiency, understood as more sustainable long-run growth.

This is the context in which to view Occupy Wall Street (OWS)., Sally Kohn opines at Fox News:

The key isn’t what protesters are for but rather what they’re against -- the gaping inequality that has poisoned our economy, our politics and our nation.

In America today, 400 people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million combined. That’s not because 150 million Americans are pathetically lazy or even unlucky. In fact, Americans have been working harder than ever -- productivity has risen in the last several decades. Big business profits and CEO bonuses have also gone up. Worker salaries, however, have declined.

Most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters aren’t opposed to free market capitalism. In fact, what they want is an end to the crony capitalist system now in place, that makes it easier for the rich and powerful to get even more rich and powerful while making it increasingly hard for the rest of us to get by. The protesters are not anti-American radicals. They are the defenders of the American Dream, the decision from the birth of our nation that success should be determined by hard work not royal bloodlines.

Why is this so hard for us to understand?

Update:  Dr Primrose highlights this table, from the article I cited above on Wealth, Income, and Power (This is from a sociologist at UCSC).  Those at the top rank = less inequality.  (GINI coeff of 1  means everyone makes the same;  GINI coeff of 100 means one person gets everything.)

Table 7: Income equality in selected countries

Country/Overall Rank	Gini Coefficient
1.  Sweden	23.0
2.  Norway	25.0
8.  Austria	26.0
10.  Germany	27.0
17.  Denmark	29.0
25.  Australia	30.5
34.  Italy	32.0
35.  Canada	32.1
37.  France	32.7
42.  Switzerland	33.7
43.  United Kingdom	34.0
45.  Egypt	34.4
56.  India	36.8
61.  Japan	38.1
68.  Israel	39.2
81.  China	41.5
82.  Russia	42.3
90.  Iran	44.5
93.  United States	45.0
107.  Mexico	48.2
125.  Brazil	56.7
133.  South Africa	65.0

Note: These figures reflect family/household income, not individual income.

Source: Central Intelligence Agency (2010).