1

The Fragmentation of the 99%: How the American Occupy

Movement went from radicalism to reformism

Undergraduate History Dissertation

May 2020

670003263

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Statement of Aims

Firstly, this dissertation aims to improve the scholarship’s understanding of the American

Occupy Movement. It does this by increasing the scope, depth, and timeframe of the study. The

scope is greater as this dissertation studies the four largest Occupy camps in America: Occupy

Wall Street, Occupy Boston, Occupy Oakland, and Occupy Portland. The depth is increased

through the use of new sources, particularly new types of online sources. Lastly, the timeframe

is extended to include activities after the camps were evicted. This allows a more complete

understanding of the movement, where the key feature was the fragmentation of the 99%.

Secondly, this dissertation seeks to improve the framework for understanding radical protest.

This dissertation situates itself within the debate of lifestyle activism which emerged from the

anarchist community. This dissertation adds Mark’s Fisher’s theory of capitalist realism to the

understanding of lifestylism to revise its definition to include the vitally important question of

whether protestors believed social change was possible. Here, we will find that Occupy began

radically, but after a short period of time, the movement fragmented into two groups. One

became lifestylist, while the other became concerned with reform for local issues, therefore

placing them outside radical activism.

Finally, this dissertation aims to further our understanding of recent Western political

phenomena, particularly the rise of populism. This point is, understandably, speculative, and

does not form the core thrust of the argument. However, themes are explored which have

significant parallels with recent political events.

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Contents

Statement of Aims………………………………………………………………………………………..2

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………………………………...5

Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………………...6

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Chapter One: Radical Beginnings……………………………………………………………………..13

Chapter Two: Seasoned Activists slide into lifestylism……………………………………………...26

Chapter Three: Some choose reformism……………………………………………………………..34

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….38

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………………...40

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List of Figures

Title Image – Anonymous Photographer, Protesters with the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement

demonstrate before walking up 5th Avenue to rally in front of the residence of NewsCorp CEO

Rupert Murdoch on Oct. 11, 2011 in New York City (Spencer Platt/Getty Images, 11 October

2011), <https://www.npr.org/2011/10/14/141348231/the-nation-the-99-percent-rise-

up?t=1587986692082> [accessed 24 February 2020].

FIGURE 1 – Micah White, ‘Micah White on UK Uncut’, Adbusters, 97 (September/October

2011), <https://subscribe.adbusters.org/collections/back-issues/products/ab97> [accessed 29

September 2019].

FIGURE 2 – jaune!, ‘99 words in Zuccotti Park (Occupy Wall Street)’, YouTube (17 November

2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_CXb6Zy8M> [accessed 29 March 2020].

FIGURE 3 – Adam Koford, ‘Untitled’, in Andy Cornell, ‘Consensus, What It Is, What It Isn’t,

Where It Comes From, And Where It Must Go’ in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement

Strategy from Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy, Mike McGuire

(California: AK Press, 2012), 91-99 (p. 91).

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Abbreviations

OWS Occupy Wall Street

OB Occupy Boston

OP Occupy Portland

OO Occupy Oakland

OH Occupy Homes

OS Occupy Sandy

OtH Occupy the Hood

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Tobias Rupprecht, for all his help and guidance over the

year. I came into this process filled with ideas and enthusiasm but without a plan of how to turn

that into a piece of work. Without him, this dissertation would have been a disorganised

collection of semi-masticated musings. I thank him for helping me reach my potential.

I would also like to thank my girlfriend Bry. Throughout the year she has read a short novel’s

worth of drafts and always provided helpful advice and encouragement. Sometimes she sent

me back to the drawing board, but this dissertation is all the better for it. Thank you for living the

journey with me.

Lastly, I would like to thank my Mum and Dad. Thank you for supporting me through school and

university while always fuelling my curiosity. Your honest feedback has been most useful. I

could tell as your reactions moved from concern to confusion to curiosity that I was getting

somewhere.

