“What happened to Occupy, anyway?” The networks of activists that formed in the midst of 2011’s worldwide wave of protest are developing into efforts to create durable economic and political experiments. Rather than focusing on opposing an unjust system, they’re testing ways to replace it with something new. The challenge now is for people to continue to develop ways of organizing to meet our needs in ways that liberate us from the structural inequities that stirred up the protests of 2011. Can we find ways to secure shelter without relying on a Wall Street bank, or to work without our labor being exploited? Can we rebuild local economies so that they’re no longer dependent on Wal-Marts, military bases or prisons? What will it take to ensure that government is more responsive to popular will than to big money? Answering these kinds of questions is at once an opportunity and an adventure. It can involve people who didn’t feel the draw of protest in 2011, as well as those who did. They can help sustain patient resistance for years to come. Activists around the world should be learning from each other’s attempts. Our collective future depends on the alternatives we create today. ~ Nathan Schneider
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 14:40:48 +0000
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