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In the four months since the launch of #OCCUPY, the movement has infected the body politic with uncanny viral speed. Encampments have sprouted in every state, hundreds of cities and dozens of countries. Twinkling fingers, temperature checks, general assemblies, working groups, consensus... the left's model of revolutionary activism has undergone a paradigm shift for the better towards leaderless, anti-authoritarian horizontalism. Now the danger we face is that we will stop innovating and start imitating.
After saturating politics at the city scale, #OCCUPY is splintering downward, becoming corpuscular. Encampments are emerging that target niche communities and causes, a welcome development. There is, for example, Occupy The Boiler Room, an encampment to block gentrification in Harlem. And perhaps the most significant new development is the move onto university campuses with Wednesday's launch of both #OCCUPYHARVARD and UC Berkeley's #OCCUPYCAL.
Sadly, the seven hours I spent at #OCCUPYCAL left me dismayed, cold and concerned about the future of the movement. The excitement I first felt, the intoxication of being in a crowd of passionate youth, quickly dissipated as I saw the tactics of #OCCUPY being debased through ritualization. Participants were imitating what they'd seen our comrades in Zuccotti do without an understanding of why. In one particularly telling moment, the Vice Chancellor made an announcement to the crowd through the "people's mic." His words were repeated twice, mimicking the layered people's mic used in NYC to communicate to large crowds, not because our crowd was too large to hear but because it felt special to do so. The day abounded in these minor examples of the growing trend towards memorializing, ritualizing and imitating the tactics of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET blindly, unthinkingly and to our detriment.
When we no longer understand the tactical reasons behind our actions then we open our movement to being hijacked by those who choose intentionally to imitate poorly. At #OCCUPYCAL, it was obvious that a core vanguard of student activists, the same activists whose antics had largely squandered and alienated campus sympathy in the prior two years of anti-cuts protests, had simply "rebranded" themselves as part of the #OCCUPY movement in order to attract fresh blood and revive their moribund efforts. Thus, as soon as the first general assembly was commenced we were being urged to vote on two proposals that had been drafted privately prior to the assembly and not disclosed until then. Many of us quickly understood that the second proposal gave immense power to these activists.
The power grab was buried in a clause near the end of a page long document. "We will hold General Assemblies everyday at 6pm," it said, "unless rescheduled or cancelled by the facilitation committee." Sounds reasonable until you realize that granting such power to an autonomous facilitation committee violates the core principle of the general assembly model. It isn't hard to guess who is on this facilitation committee that wishes to stand above the general assembly and cancel or reschedule at their whim.
Objections were raised, but ultimately dismissed. "Make an amendment tomorrow," one committee member said. "There are a lot of people here today, but they'll go home and we'll have to do it all like in the past," another was overheard to say. The persons who wrote this clause and tried to push it through the general assembly were absolutely aware of what they were doing: cynical imitation that preyed on the ignorance of the crowd. Although the proposal was ultimately tabled, less than three hours later, members of this self-appointed facilitation committee were already exercising their power by calling for an impromptu, unscheduled general assembly hours before the 6pm GA.
The irony is that #OCCUPYCAL could be a powerful addition to the movement. Because it is a niche cause-oriented encampment, it is uniquely suited to begin the long process of putting forward specific, credible demands. A nationwide campus #OCCUPY movement could achieve forgiveness of student loans, for example. This opportunity is being squandered. Instead #OCCUPYCAL looks like it will become the model for how to take over the #OCCUPY movement from the inside: rebrand, call your clique the facilitation committee, grant yourselves immense power, alienate everyone, speak for them anyway. I have no doubt that MoveOn, the democratic party, and every reformist NGO in America is keenly watching.
If #OCCUPY is to be a revolution, it cannot become a ritual. We must innovate and never imitate. #OCCUPYCAL may stumble onward but unless the general assembly acts swiftly to remove the would-be leaders, it will never succeed.
Note:#OCCUPYCAL has since corrected many of the problems cited in this article. Their general assembly on November 15 was wonderful. We wish them the best. In solidarity, Micah
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Thank goodness there is
Thank goodness there is someone to tell us who the authentic protesters are so we don't get confused and mistake some naive students for the real thing. If we all paid our adbusters subscription, what is it $58.00, we might all someday be able to see this for ourselves. But for now, we do need help. Thanks so much.