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Introduction

“We need to take back our country and restore democracy”.1

Who said this? Was it a British Brexiteer wanting to “Take Back Control” or an American Donald

Trump supporter wanting to “Make America Great Again” by “draining the swamp” of the political

elite?2 Neither. It was the response of an anonymous protestor at Occupy Boston (OB) in

September 2011 when asked the question “why do you Occupy?”.3

A new politics entered the West after the financial and economic crisis of 2008.4 A new

populism emerged at both ends of the political spectrum uniting people against globalisation,

inequality, and elites.5 In recent years, the populist slogans “Take Back Control” and “Make

America Great Again” captured a sense of frustration with the status quo and a feeling that the

future should be more like the past than the present.6 But this zeitgeist was apparent years

earlier in the Occupy Movement in 2011-12. While many Occupy protestors would have taken

issue with a desire to go “back” to find answers, a widespread sense of systemic failure was at

the heart of Occupy.7 This feeling united thousands around the principle that they were the

“99%”, and they were not being represented by the 1% who controlled all the money and

1 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Why Do You Occupy? - Interviews At Occupy Boston’, YouTube, (2 October 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK7I1uC-ZsA> [accessed 21 January 2020]. 2 Boris Johnson, ‘Boris Johnson's Brexit Victory Speech: Full Transcript’, Newsweek (2016), <https://www.newsweek.com/boris-johnsons-brexit-victory-speech-full-transcript-474086> [accessed 21 January 2020]; Donald Trump, ‘Trump’s full inauguration speech transcript, annotated’, Washington Post (2017), <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/20/donald-trumps-full-inauguration-speech-transcript-annotated/> [accessed 21 January 2020]; Donald Trump, ‘I’m draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back. Don’t worry, we will win!’, @realDonaldTrump, Twitter (6 September 2018) <https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1037541538950209537?lang=en> [accessed 10th February 2020]. 3 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Why Do You Occupy?’. 4 John B. Judis, The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics (New York: Columbia Global Reports, 2016); Adrian Buckley, Financial Crisis: Causes, Context, and Consequences (Harlow: Pearson, 2011); Engelbert Stockhammer, ‘Neoliberalism, Income Distribution and the Causes of the Crisis’ in The Financial Crisis: Origins and Implications, ed. by Philip Arestis, Rogério Sobreira and José Luis Oreiro (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), pp. 234-258. 5 Marco Revelli, The New Populism: Democracy Stares into the Abyss, trans. by David Broder (New York: Verso, 2019); Duncan McDonnell and Annika Werner, International Populism: The Radical Right in the European Parliament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019); William Hague, ‘The Implications of European Populism: Here to Stay’, Teneo Vision 2020, <https://www.teneo.com/vision-book/2020/the-implications-of-european-populism-here-to-stay/> [accessed 12 December 2019]. 6 Johnson, ‘Boris Johnson's Brexit Victory Speech: Full Transcript’; Trump, ‘Trump’s full inauguration speech transcript, annotated’. 7 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Why Do You Occupy?’.

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power.8 Joseph Stiglitz’s famous article in Vanity Fair in May 2011 was seen as a forewarning of

the Occupy Movement. When placed in the broader context of the rise of populism, it takes on

renewed significance.

The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best

lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that

their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something

that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late. (Vanity Fair, May 2011)9

The Occupy Movement was an international progressive movement that protested against

inequality and a perceived lack of real democracy. The protestors occupied central urban

spaces in camps that were operational twenty-four hours a day. Due to the almost total

autonomy each camp had they developed differently and had their own concerns. Occupy

began in America in the summer of 2011.10 It was initiated online by Canadian anti-authoritarian

and culture jamming group Adbusters.11 They proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street

and urged people to “bring tent”.12 They aimed to combine the symbolic location of the protests

in Tahrir Square, Cairo with the consensus decision-making of the anti-austerity Spanish

