How do you know you are winning?

It's a protest. Perhaps #OccupyWallStreet. The initial call takes you into the field. People are collecting. There is a burst of energy as people come together to express a common claim.

If it is a one night stand the claim is expressed and everyone goes home happy because they have gotten together.

If it is not a one night stand then the 'grind' sets in. Every day you have to be there. Occupy Together has people setting up camp to express their protest -- all over the world. As of October 23,2011 there were 2247 Occupy Together communities intent on changing the world. If that meant camping out on public property, being harassed or arrested by the police, sleeping on the ground, eating, etc.

What sustains the commitment through this kind of grind?

We are in this together -- the we -- is an important element sustaining the commitment. [Boynton, 2011] But there has to be more.

Believing you are winning is a big help in sustaining commitment. If you are winning the 'sacrifice' is worth it. You are going to change the world. If you are losing it is difficult to keep the faith.

But how do you know you are winning? What are the signs you can hang onto to sustain your commitment?

This is surely one sign --

Noh8er was the Twitter user name. It was 8:28 pm on October 23. And a message first posted by @freeanonsnow is the sign. 9,000 servicemen have signed on 2 surround . . .Wow

"Wow" is how we know this is the sign. We are being joined by 9,000 servicemen to protect us from the police. We do not stand alone. We are joined by 9,000 who have served their country in war -- and now in peace. Wow.

@freeanonsnow's messages was retweeted 83 times between 8:28 and 9:56 that night. "Wow" is the reaction of NOH8ER and 82 other people who wanted to spread this word.

There are two things to note about this spread of @freeanonsnow's message. First, @freeanonsnow had 105 followers. Eighty-three retweets out of 105 followers is exceedingly impressive. His followers must have thought this very important. Now, the message may have been found by searching, but that is less likely than it was retweeted by followers. For a comparison to suggest how remarkable this ratio of followers to retweeters is one can look at the retweet rate of President Obama. President Obama has 10,726,034 followers, and the number grows daily. The three most recent twitter messages of the president were

Four out of 10.7 million does not seem a very good retweet rate. It makes 83 out of 105 look like it was a message they wanted to hear and they wanted to share.

Two, 83 is not a very impressive number. However, the reach of the message did not stop with the 83 who retweeted it. It was delivered to all of the followers of the 83 persons who retweeted the message. That number was 51,814. The 83 had 51,814 followers who automatically received the message. By the standards of this protest that seems a pretty big number.

The 9,000 are not the only ones joining #OccupyWallStreet.

NEW YORK (AP) — Folk music legend Pete Seeger joined in the Occupy Wall Street protest Friday night, replacing his banjo with two canes as he marched with throngs of people in New York City's tony Upper West Side past banks and shiny department stores.

The 92-year-old Seeger, accompanied by musician-grandson Tao Rodriguez Seeger, composer David Amram, and bluesman Guy Davis, shouted out a verse as the crowd of about 1,000 people sang and chanted.

They marched peacefully over more than 30 blocks from Symphony Space, where the Seegers and other musicians performed, to Columbus Circle. Police watched from the sidelines.

At the circle, Seeger and friends walked to the chant of "We are the 99 percent" and "We are unstoppable, another world is possible." Seeger stopped to bang a metal statue of an elephant with his cane — to cheers from the crowd.

At the center of the circle, Seeger and Amram were joined by '60s folk singer Arlo Guthrie in a round of "We Shall Overcome," a protest anthem made popular by Seeger. (Salazar 10/23/2011)

Imagine how that sustains one in the grind -- Pete Seeger and we shall overcome.

Conclusion

'Being joined by' is one way you know you are winning. Are there others? What scholars write about how you know you are winning?

References

Boynton, G. R. (2011) Twitter and the Inception of Political Revolts

Salazar, Christian (10/23/2011) Pete Seeger and pals attend NYC protest action, timesunion.com

© G. R. Boynton, October 23, 2011