“Marx said that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps things are very different. It may be that revolutions are the act by which the human race traveling in the train applies the emergency brake.” Walter Benjamin’s words perfectly fit what occurred around the globe in 2011 and in many places before this, and much further south, from Chiapas and Oaxaca Mexico to Argentina. Our movements are the shouting of “No!” The “Ya Basta!” The “Que Se Vayan Todos!” They are our collective refusal to remain passive in an untenable situation. And so we pull the emergency brake, freeze time and begin to open up and create something new. We are not even sure what that something is. We know we want to create open space. What that looks like we are discovering together, as we create, which is also how we create: together, horizontally and with affect. What we are doing and how we are doing it are inextricably linked, and both are part of this prefigurative movement.

Marina Sitrin, OccupyTheory.org