In many ways, the core of the Occupy Wall St. movement's impact in the U.S. has been to expose how corrupt our systems of governance really are, and to show what (direct) democracy in action actually looks like. We live in an age of perverse language, when "democracy" and "freedom" are exported by drones, or at gunpoint, and where anarchism -- democracy without government -- is viewed by many as tantamount to terrorism.With those specific things in mind, here is a cluster of material related to the underlying theory and evolving practice of the Occupy movement, highlighting adaptive and prefigurative organizing successes and casting an eye towards 2012.
Another cluster focusing on corporate and state repression of democracy in the United States, with an emphasis on anti-OWS actions, will follow shortly.
- Thank You Anarchists
With their emphasis on participatory direct democracy, the anarchists behind Occupy Wall Street have changed the very idea of what politics could be, and they've offered American political life a gift, should we choose to accept it. They’ve reminded us that we don’t have to rely on Republicans or Democrats, or Clintons, Bushes or Sarah Palin, to do our politics for us. With the assemblies, they’ve bestowed a refreshing form of grassroots organizing that, if it lasts, might help keep the rest of the system a bit more honest. | THE NATION
- Occupy Wall Street's Anarchist Roots
The 'Occupy' movement is one of several in American history to be based on anarchist principles. From the beginning, organizers made the audacious decision to operate not only by direct democracy, without leaders, but by consensus, and with a commitment to direct action. | by DAVID GRAEBER, AL JAZEERA - Occupy Wall Street Revives An Ideology
The anarchism that motivates some Occupiers today is ultra-egalitarian, radically environmentalist, effortlessly multicultural, and scrupulously non-violent...The “horizontal” nature of a movement brought to life and sustained by social media fits snugly inside their anarchist vision of a future in which autonomous, self-governing communities would link up with one another, quite voluntarily of course. | THE NEW REPUBLIC - Intellectual Roots of Occupy Wall St. in Madagascar?
Occupy Wall Street's most defining characteristics—its decentralized nature and its intensive process of participatory, consensus-based decision-making—are rooted in other precincts of academe and activism: in the scholarship of anarchism and, specifically, in an ethnography of central Madagascar. | THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
- Occupy Wall Street's Consensus Process
A look into the "HOW" of the Occupy Wall Street movement: The consensus process. The community of occupiers at Liberty Plaza have sparked the process of building direct democracy. | YOUTUBE - Is New York City's General Assembly the University of the Future?
What is a university? There's a legal answer to that question, of course, as well as historical, philosophical, instructional, and civic. And strictly by some of these definitions, General Assembly doesn't qualify as a university. There are no degrees awarded. There is no .edu Web domain. There is n... | MINDSHIFT/KQED + M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All - Barter Market Replaces Money At Occupy Wall StreetOccupy Wall Street is first and foremost about Americans exercising their Constitutional right to peaceful assembly, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. | SHAREABLE
- Barter Markets: Shopping without Money
We visit a street market in Barcelona where no money is allowed, only trading. | YOUTUBE - What The OccupyTogether Encampments Can Teach Society About Sustainability
Using grey water recycling systems, bicycle generators, and solar panels, many Occupy movements across the nation can now sustain themselves for the long haul, unlike the rest of society. + With Generators Gone, Wall Street Protesters Try Bicycle Power + TIME'S UP! :: NYC Direct Action Environmental Organization - Energy Bikes - Informed Journalist Not Taking Crap from NYPD
How to successfully resist police intimidation and defend your rights. - Clowns Arrested in Near-Successful Attack on Wall Street Bull
A small group of Occupy Wall Street activists engaged in a near-successful corrida against the Wall Street Bull. | YES LAB + Wall Street bull survives attack by matador; clowns arrested
META/FORWARD:
- 10 Important Questions (and Answers) on Occupy Wall Street
FROM ITS BEGINNING on October 15th to this day in early January 2012, Occupy Vancouver has prompted many questions about its nature, aims, and practices. I here offer responses to some of the more frequent and wide-ranging of these questions. They are my personal responses, but they also tap the spirit of the movement, and the experiences and thoughts of many fellow occupiers, gleaned over the months of my involvement. - The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Coming Demise of Crony Capitalism
In 1978, to the laughter of many and the derision of a few, I wrote a book called, "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism," which predicted that Soviet communism would vanish around the end of the century, whereas crony or monopoly capitalism would create the worst-ever concentration of wealth in... | RAVI BATRA, TRUTHOUT - Why Now? What's Next? Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in dialogue about OWS
Naomi Klein talks to an Occupy Wall Street organizer about offering resistance, creating alternatives, and using Occupy as a moment to dream big. - OWS: The End of the Beginning
To call a mayor or a city councilman slippery is to insult every smooth, wet stone that has ever graced a streambed. To call them faithless is an offense to all adulterers. To call them liars is, well, too banal. Would you scold an anteater for eating all the ants? Better to trust the wind. Which, a... | BEN EHRENREICH, LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS - What Occupy Has Accomplished So Far
1. Shifted more than 10 billions dollars from big banks to credit unions. Relocalized money flow. 2. Shifted the national conversation to focus on the interlinked issues of income disparity, joblessness , homelessness, debt, crony capitalism, big banks... | EVOLVER.NET - Occupy or Self-manage?
I have yet to see my nearest large occupation, Boston, or the precursor of all U.S. occupations, Wall Street. Instead, I have been on the road for the past six weeks in Thesselonika and Athens Greece; Istanbul and Diyarbikar Turkey; Lexington, Kentucky; London, England; Dublin, Ireland; and in Barce... | MICHAEL ALBERT, RED PEPPER - Occupy Wall Street and the Global Trend Against Inequality
The protest movement that began in Tunisia in January, subsequently spreading to Egypt and then to Spain, has now engulfed Wall Street and cities across America. Globalization and modern technology now enable social movements to transcend borders as rapidly as ideas can. And social protest has found... | JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ, SLATE - Occupy Wall Street, Act Two
Some radical historians claim the entire Historical Movement of the Social went wrong in 1870 when the Paris Commune failed to expropriate (or at least destroy) the Bank. Could this really be so? | HAKIM BEY, INTERACTIVIST INFO EXCHANGE
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