OCCUPY THE RIG
OCCUPY THE RIG FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!
ND PEOPLE KNOW HOW TO WORK AND WORK HARD. THATS WHY WERE THE ONLY STATE THAT HAS OUR OWN BANK AND ARENT BITCHING ABOUT HIGHER PAY AND MORE JOBS.....PLENTY OF JOBS HERE DONT BE SCARED COME AND APPLY. YOU MIGHT JUST GET HIRED......
Occupy Black Friday. On
Occupy Black Friday. On Friday November 25 attend you local Black Friday festivities. While there walk as slow as you can. Slow the mob of consumers that pays no attention to the consequences of its actions.
HOW BOUT INSTEAD OF MAKING NO
HOW BOUT INSTEAD OF MAKING NO MONEY STANDING OUTSIDE PROTESTING YOU GUYS COME TO ND AND GET A JOB THAT PAYS A LOT OF MONEY EITHER WORKING FOR THE OILFIELD OR MCDONALDS. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF JOB OPENINGS HERE. I'M SO SICK OF YOU GUYS PROTESTING ABOUT JOBS THAT DONT PAY. DO SOME RESEARCH AND YOU WILL FIND OUT THAT YOU CAN MAKE TONS OF MONEY IN ND/MONTANA. WHY ARENT YOU GUYS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT. YOU CAN MAKE 15 DOLLARS AN HR WORKING AT PIZZA HUT. OR YOU CAN WORK IN THE OILFIELD MAKING 2200 EVERY TWO WEEKS WITH NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL.
"I oppose OWS." Great news!
"I oppose OWS."
Great news! And good luck finishing that dissertation on Marcuse and Efficacy.
I'm not sure who Micah White is, but both Christopher Hitchens and Mad Men come to mind when reading this quasi-diatribe. Yes, groupthink is lamentable; but at 19, I was smoking crack and shoplifting candybars. Let the kids live a little, and trust that some of them will learn what there is to learn.
Thanks for the article.
Thanks for the article. Everyone in this movement and seeking to become part of it should focus on the most ultimate cause of the specific symptoms they are challenging. Doing so will unite us.
Seek to change the system not just the symptoms. Keep up the good work and keep changing the world people. Dream impossible dreams.
FYI, the people's mic WAS
FYI, the people's mic WAS needed, since people further back were not able to hear, me being one of them. As for deterring would-be leaders, it is just a much a concern to us as it is to you. It was only day 1 of what will hopefully be an expanding movement. Also, meetings leading up to Occupy Cal were open to everyone--people from different sectors of the university were/are involved--and it makes me happy to see that more people have begun to participate. Occupy Cal was and is not meant to be some dogmatic "ritual," but expected to evolve and adapt to issues pertinent to the community.
Exactly! The human mic system
Exactly! The human mic system may have been learned elsewhere, but it's not just for show- it's to make sure everyone gets a chance to hear. Give OccupyCal a chance, Adbusters! We're trying. I think the facilitators have good intentions as well, and the facilitation board is OPEN to anyone who wants to volunteer.
Excellent critique, Micah.
Excellent critique, Micah.
I'd also like to suggest that as the movement fragments into specialized areas, in order for OWS not to degenerate into a generic synonym for leaderless protest, the general assembly needs to define a list of key concerns, and then start focusing on how to address these concerns.
YEAH, cause WE are the REAL
YEAH, cause WE are the REAL occupiers! Yeah, we made this up, not you! And, like, only the newest, youngest ideas count. Nothing OLD! Nothing from the, like, past! Only NEW and YOUNG count, cause we like know everything and you don't! HEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, stop copying me!!!!
@Everyone Do not allow anyone
@Everyone
Do not allow anyone to become leaders and rulers, not even yourselves. Do not let anyone benefit from your time, ideas and thoughts for their personal gains. Do not allow anyone impose their ideas upon you. Do not let anyone tell you what you are allowed to do.
If you allow anything of the aforementioned to happen, this movement will be dead.
Ideas must rule, not people.
I was there all day too.
I was there all day too. First of all you seem to show absolutely no sympathy for the beatings we had to sustain twice, not that it has anything to do with your critique, but an acknowledgement would be nice. Second, the GA is a LEARNING EXPERIENCE for all of us. People will make mistakes. People will sometimes opt for giving more power to a group in the interest of time and efficiency, thereby foregoing democracy, and that is a BAD thing, but something to learn from and correct, not something to condemn and write off, as you have done.
