In early November 2011, facebookers awoke to an e-nnouncement of Occupy’s next big event. �e grass roots movement had already exploded on the scene, and mass protests in large cities already had a rare footing in the mainstream media. Wallstreet was biting its nails, and the right wing was apoplectic. But this alarum sported something we hadn’t seen attached to Occupy before - this funny white mask.

It was oddly familiar to me, but just mysterious enough to be out of memory’s reach. Where had I seen this thing before? �at comical ghost face with impish grin and rosy cheeks. Instead I asked a few friends about it, and they all knew. Guy Fawkes. OK, I was vaguely familiar with Guy Fawkes, but what did he have to do with a new, decidedly left wing, peoples movement?

�e man behind the mask was the power and planning behind the infamous 16th century Gunpow-der Rebellion in England. With his pompous attire, musketeerish facial hair and stealth aristocratic leanings, he passed by easily in English society. However as a staunch Catholic, not so much in now Protestant England. His Catholic verve soon blossomed into an identification as a persecuted person, and then into a seething hate for King James I, the aristocrats and the rest of Englands protestant establishment. So, he and his buddies launched a plot to blow up the King and all the other Protes-tants of note in the House of Lords, and quickly fill the power vacuum with his Catholic conspirators. Oh, and to turn England back into a vassal of Rome.

Best laid plans of mice and men. �ings didn't go so well, and the plot was foiled before he could set charge to the powder kegs. Fawkes was caught, imprisoned and tortured for the names of his co-conspirators, none of which he gave up. �ey were found and arrested anyway, and then the whole lot was hanged, drawn and quartered for their efforts. Later, Fawkes became synonymous with general mischief and mayhem, becoming the mascot for England’s Bonfire Night.

All of this was eye opening, but it did not assuage the gnawing curiosity in me as to where I have seen that face mask in recent history. �en, the mental cobwebs parted and I remembered. It was from the British TV series V for Vendetta, a fictionalized political drama about a rebel fighting a fascist British regime. It came originally from a graphic novel by David Lloyd and Alan Moore, in which Lloyd

suggested our rebel hero should be wearing Guy Fawkes garb. “We shouldn't burn the chap every 5 November but celebrate his attempt to blow up parliament!” wrote Lloyd in a 1983 essay entitled “Behind �e Painted Smile”.

Celebrate the would-be demolition expert of the House of Lords, regardless to what ends. �ings that make you go “hmmmm”.

And then, it turns out Occupy was not the first to take advantage of this theocratic authoritarian-turned-champion of the people. In 2008, the hacker group ANONYMOUS adopted the visage in its self started war against Scientology. Two causes and one mask. �ats a good way to cut down on expenses.

Daily you will see the comical white mask on hundreds of social media posts. �e die have been cast, the image has been made. �e burning question is; why? How on earth did a Catholic �eocrat’s countenance become the face of a 21st century democratic populist overhaul? Its proud, stubborn advocates have a myriad of flimsy answers. Guy Fawkes was against the ruling class (well, until he decided to replace them with his own). He was a rebel and we are rebels. Hey, the meaning of a historical person can be changed to fit if necessary (that was my personal favorite).

At this point, the movement’s unfortunate choice of branding did fit a sad logic. �ought forms like Occupy have a history of quickly building on their own, and completely failing when it comes to the later phases of becoming politically effective; crystalization, organization and application. Today, because of their willful disarray, Occupy is a shadow of what it used to be. �ey have collected, promoted and offered up not one single candidate for high office. �ere is no place you can call Occupy for a plank update, clarification of a view or official training and or activist programs.

You may now add, thanks to the choice of the Guy Fawkes face, Public Relations Failure to their resume. It has made the movement’s followers look either tragically uneducated, willfully ignorant, or stubbornly stupid. It has given the right wing oodles of ammunition against them. It now puts the face of a dictatorial terrorist on a living breathing 21st century person opposed in all ways to that paradigm.

�is is fait accompli. Any PR professional will tell you its easy as pie to brand yourself - but nearly impossible to erase that one and rebrand. So Mr. Fawkes is not likely going anywhere in the near future. Populism and justice have put their money on the wrong horse, yet again.

�e ultimate irony is that the mask they have adopted is actually licensed by Time Warner, which released V for Vendetta. Every dollar our intrepid Occupiers and ANONYMOUS pay to be Guy Fawkes on the street goes directly into the coffers of the corporations they are fighting.

If one were to attempt making lemonade out of lemons, they might at least turn that ghostly,mustached grin into a frown.

cont’d