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TOTW: Occupy 10 years later

Shock-u-py and Awe-cu-py

Around 10 years ago the first Occupy protest to grab large public attention began on September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, New York City. By October, Occupy had setup camp in over 951 cities across 82 different countries, and over 600 spots in the USA. By the end of 2011 and not far into 2012 most of the Occupy spaces had been cleared by the authorities. This week, we’re taking a look back and into the future of Occupy ideas.

How did Occupy in your location go? Did Occupy have any long term impacts on your anarchist ideas and praxis 10 years later? If you had a chance to do it all over again in 2021, what would you do differently?

In their new book “OHIO: The truth behind Bob’s Lanes” by Sean Swain, on pages 205-206 they write of “Shock-u-py and Awe-cu-py”:

“Imagine Occupy on steroids. Not Occupy as it occurred, but Occupy as it could have been, as it should have been if everyone knew then what they know now. Imagine a convergence, not dozens of them all spread out, but one convergence where everyone meets, one that everyone expects to be the convergence to end all convergences, the convergence to end swivelization. Imagine a convergence that is consciously aware of its own inherent power, one that seeks to push the envelope beyond what anyone might rationally expect to be possible.

We’re talking about an insurrectionary version of Shock and Awe, an attack so incredibly overwhelming as to absolutely paralyze the enemy hierarchs’ system and make an effective response to all of the various attacks and disruptions impossible. We can turn Occupy into Shock-u-py and Awe-cu-py.”

What do you think about this “Shock-u-py and Awe-cu-py” strategy and the one convergence to rule them all? Where in the world would be best for something like this to take place?

Related reading: Occupy Everything: Anarchists in the Occupy Movement 2009-2011 edited by Aragorn!