As some may now know, Occupy Philadelphia was evicted last night from their encampment on Dilworth Plaza next to Philly's City Hall. This has been largely overshadowed by the simultaneous eviction of OccupyLA, but needs to be better reported both because it was hardly as peaceful as the occupation itself has been up until this point (see the video below the fold) and because it provides a lesson in how Occupy is vulnerable to manipulation by officials seeking to get them out of the way. This second part of the story is by far the more important and is reflected in the title of this diary.
I am usually wary of historical analogies, knowing as an historian how inaccurate they can be. But every once in a while one is so apt that it frames a situation perfectly. So it is with the tale of Occupy Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Mayor's Office; it runs a sorry parallel to the tactics all too familiar to those who have studied the removals of Native Americans. Now that Occupy Philadelphia has been forced to regroup, it seems a good time to look at how they were outflanked and what this might mean for the future of the movement and its system of direct democracy.
