1. Why Street Protest
• a fundamental right and contribution to democracy is to express our dissent
• collective manifestation of dissent creates news, encourages others, threatens elites
• the way to win (reforms) is to raise the costs of the current way of doing things until it becomes in the interests of the elites to do it our way
• threat/promise to take over
Lecture to the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 5 February 2015.
I’ve been receiving calls and emails lately from friends who think I should get back to the US and participate in the Occupy movements. I am very excited about the Occupy movements, but I am not excited to participate. I’ve done some thinking about why, talked about these issues with those same friends, and recognize that these feelings are worth writing about. In my years as an activist in the alterglobalization movements there was an […read the rest]
…The German government’s “official submission” to the Oscars… / “official story” of this period. On general principle, it’s probably not a good idea to go see movies generously funded by the state purporting to tell the history of anarchists. But it was a film festival… (A friend has pointed out that since the German film industry is so small, almost all films receive some funding from the government.) But Badder-Meinhof Complex was the police name […read the rest]
from After Seattle: A Memoir, work-in-progress On a recent lecture trip to Europe, I was repeatedly called upon to explain “what is going on” in the States. By this, people meant several things. Some of them meant how is it possible that Bush was re-elected. Others wondered what had happened to the anti-war movement. Some wondered what the alterglobalization movement was up to. The answers to these questions were similar, because they are interwoven. Each […read the rest]
Being on the Other End(s) of Things… By Amory Starr Progressive Planning: The Magazine of Planners Network Spring 2007 Faith is mad at me today. Faith is an organizer with Power Tenants. I believe in Faith. A recent college grad, she’s doing what I urge my favorite students to do –working as a community organizing intern. She’s a good organizer. I recognize everything she does. She’s trying to get me to organize a house party. […read the rest]
This is written in the context of my summary of social movements literature questions: how shall we understand politicized consumption theoretically. for example, Melucci requires that a movement be in fact “antagonistic towards the logic of the rules governing the system” not just a conflictual “demand for inclusion”? [Melucci 1989: 39] can it be a social movement? (we need to choose a definition) what can we say about it as a possible social movement? strengths? […read the rest]
‘A guidebook helps those who search. In a time of “infinite war”, when we confront the infinite stupidity, lies and arrogance of power, we search for those values and practices that keep us true to our dreams and aspirations for another world. This book guides us into that search, and it does it beautifully.’ Massimo De Angelis, Editor of The Commoner ‘A demystifying roadmap of the ideas and events which have shaped the movement.’ Robert […read the rest]
“This is What Democracy Looks Like” letter to the editor, Santa Barbara Independent 1.13.03 I’m home for the holidays, so I strap on my cock rocket (a missile-shaped phallus made of cardboard and tinfoil), slip into my George W. mask, and head down to the weekly peace march. I am happy to find the movement growing rapidly. But I am also attacked by a fellow activist who feels justified in destroying my costume because he […read the rest]