Indignados Movement.13 In July, they created hashtag #OCCUPYWALLSTREET which went

viral.14 It was accompanied by the iconic poster created by their editor Micah White of a

ballerina standing on top of Wall Street’s Charging Bull statue with the text “What is our one

demand?”.15 This message struck a chord with many and the movement outgrew Adbusters’

control.16 On 17th September, the first day of the protest, over 1000 people turned up.17 They

occupied a square of public land near Wall Street called Zuccotti Park until they were evicted on

15th November the same year.18 In that time the movement had spread to over 600 locations in

8 Occupy Wall Street General Assembly, First Communiqué: We Occupy Wall Street, OccupyWallStreet: We are the 99 percent (19th September 2011), <http://occupywallst.org/article/first-communique-we-occupy-wall-street/> [accessed 4 February 2020]. 9 Joseph Stiglitz, ‘Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%’, Vanity Fair, Inequality, (May 2011), <https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105> [accessed 3 April 2020]. 10 David Graeber, The Democracy Project: A History. A Crisis. A Movement. (London: Penguin, 2014), pp. 35-36. 11 Ibid, pp. 3-43; Micah White, The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution (New York: Knopf Canada, 2016), pp. 7-18. 12 White, p. 11; Adbusters, ‘September 17th. Wall Street. Bring Tent. http://bit.ly/re9ENL #OCCUPYWALLSTREET’, @Adbusters, Twitter (14th July 2011), <https://twitter.com/adbusters/status/91533165352583168?lang=en> [accessed 2 October 2019]. 13 White, pp. 7-18; Salvador Marti Puig, ‘“15M”: The Indignados’, in The Occupy Handbook, ed. by Janet Byrne (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), pp. 209-217; Chris Stanton, ‘From Tahrir to Zuccotti: Justice but No Peace in Egypt’, in The Occupy Handbook, ed. by Janet Byrne (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012), pp. 239-244. 14 White, p. 11; Adbusters, ‘September 17th. Wall Street. Bring Tent’. 15 Derek Yates and Jessie Price, Communication Design: Insights from the Creative Industries (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), p. 152. 16 White, p. 16. 17 Danny Schechter, Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street (New York: Cosimo Books, 2012), p. 131. 18 Ibid, p. 137.

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America, and in total over 950 cities in 82 countries around the world.19 The Occupy Movement

famously refused to issue a list of demands.20 However, they were united by principles of a

prefigurative, consensus-driven participatory form of democracy and a rejection of inequality

and elite corporatism. Other than Occupy Wall Street (OWS), the largest protests in America

were in Boston, Oakland, and Portland.21 These protests were evicted at different times, but by

the end of spring 2012, the occupation was over.22 After that, efforts of occupation were carried

out by far smaller groups and with much less success.

Largely due to the lack of formal demands, the Occupy Movement has proven difficult to

categorise. Scholars have, therefore, interpreted it in a variety of ways. In Occupy Noam

Chomsky argues that the movement was a result of the 2007/08 financial crisis and the lack of

meaningful change people recognised since then.23 “The Banks Got Bailed Out; We Got Sold

Out!” was a popular chant, highlighted in Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky’s The Occupiers.24

Similarly, Occupy is frequently put within the context of the global wave of social movements

between 2010-2012, sparked by the Arab Spring and European responses to the financial crisis

and subsequent austerity.25 Scholars such as Marcos Ancelovici, Pascale Dufour and Héloïse

Nez in Street Politics in the Age of Austerity point to 2011 as a seminal year in global history

akin to 1848 and 1968.26 Occupy is also claimed for anarchism by sympathetic scholars such as

David Graeber. Graeber places Occupy in anarchist theory and practise, particularly Bakuninist

notions of spontaneous revolution.27 Occupy has also attracted the more niche understanding of

digital studies through works such as Zeynep Tufekci’s Twitter and Tear Gas and Paolo

Gerbaudo’s Tweets and the Streets.28 These works use Occupy to explore how new media

influenced the movement. None of these fields of study takes a distinctly historical approach.