I agree with you, just be
I agree with you, just be aware that solving that now and improving the structure to make for a leaderless, transparent process early on is necessary...the decisions that are shaped early on can start a trend. Just be careful...make sure that ANYONE can be on the committee that has more power, first of all, then make a proposal that calls for that tabled concern to be brought up and decided upon...obviously the group wasn't ready to make a decision, therefore it should not have been acted upon. GA's are a learning experience for everyone...not everyone has experience with consensus decision-making. An inexperienced crowd using consensus decision-making can lead to a few people manipulating the group.
There are many professional facilitators and consensus trainers in the Bay Area...you should try to get some of them on board to offer workshops.
In solidarity,
Occupier in Oregon
When people copy, even
When people copy, even without thought WHY a certain behavior is demonstrated, is because they probably feel uncomfortable about what exactly to do...they know that something needs to be done, and so they copy what seems to be working, even if it ultimately makes no sense in their present environment...i.e. mic checks in a small crowd. I understand your points just fine, however, and they make sense. Lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater...the West Coast Occupiers seem to be doing just fine on their own, even if they imitate without thought on WHY. It seems to be getting the job done, especially in Oakland. I cringe at the thought of twinkling my hands in approval or disapproval of a certain idea, and wouldn't/haven't done it. The point is having a BODY there, not whether you're following a certain behavior or thought process....I suppose SOME thought has to be implemented, as to be there at all, but not MUCH as the problems are so severe and obvious, even a completely deranged individual could see we are in deep doo doo. Imitation is an attempt to copy the SUCCESSES of OWS...nothing else. I appreciate your concern, but I think ultimately, at this point in the movement, the simple idea of getting BODIES in the streets, under the banner of OWS, is most important.
No group thinking!
No group thinking!
I dont know who you are
I dont know who you are talking about considering that the vangaurd was mostly hiding from police or at occupy oakland. The people who have been doing occupations for years at Cal are NOT leading Occupy Cal. This is a group of fairly green activists acting in accordance with many graduate students and the unions to organize walk outs and occupy itself. I guarentee you most of the people who are putting in lots of time with Occupy Cal are not people who have been arrested repeatedly for protests on campus. There are a lot of fresh bodies who are willing to get arrested and that scares people, and sometimes it scares people who are afriad to get arrested. This will be overcome.
The little clause you mentioned is irrelevant since they are not even going to start encampments with tents until next week. This article is straight up fearmongering from someone who has a tenuous connection at best to the long term berkeley protest movements. These so called vangaurd activists are not mysterious shadow leaders but formerly committed organizers who have mostly fled because of the ridiculous General Assembly process being described here and the lack of focus on strength and action with specific demands. They are also experiencing lots of crap from past arrests and Occupy Oakland events, staying away from campus allowing new people to create a groundswell.
ouch. how quickly the mother
ouch. how quickly the mother eats her young.
haha, that made me laugh, but
haha, that made me laugh, but i see micah's point, i live in jersey n have only been to occupywallstreet in nyc, but every encampment should be different because they should be addressing local concerns. we who live so close to wallstreet try n keep that in focus. locally in jersey we try to leave messages for the commuters to see on their way to wrk in nyc everymorning through graffitti and also jus holding thought provoking signs in front of the pkway entrences. basically a guerrilla meme war . but we stay leaderless, most of the people i organize with are anarchists, many who take part in alternative living such as the rainbow gatherings or squat houses and we r very careful about doing anything that even smells of the establishment. voting, n shit like that we r very careful about. anything voted on shouldnt b set in stone, and we absolutely do not have leaders although many of us do more work than others, this is irrelevent. we r one body and understand everyone has different responsibilities like kids and such and simply cannot help much cuz their wrking all day two jobs and sleeping when they get off most days or whatever else consumes their time. for people like that we suggest to them that they wage their own meme wars at wrk or anywhere. almost every atm gets painted on in my area constantly lol, we probably created more jobs jus for graffitti removal haha. anyway, jersey, cali, ny, wherever u r, micah is right to come down hard on occupycal because their ideas stink of the establishment!!
