Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Of American Revolutionaries and American Occupiers - Or . . . We Are All Occupiers Now

Bookforum posted two big collections of links yesterday on the #occupy movements - from a wide spectrum of perspectives. Some of it is not new here (Zizek on Charlie Rose), but much of it is new. Enjoy picking through the links to find the good stuff.

Everything you need to know about Occupy Wall Street: David Weigel and Lauren Hepler on a timeline of the movement, from February to today. David Graeber, the anti-leader of Occupy Wall Street: How the anthropologist, activist, and anarchist helped transform a hapless rally into a global protest movement. Dahlia Lithwick on how OWS confuses and ignores Fox News and the pundit class. Occupy and Evolve: Kelly Heresy has been with OWS since Day 1 and was part of the first group to live and work in Liberty Plaza. Matt Taibbi on how Wall Street isn't winning — it's cheating. We are all Occupiers now: Katha Pollitt on the mainstreaming of OWS. Alex Aums and James Broulard on the strange case of #OccupyPhoenix and the search for civic life in the exurbs. The newspaper of Occupy London, The Occupied Times of London, has been launched. Meet the 0.01 Percent: War profiteers. It really, really is 99 vs. 1. Charlie Rose interviews Slavoj Zizek. Democracy is the enemy: Slavoj Zizek on how, so far, the protesters have done well to avoid exposing themselves to the criticism that Lacan levelled at the students of '68 (and more). The stunning victory that OWS has already achieved: In just one month, the protesters have shifted the national dialogue from a relentless focus on the deficit to a discussion of the real issues facing Main Street. How Paul Ryan tried to answer the supercommittee and OWS protesters at the same time. An interview with Doug Henwood on the socially useless Wall Street class. David Harvey on how the party of Wall Street meets its nemesis. "I Am Wall Street": Here is a samizdat anti-Occupy one-pager, first found at Occupy Chicago. Gotcha interviewer portrays OWS as drug-addled farce. Don't diss the drum circles: Danny Goldberg writes in defense of hippies. We’re hoping General Assembly votes MC Moneypenney’s hot new single to be the official anthem of Occupy Wall Street. Here is sex advice from Occupy Wall Street protesters.

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The latest issue of The Occupied Wall Street Journal is out. Justin Elliot on the future of Occupy: Four key questions. Amy Dean on OWS and America’s democratic tradition. Objecting or objectified? At Occupy Wall Street women get attention, but not always for their message. Jonathan Topaz on why Occupy Wall Street isn’t particularly revolutionary. What would James Madison do: Would the framers support the OWS movement? How to deal with the police is a point of dispute between Social Democratic Anarchists and Communist Anarchists. Occupy Judaism: The Jews who held a Yom Kippur service at OWS were upholding an American tradition of invoking religion to spur progressive action. The Occupy movement is the latest example of the impact radical action and ideas can have when the system is weak. A look at what the #OccupyTogether encampments can teach society about sustainability. It’s not a hippie thing: Don’t be fooled by the drum circles — today’s protests have more in common with the anti-Hoover 1930s than the antiwar ’60s and ’70s (and more). Jennifer Mercieca writes of American revolutionaries and American occupiers. It has been quite some time after Georges Sorel has proposed the idea of General Strike: Irakli Zurab Kakabadze on OWS and a polyphonic general strike. The 99 Percenters have brought their protest to the Navy. The Vatican confounds conservatives: Will we soon see a distinguished-looking older man in long white robes walking among the OWS demonstrators in Zuccotti Park? From Tea Party Review, here is a conservative lesson from Occupy Wall Street. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property “occupies” 7,500 public squares — and goes unreported; and John Ritchie on what he saw at Occupy Wall Street. From the Mises Institute, George Reisman writes in praise of the capitalist 1 percent; and Llewellyn Rockwell on how the state is the 1 percent. Get a Job! Working is (usually) more admirable than protesting.

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