19 Manuel Castells, Networks of outrage and hope: social movements in the Internet age (Chichester: Wiley, 2012), p. 4. 20 Marina Sitrin, ‘One No, Many Yeses’, in Occupy!: scenes from occupied America, ed. by Carla Blumenkranz, Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen, Mark Greif, Sarah Leonard and Sarah Resnick (New York: Verso, 2011), 16-18 (p. 17). 21 Todd A. Comer, What Comes After Occupy?: The Regional Politics of Resistance (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015), p. 1. 22 Nicholas Smaligo, The occupy movement explained: from corporate control to democracy (Chicago: Open Court, 2014), pp. 138-141. 23 Noam Chomsky, Occupy (London: Penguin, 2012). 24 Gould-Wartofsky, p. 14. 25 Pnina Werbner, Martin Webb and Kathryn Spellman-Poots, The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: The Arab Spring and Beyond (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014); The Occupy Handbook, ed. by Byrne; Nina Belyeva, Victor Albert and Dmitry G. Zajtsev, Protest Publics: Toward a New Concept of Mass Civic Action (Cham: Springer, 2019); Gavin Brown, Anna Feigenbaum, Fabian Frenzel and Patrick McCurdy, Protest Camps in International Context: Spaces, Infrastructures and Media of Resistance (Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2017). 26 Marcos Ancelovici, Pascale Dufour and Héloïse Nez, Street politics in the age of austerity: from the indignados to occupy (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press, 2016), p. 20. 27 Graeber, The Democracy Project, pp. 271-302. 28 Zeynep Tufekci, Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019); Paolo Gerbaudo, Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism (London: Pluto Press, 2012).

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Rather, these works range from political theory to sociology to social movement studies to

digital studies.

The field which will be drawn most from, however, is the significantly understudied concept of

lifestyle activism. This dissertation will revise the definition of lifestylism using new theory, and

then use it to assess Occupy. The lifestylism debate was inaugurated in the anarchist

community in 1995 by Murray Bookchin’s book Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism.

Bookchin argued that modern anarchism was lifestylist because its participants were more

interested in individual moral purity than a commitment to social change which had

characterised the social anarchists of old.29 Many anarchists rebuke Bookchin’s charge, most

vociferously Bob Black in his rejoinder Anarchy After Leftism (1997). Black rightly problematises

Bookchin’s method, arguing that he simply critiqued strains of anarchism he did not like rather

than created an effective category.30 Recently, there have been attempts to salvage the

lifestylist label, most notably Laura Portwood-Stacer’s Lifestyle Politics and Radical Activism

(2013). Portwood-Stacer argues that lifestylism can be a legitimate form of protest given the

hegemony of neoliberalism.31 That being, the cultural dominance of free-market capitalism

which has emerged since the fall of the Soviet Union. Portwood-Stacer, however, sets the bar

for legitimate protest too low by skirting around the issue of what protestors real motives are.

While neoliberalism made legitimate protest more challenging, it matters whether protest was

guided by a belief in real change, or just protest for protest’s sake. Mark Fisher’s concept of

capitalist realism addresses this issue. Capitalist realism is the mentality and belief that

capitalism is the only thing that is real.32 This mindset was best encapsulated by Margaret

Thatcher’s famous phrase “there is no alternative”.33 A mentality of capitalist realism would

render Occupy protestors lifestylists. If they were acting under that mentality then although they

claimed to be protesting against capitalism, they did not believe in a future outside of it. This

would mean that they were not working for real social change and were therefore lifestylist.