Lame. Your personal vendetta
Lame. Your personal vendetta against certain Berkeley folks prompt you to throw the whole cal protest under the bus. This is an inaccurate, disingenuous and condescending assessment of the day. There were a lot of others folks there beside the pretentious vanguard kids--the vast majority in fact. The others also pointed out the same issues during the protest that White did and not just at the beginning of the proposed GA. Other tactics were used throughout the day and nigh as well, and then revised and re-imagined organically by folks on the ground. Also, for the record, no one could hear the Vice Chancellor; he spoke quite softly.
While it is true that this faction often poses serious problems at Berkeley and needs to be dethroned in many respects, this post wasn't close to the whole story of the day and largely does more harm than good. Apparently you needed to reframe the entire protest around these perceived failures in order to turn your old beef with a few other "professional revolutionaries" into a game of oneupmanship. This piece could have been written to offer genuine support and solidarity while still expressing necessary concern about the role of a few individuals. Instead it undercuts even that message by devaluing the actions of those students, staff, and faculty that participated in a collective struggle of their own volition. This is sad for the state of the movement. You all deserve each other.
Micah, I recognize your name
Micah,
I recognize your name from a berkeley google group, perhaps you are the same guy.
I like your points, and had a similar feeling at #occupycal. However, I think you are too quick to judge. Wednesday was the first day of the movement @ cal. For many of the participants, it was their first hoo-rah. But, as you point out, the same student activists who failed to lead a budget cuts 2 years ago were very vocal on the first day.
How is this unexpected? Of course the experienced activists are going to attempt to lead again. The question is will the Cal be able to modify the GA process for it's needs, and begin a protest movement which the bulk of students will support. Perhaps the occupy model is what Cal needs to modify how protest decisions are made,
Long story short, its only been one day for #occupycal, and as we all learn the process and the possibilities, things will change. That's the point you miss.
I, too, was in the small
I, too, was in the small group with the previous poster and Micah White that had a chance to discussed the proposition put forth by the facilitation committee to instantiate the Occupy Cal Encampment.
While I understand Micah's arguments, I think it is unfair to call Occupy Cal a "fake" or "imitation" movement. In the first place, it seems paradoxical to level this charge against an Occupy protest, which is so organic and spontaneous by nature. We should all remember that the Occupy Wall Street movement began response to an AD placed on this very website. The irony is that an Ad is essentially empty--it has no substance. It merely beams a message out into the public to see if it will get picked up. Ads are receptacles by nature: they advertise something, they impress themselves upon us, and sometimes they tap into some desire already within us, and cause us to act. I think we have seen the power of "advertisements" in this way as Occupy Wall Street got more press and this encouraged more and more Occupies to spring up up all over the nation. You could say this is imitation, you could call it mimesis, but I don't think either of those words do it justice. Occupy is something more.
Furthermore, I also personally know the "clique" at Berkeley Micah refers to. While I recognize that this is problematic for the movement, many of us are away of this. I also want to tell everyone that the Union and this clique have organized multiple protests last year and this semester that have all failed. I believe there is a reason why the Occupy Cal protest on Wednesday did not fail--but flourished. Its because students, like the one who posted above me, are infected by the political spirit of the moment and feel confident that free speech can make change in their University. As a Graduate Student Instructor and a member of the Occupy Cal protests, I can attest that students are participating in this movement in real, tangible ways. But I believe Micah knows this already. He was there with us, and he saw students taking on challenging political questions in our small group discussion alone, he also stood in the crowd of the thousands of diverse students who made inventive signs and came to gather on Sproul Hall at noon to voice their concerns.
But then Micah left, and he didn't see how the students worked together, how they put their bodies on the line to defend the General Assembly decision to camp, and how those same students remained into the hours of the night debating what to do in the face of an administration that denied us space to protest with sleep, food, and music.
After the events of this week at Berkeley and the police brutality, I feel angry that Micah would write this article, to circulate it like an AD into the social media, knowing full well that it could detract support for the OccupyCal protests. It seems antithetical to the whole Occupy movement, to deny an Occupy its credibility, especially before it has even had the chance to BEGIN. To echo the sentiment of the poster above, you miss the entire point. An Occupy would never let that happen, and I can attest that we at Cal will not, and it is personally insulting for you to accuse myself and the hundreds of other students of insincerity or in-genuineness.
