This book is the first study of the processes and structures of the Occupy Wall Street movement, written from the perspective of a core organizer who was involved from the inception to the end. While much has been written on OWS, few books have focused on how the movement was organized. Marisa Holmes, an organizer of OWS in New York City, aims to fill this gap by deriving the theory from the practice and analyzing a broad range of original primary sources, from collective statements, structure documents, meeting minutes, and live tweets, to hundreds of hours of footage from the OWS Media Working Group archive. In doing so, she reveals how the movement was organized in practice, which experiments were most successful, and what future generations can learn.
Author(s): Marisa Holmes
Series: Alternatives and Futures: Cultures, Practices, Activism and Utopias
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 348
City: London
Foreword from the Series Editor
Main Foreword
Preface: All Day All Week
My Approach to Writing
Analysing with Movements
References
Acknowledgements
Praise for Organizing Occupy Wall Street
Contents
1: Intergenerational Dialogues
The Zapatistas
The World Trade Organization and Direct Action Network
The New Students for a Democratic Society
The 2007–2008 Crash
Student Occupations
Workplace Occupations
Housing Occupations
Riding the Wave
References
2: The Squares
Egyptians in New York City
Chasing the Revolution
April 6th Youth Movement Offices
Amal
The Second Friday of Anger
Negotiation
From 15 M to Occupy
References
3: The New York City General Assembly
NYC Uncut
12 May and Bloombergville
Adbusters
The Process
The Question of Demands
We Are the 99%
Test Run
The OWS Media Working Group
Tweets from the Streets
Trainings
References
4: Day One
Zuccotti Park
Wall Street
Our Park
Mic Check!
References
5: Our Park
Tents
The People’s Kitchen
The Medic Station
OWS Legal
The People’s Library
The Comfort Station
References
6: This Is What Democracy Looks Like
Modified Consensus
The Facilitation Working Group
Demands and Declarations
References
7: Direct Action
Non-Violent Direct Action
The Bell
#S24
The Brooklyn Bridge
References
8: Media for the 99%
The OWS Media Center
Media Cluster
Shifting the Narrative
Global Village
References
9: Allies
The Walkthrough
The Unions
5 Oct
The Working Families Party
Health and Safety
Move-on.org
Park Defense
References
10: Race in OWS
Troy Davis
We Are All Troy Davis
The People of Color Caucus
Challenges for the People of Color Caucus
References
11: Gender in OWS
Safer Spaces
Community Agreement
The Safer Spaces Tent
References
12: Structure
Democratic Organization
The Spokes Council
The Spokes Council Proposal
False Starts
Disruption
References
13: The Eviction
Whose Park?
Legal Window
References
14: Occupy Somewhere
#D6
702 Vermont Ave
#D17
#M17
Sidewalk Sleep-Outs
Occupy Town Square
The Magic Mountain
References
15: Money in the Movement
Finance
The Office
Movement Resource Group
Money Out of Politics
Power, Privilege, and Access to Resources
References
16: All Our Grievances Are Connected
The Dream of a General Strike
M1 Organizing Structure
Spring Training
Rank and File Outreach
Free CUNY
To Strike or Not to Strike
Student Strike to the Free University
Art on Strik e
May Day, May Day
Debriefing
References
17: All Roads Lead to Wall Street
Montgomery Mansion
Roads
Action Frameworks and Agreements
The Convergence
Happy Birthday
References
18: Occupy the World Social Forum
Agora 99
Firenze 10+10
The World Social Forum
Tunis
References
19: Informal Elites
Strike Debt
Assembling Debtors
The Coordinators
The Coordinators and Consensus
Kimani Gray
The Debt Collective
Occupy Sandy
Mutual Aid Not Charity
Hubs
We Got This
Red Hook
Emergency Money
References
20: The Founders
The Storg versus The OWS Media Working Group
The Founders Collaborate
Stop Using Consensus
Give the Gift of Occupy
#IFoundedOccupyWallSt
The Wolf of Occupy Wall Street
Ownership and Use
References
21: Power and Leadership
Feminine Roles
The Role of Connector
The Role of Documentarian
The Role of Admin
Connective Work
Trainings and Roles
Organization and Disorganization
References
22: Co-option
Tunisia
Egypt
Greece
Spain
Back in the US
#FeeltheBern
The Aftermath
References
23: Repression
Tunisia
Egypt
Greece
Spain
OWS
Entrapment Cases
References
24: Neo-Fascism
Breitbart
Troll Armies
J20
Charlottesville
No Platform
References
25: Conclusion: Building the New Society
From The Global Justice Movement to Occupy Wall Street
Internal Challenges
External Challenges
Lessons Learned
Setting Intentions
Working at the Intersections
Being Accountable
Distributing Resources
Becoming Resilient
Occupy Everywhere
References
Glossary
Index