I will use this new definition of lifestylism to assess the motivations of Occupy protestors across

a broader range of time, space, and scope. As this dissertation focuses on the motivations of

protestors, not their achievements, the source material has to come of the protestors

themselves. This will include blog posts and articles, videos, transcripts of meetings, newspaper

articles (of papers they created) as well as information put up on websites and archives they

made. The scholarship has not covered the American Occupy Movement in its entirety, and this

has led to a partial understanding of the movement. Most studies have an insufficient

29 Murray Bookchin, Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm (Edinburgh: AK Press, 1995). 30 Bob Black, Anarchy After Leftism: A Farewell to the Anarchism That Was! (Columbia: Columbia Alternative Library, 1997), pp. 12-14. 31 Laura Portwood-Stacer, Lifestyle Politics and Radical Activism (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp. 131-162. 32 Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is there no alternative? (London: zero books, 2009), p. 2. 33 Claire Berlinski, There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters (New York: Basic Books, 2011).

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timeframe, ending as soon as the camps were evicted. However, Occupy continued after the

evictions. The scholarship also lacks a comparative approach. Nearly all studies focus solely on

OWS, and those that look at other branches of the movement tend to focus exclusively on them.

Occupy was, however, one movement and should be analysed as such. This dissertation,

therefore, looks at the four biggest occupations in America, OWS, OB, Occupy Oakland (OO)

and Occupy Portland (OP), over an extended timeframe. Through this broader approach we find

that fragmentation was the core theme of the movement. The scholarship also lacks scope, with

a particular blind spot for the lifestylism of seasoned activists. Through a more holistic approach

and an injection of new ideas, this dissertation argues that the movement began radically, with a

commitment to real social change. However, the movement then fragmented into two groups.

One was lifestylist, dominated by traditional radical activists. The other, was a new political

group focused on reform for local issues.

Although the source material has to come from the protestors themselves, this kind of evidence

has inevitable limitations. Firstly, the evidence is limited by what has been recorded. In this

instance, many of the archival collections were created by enthusiastic, long-term activists who

may not be representative of Occupy as a whole. This is particularly problematic due to

Occupy’s emphasis on horizontal forms of hierarchy. Secondly, it is difficult to ascertain what

protestors thought. The actions and words of protestors may have been performative as the

occupations took place in public places. Fisher recognised the difference between what people

say they believe and what they truly believe as a Freudian unconscious. However, he

regrettably claimed that all 21st century protestors were unconsciously capitalist realists without

any evidence.34 The other issue is one of source type as many of these sources are new media

to historians. However, despite inevitable limitations, a close investigation of the documentation

produced by Occupy’s protestors themselves is the best means of understanding their

relationship to lifestylism.

Chapter 1 examines Occupy’s radical inception. This includes OWS’s digital call to arms and the

reaction to it, the radical context Occupy emerged into, the initial occupation as well as the

beginnings of the other occupations which formed in OWS’s shadow. This is the largest chapter

due to the level of documentation on the subject. For the same reason, OWS receives the most

attention throughout the study. Afterwards, the dissertation analyses the fragmentation of the

99%. This divide occurred between seasoned activists who became increasingly lifestylist and a

newly politicised people who shifted their attention towards reform. Chapter 2 explores part of

the movement’s slide into lifestylism. This occurred particularly after the camps were evicted but

was also evident before that to an extent. This was due to the influence of horizontal

organisational structures granted near-total autonomy, the effect of anarchism, as well as the

effect of new technological platforms on the movement. Lastly, Chapter 3 investigates part of

the movement’s shift towards reform for local issues. This involved stepping outside of radical

34 Mark Fisher, K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher, ed. by Darren Ambrose (London: Repeater, 2018), pp. 237, 341-344.

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politics and debates on lifestylism. Activists in New York focused on housing foreclosures as

well as the response to Hurricane Sandy. In Boston the issue was racial equality, in Portland, it

was homelessness, while in Oakland, it was workers’ rights.

