#OccupyWallStreet – VOICES – Oct 4

October 4, 2011

Click on the headline (link) for the full text.

Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage.


Why Do You Occupy? – Interviews At Occupy Boston

Matthew Filipowicz Show, YouTube

On 9-30-11, the Matthew Filipowicz Show headed to the Occupy Boston rally, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, to ask the people “why they were there?”

This is a small sampling of their answers.
(2 October 2011)


‘You’re creating a vision of the sort of society you want to have in miniature.’

Ezra Klein, Washington Post
David Graeber is an anthropologist at Goldsmiths, University of London, and author of ‘Direct Action: An Ethnography.’ He was also one of the initial organizers of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests. And he thinks the people asking for a list of demands are missing the point of the movement quite dramatically. We spoke this morning by phone.

… EK: This movement is organized rather differently than most protest movements. There isn’t really a list of demands, or goals, or even much of an identifiable leadership. But if I understand you correctly, that’s sort of the point.

DG: It’s very similar to the globalization movement. You see the same criticisms in the press. It’s a bunch of kids who don’t know economics and only know what they’re against. But there’s a reason for that. it’s pre-figurative, so to speak. You’re creating a vision of the sort of society you want to have in miniature. And it’s a way of juxtaposing yourself against these powerful, undemocratic forces you’re protesting. If you make demands, you’re saying, in a way, that you’re asking the people in power and the existing institutions to do something different. And one reason people have been hesitant to do that is they see these institutions as the problem.

… EK: We’re also beginning to see “Occupy Wall Street” link up with with more traditional activist groups. Some members of the protest were speaking via videofeed at today’s big confab of liberal groups in Washington. MoveOn.org and organized labor are planning a march in support of the occupiers for Wednesday. How does that change what is, for now, a very decentralized movement?

DG: It is organically happening but there are definite problems that occur. We found this back in the days of the globalization movement. Unions were very supportive and provided resources but they’re very different organizations. The real difficulty is how to work with people who are top-down and have a funding base, as it means there are things they can say in public and things they can’t, and groups where people can say whatever they want and the whole idea is to be decentralized.
(3 October 2011)


Encounters with Occupy Wall Street

Louis Proyect, The Unrepentant Marxist

Occupy Wall Street from Louis Proyect on Vimeo.

(2 October 2011)


Democracy 2.0 Barcelona

Transition Towns, YouTube

(10 July 2011)
Gives an idea of how Transition may interact with the Occupy movements.

Related video from Transition Town Totnes:
15M what’s happening in Spain?
– “An interview with Juan del Rio and Duncan Crowley from Transition Barcelona at the International Transition Network Conference, explaining what has been happening recently with the 15M movement in Spain.”
-BA


Tags: Activism, Building Community, Politics