As a graduate student who believes in public education, I am trying to move past any personal or political (in the crude sense of the word) divisions among cliques at Berkeley. I suggest you and your wife do the same. If you care at all about the issues and not the politics, Join us on Tuesday November 15 for a Campus-wide Strike and come see the spirit of the Occupy Cal that you could not see on Wednesday.
i think what he was saying
i think what he was saying was to just be careful over their in cali, because we are at war, and it is serious, the beatings and arrests r jus the beginning. the tyrants will use other tactics against us wen that fails and we will start seeing more and more agents in our occupy spots. SO BE AWARE, and do not let ur local rebellion become marginalizes. and they always do it fast and sneakily, so again, STAY AWARE OF THIS, love u cali!!!!!!
For a startling example of
For a startling example of co-optation tactics, please read "Occupy Las Vegas Splits over Corporate NPO Co-Opt" at http://occupylv.org/
The mindless, thoughtless,
The mindless, thoughtless, robotic repitition of the "human megaphone" ritual is little more than a method of indoctrination and mind control. Now, while this may sound like some looney conspiracy theory, the fact is that this type of ritualized repitition of axioms and other implantable ideas has been very successful in movements from the Nazis to the Communists to the Maoists and so on.
Basically, it goes like this: Get a bunch of disaffected people together, get them to feel comfortable around one another, start talking to them about this or that perceived injustice, begin leading them in ritualized behaviors/chants/ etc., and you will have created a mindless mob or maleable robots.
This technique has worked for everyone from the Catholic Church to Charles Manson and David Koresh. The real question here is: Who is behind this "movement" and what do they want? Why do they need a robot army willing to forego free thought to do their bidding?
When outsiders see and hear the "human megaphone," we tend to think the people doing it are loons and zombies. There is no critical thought there; there is only mindless following.
The author makes many good points. Maybe its time for the people of OWS to start asking questions, rather than thinking (as they've been told) that they have all the answers?
I agree. I was at one in
I agree. I was at one in Orange County, CA with maybe 75 people on a quiet street. The 'People's Mic' made it harder to understand than easier.
As for the idolatry of Scott Olsen, what happened to him was horrible, but to copy 'Fight Club' with all of the 'We are all Scott Olsen..." is unimaginative and honestly pretty insulting to his injuries. Using his injuries as propaganda reminds me of this quote from 'War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning' after a Palestinian boy is gunned down by Israeli soldiers:
"The boy's body will be the prop. It is a familiar act. Martyrs, especially child martyrs, are a potent weapon in the hands of radical groups."
A lot of lefties have been
A lot of lefties have been mimicking obsolete strategies for decades, and you can't expect them to just disappear. But if others try something fresh and innovative, people will recognize it and abandon the old guard. If #OCCUPYCAL starts off as stale mimicry, students will find ways to take the movement in different directions. Just read David Graeber's account about how the group that ultimately took over Zuccotti Park was born out of frustration with the usual top-down socialist crowd hijacking AdBusters' call to #OCCUPYWALLSTREET: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/david-graeber-on-playing-by-the-r...
We need education. That's it.
We need education. That's it. Some occupy camps have been formed with little more than having seen a video of Zucotti and read a few articles about GAs. This isn't a reflection of a lack of genuine commitment or concern but of a movement led by passion rather than pragmatism. Furthermore, traditional expert activists are spread thin, perhaps heading to the main capitals, leaving smaller occupations open to be led by the well-meaning, if not the well-informed.
A web based crowd-driven Occupy University where camps could share videos and articles of best practice - explaining basics like how a GA and hand signals works, how to achieve consensus when a small group is split, as well as dealing with the media, homelessness, drink&drugs, food hygiene, local authorities, creating workshops, non-violent resistence and so on, would be invaluable, if only to aggregate the knowledge that is out there but is hard to find.
Once we get this right, things can might change gear - a technique trialled at a small remote camp could prove invaluable worldwide. as many camps struggle with similar problems, knowledge share could be transformative.
This is exactly what we need
This is exactly what we need to become. A network of Occupations helping each other with improvable knowledge. The internet is just waiting to be used for it.
I oppose OWS. But, this
I oppose OWS. But, this article is observant, thoughtful, and introspective. If more of what came out of OWS was like this, I'd probably be more sympathetic to the movement. Well done.