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Chapter 1: Radical Beginnings

“I awoke in a cold sweat from the American Dream”35 – Ruth Milkman

The American Occupy Movement began radically. This is old news to the secondary literature

which has decided almost unanimously that Occupy was unequivocally radical. Most studies

include Adbusters’ digital call to arms and some keen responses to it, along with the first few

days of OWS.36 Here, we will add other elements to give a more complete picture. This

includes some less than radical responses to Adbusters message, the radical context Occupy

emerged into, elements of lifestylism in OWS’s first few days and the first days of the other

major occupations, specifically, OB, OO and OP. This more holistic approach along with a

revised definition of lifestylism allows for a better understanding of the American Occupy

Movement in its beginning. The vast majority of the early movement was radical. However,

there was some lurking lifestylism among seasoned activists, both in their response to

Adbusters message and in the OWS camp. However, due to the lack of hardcore activists in the

other camps, lifestylism was less prevalent there. Through this approach, we will see the

unfiltered radicalism of Occupy, and the limits of it. Many placards read “another world is

possible”; most believed it.37

Occupy began radically with Adbusters in the summer of 2011. On the 13th July 2011,

Adbusters released a tactical briefing and a poster [FIGURE 1] to their 90,000 email subscribers

and printed over 40,000 copies of their magazine.38 They drew on the global social movements

of the year, asking “are you ready for a Tahrir moment?”. They encouraged inclusive

horizontalism when they urged people to “incessantly repeat one single demand in a plurality of

voices”.39 The poster achieved iconic status, and White claimed it captured a sense of “fearless,

playful, revolutionary joy”.40 At the same time, White became the first person to use the hashtag

35 Ruth Milkman, Changing the Subject: A Bottom-up Account of Occupy Wall Street in New York City, ed. by Ruth Milkman, Stephanie Luce and Penny Lewis (New York: Murphey Institute, 2013), p. 37. 36 The Occupy Handbook, ed. by Byrne; Tom Malleson, After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the 21st Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014); Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011); Graeber, The Democracy Project. 37 Caron Atlas, ‘Radical Imagination’, in Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space, ed. by Ron Shiffman, Rick Bell, Lance Jay Brown, Lynne Elizabeth, Anastassia Fisyak and Anusha Venkataraman (New York: NYU Press, 2012), pp. 146-155 (p. 147); Winnie Ng and Salmaan Khan, ‘The Year of the Occupy Movement: Imperfect Yet Powerful Acts of Love’, Canadian Social Work Review, 29, 2 (2012), 267-273; Anonymous, ‘Another World is Possible!’, OccupyWallStreet: We are the 99 percent, 17 (31 August 2012), <http://occupywallst.org/article/Another-World-S17/> [accessed 23 February 2020]. 38 White, p. 23. 39 Ibid, p. 24; Micah White, ‘#OCCUPYWALLSTREET Campaign Materials’, Adbusters, 97 (September 2011). 40 Ibid, p. 23.

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#OCCUPYWALLSTREET. Radically, he encouraged people to “dream of insurrection against

corporate rule” and imagine a different future.41 The tweet went viral and the movement began.

Adbusters utilised new digital platforms to spread their message. They gained support on the

forums of Reddit and also were endorsed by hacktivist group Anonymous who helped

popularise the movement on YouTube.42 Adbusters placed their motivations within the context

of the global social movements of 2011, and this fuelled OWS’s radicalism.43 The slogan “what

is your one demand?” captured people’s imagination and allowed the movement to spread

across divides in America.44 Adbusters aimed to ignite a radical consciousness. As such, White

claimed that “Adbusters could not control the movement and did not try to”.45 Adbusters

believed that there was an alternative, writing on 12th August that “it looks like something is

about to break”.46

41 Ibid, p. 25; Anonymous, ‘#OCCUPYWALLSTREET: A shift in revolutionary tactics’, Adbusters (15 November 2011), <https://www.webcitation.org/63DZ1nIDl> [accessed 4 November 2019]; Adbusters, ‘Dear Americans, this July 4th dream of insurrection against corporate rule http://bit.ly/kejAUy #occupywallstreet’, @Adbusters, (tweet) (2011) <https://twitter.com/adbusters/status/88013043438600192?lang=en> [accessed 19 October 2019]. 42 Ibid, pp. 25-26; Reddit, <https://www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet/> [accessed 15 April 2020]; Grupo LatinHacker Guerrilla Mediatica, ‘Anonymous - Occupy Wall Street, Sep 17’, YouTube (31 August 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnzmcZEehOo> [accessed 15 April 2020]. 43 Writers for the 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action that Changed America (New York: OR Books, 2011), p. 5. 44 White, p. 23. 45 Ibid, p. 26. 46 Ibid, p. 18.

