occupy

Occupy as Rupture: An Interview with Matt Peterson

September 17th... 2k23?

From The Institute for Anarchist Studies by Amogh Sahu, August 24, 2023

The decade we have left behind, the 2010s, was described by the British journalist Paul Mason as a time where “it’s kicking off everywhere.” What began with the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere, against the dictatorial regimes that ran those countries and in favor of democratic reforms, then followed with anti-austerity protests in Greece, Spain and Portugal, and in the form of movements like UK Uncut or the 15M in Madrid.

Against Your Demands

looks fun /s

Lessons from Occupy McGill

In 2022, I was an active anarchist in the two week occupation of McGill University. In the months prior to the occupation, I was part of the meetings that discussed the idea of pitching up tents in the Arts building. Back then, we were just 6 people at a picnic table. I witnessed the successes and failures of the occupation (and of its offshoots at Concordia and UdeM) but until now have not written anything on the subject.  

Looking back at the Occupy Pittsburgh commune

Looking back at the Occupy Pittsburgh commune

At our best, Occupy Pittsburgh provided many of our own needs, self-organized and shared food, clothing, medical assistance, published our own newspaper, organized spontaneous and planned disruptions, marches and occupations, organized teach-ins and discussions, acoustic jam sessions and on and on. [...] At our worst, we legislated over a park that we had declared liberated, demeaned our own efforts and valued our appearance in the media, in court, and to the law more than our own health and autonomy

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.

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

from the nation.com by David Graeber and David Wengrow, review by Daniel Immerwahr

Protest speaks a language of forceful insistence. “Defund the police,” “Build the wall”—the unyielding demands go back to Moses’ “Let my people go.” So it was curious when the July 2011 issue of the Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters ran a cryptic call to arms: a ballerina posing atop the famous Charging Bull statue on Wall Street, with the question “What is our one demand?” printed above her in red. The question wasn’t answered; readers were only told, “#OccupyWallStreet. September 17th. Bring tent.”

Occupy Wall Street/Occupy, ten years on

from Autonomies

The act of remembrance is not for us, as we so often repeat, one of simple commemoration, nor of retrospective evaluation: was an event, a movement, a revolt, a revolution, significant? The question begs criteria, criteria of what is politically and socially important, which is in turn judged according to “measurable” changes in what exists.

TOTW: Against the map makers

even anarchist map makers?

Topic of the week - Anarchist decolonization. Settler colonialism is ongoing and continues to play into the fabric of contemporary society, and what this means for resistance becomes a critical question for anarchists who seek radical liberatory visions of the future. Continuing the long tradition against colonialism, the state, and capitalism, this week we’re taking a look at anarchist decolonization.

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