FIGURE 1: Adbusters’ poster

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However, the reaction of seasoned activists contained aspects of lifestylism. Many, including

Occupy’s chief ideologue Graeber, doubted how successful the movement could be. In The

Democracy Project, he admitted that having organised so many protests over years with such

minimal success that he forgot that it was possible to create something like OWS.47 White was

particularly worried about such an attitude. He feared that Occupy could degenerate into the

“lefty game we always play, which is self-defeatist”.48 These doubts did not stop Graeber from

taking part, but it meant that he did not always believe that the protest could create a future

outside of capitalism. This meant that, at certain points, his activism was lifestylist. This

lifestylism is only possible to detect with the new definition, as it questions whether activists

thought a future outside of capitalism was possible. However, the doubts of some seasoned

activists before taking part did not necessarily make them lifestylist. Allison Nevit voiced her

legitimate concern in her blog about whether a movement organised without a core group could

succeed.49 Her concerns only show a hesitance to believe in the movement, not the cause or

the possibility of it.

Most of the reaction to Occupy was radical. Adbusters’ ignited a flame of radicalism that spread

quickly over newly popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.50 As

Adbusters limited involvement with Occupy after 17th September shows, they were just the torch

that lit the blue touch paper.51 Many were inspired by their message and the traction it gained

online. One anonymous Occupy protester wrote in their blog how they quit their job and “got a

one-way ticket” to Wall Street.52 This shows how seriously many took Occupy, even before it

had begun. For many, this was not a routine protest, this was their last chance to create the

world they wanted to see. As Chris, another Occupy blogger wrote, “the world does not have to

be this way”.53 He clearly imagined a future outside of modern capitalism. Even AoT (who while

anonymous made clear they were seasoned activist) went beyond just saying “something is

wrong”, but rather that “hope is not lost”.54 Mimicking Barrack Obama’s rhetoric AoT wrote, “we

can, we definitely can… see you in the future”.55

47 Graber, The Democracy Project, p. 8. 48 Micah White to Nathan Schneider (12 August 2011), in Thank You Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse, ed. by Nathan Schneider (California: University of California, 2013), 15 (p. 15). 49 Allison Nevit, ‘Witnessing #occupywallstreet #6: my first day’, in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011) 45-48. 50 Anthony DiMaggio and Paul Street, ‘Occupy Wall Street, Mass Media and Progressive Change in the Tea Party Era’, Economic and Political Weekly, 46, 47 (2011) 10-14. 51 White, p. 26. 52 Anonymous Occupier, ‘#Occupywallstreet: Day 7’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishing, 2011), 34-35, (p. 34). 53 Chris, ‘Why?’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishing, 2011), 18-19 (p. 18). 54 AoT, ‘Occupy Wall Street’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishing, 2011), 10-13 (p. 10). 55 Ibid, pp. 12-13.

16

The context of 2011 was beneficial to radical movements. Many rightly place Occupy within the

wave of social movements in 2011 as well as protests in response to the recession of 2007/8.

For example, Street Politics in the Age of Austerity places Occupy among the other social

movements of 2011 in relation to the financial crisis of 2007/8.56 However, the Occupy

movement also has a distinct historiography which makes this connection. Many articles, such

as Bjarke Risager’s Eventful Places, emphasise the importance of reclaiming free spaces in

response to the financial crisis.57 The Occupy Handbook emphasises the link between the

neoliberalism of the financial crisis and the social movements enabled by new digital

technology.58 This milieu was evident in America throughout 2011. In February 2011, a major

but underreported protest took place in Wisconsin about budget cuts.59 Protestors waved

Egyptian flags and on 20th February they received a message from Egyptian union leader

Kamal Abbas saying, “workers of Wisconsin… we stand with you and you stand with us”.60

Later, Senia at OWS’s Press Working Group claimed that the protests in Wisconsin were “a

really big inspiration” while they “recycled” much from the Spanish Indignados movement.61 The

American Occupy Movement did not emerge from a vacuum, it responded to, and interacted

with, a moment of global protest. This radicalism emerged locally too. In June, New Yorkers’

Against Budget Cuts occupied an area of New York for three weeks, naming the site

Bloombergville, mocking New York City’s then-mayor Michael Bloomberg.62 The protest was a

success, as they only left when it was agreed that the budget would be modified.63 New York

had a short-term precedent for protest, even if Bloombergville wanted reform, not revolution.

Indeed, a collection of Occupy activists in their book Occupying Wall Street drew a direct

connection between the tactics, “camaraderie” and radicalism of Bloombergville and OWS.64

Alongside the radicalising and magnifying effects of the wave of global social movements in

2011 and the 2007/8 recession, longer-term socio-cultural factors also led to radicalism. Occupy

Everything seeks to understand the social circumstances which produced different kinds of

occupiers.65 Thomas Gillespie and Victoria Habermehl explore how the “commodification of

56 Ancelovici, Dufour and Nez, Street politics in the age of austerity; Thomas Davies, Holly Eva Ryan and Alejandro Milaiades Pena, Protest, Social Movements and Global Democracy since 2011: New Perspectives (Bingley: Emerald, 2016). 57 Bjarke Risager, ‘The Eventful Places of Occupy Wall Street and Tahrir Square: Cosmopolitan Imagination and Social Movements’, Globalizations, 14, 5 (2017), 714-729. 58 The Occupy Handbook, ed. by Byrne. 59 Writers For The 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street, p. 6. 60 Ibid, p. 6; Kamal Abbas, ‘Independent Egyptian Unions Express Solidarity with Wisconsin Workers, February 20, 2011’, Michael Moore, YouTube (20 February 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgxh5ByzRVQ> [accessed 29 March 2020]. 61 Senia, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent New York: OR Books, 2011), p. 6. 62 Writers For The 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street, pp. 7-8. 63 Ibid, p. 9. 64 Jackie Di Salvo, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For the 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), p. 9. 65 Alessio Lunghi and Seth Wheeler, Occupy Everything: Reflections on why it’s kicking off everywhere (New York: Minor Compositions, 2012).

17

higher education” has fuelled the phenomena of “the graduate with no future”.66 Meanwhile, an

occupy blogger wrote how the cultural hegemony of neoliberalism, shown by Peter Mandelson’s

adage “we are all Thatcherites now” has led to an endemic political apathy which Occupy broke

through.67 Dennis Trainor’s film OccuDoc: American Autumn echoed this sentiment and found

many other occupiers who felt the same.68 This electoral apathy can be seen in occupier

Richard Muhammad’s statement that the failure of Obama was the “last chance for reform”

while Jose Martin insisted that Occupy was “breaking through the apathy”, declaring that “we

are not hopeless anymore”.69

The first few days of OWS are considered radical by the secondary literature. This period is

usually defined as from 17th September to until shortly after the Brooklyn Bridge arrests on 1st

October. Many note the radical or revolutionary nature of the movement, most noteworthy is

David Graeber.70 Other works specialising on primary sources have come to similar conclusions

such as the work of collective occupiers, Occupying Wall Street along with Mark Bray’s

Translating Anarchy and Ruth Milkman’s Changing the Subject.71 Others, such as Victoria Carty

in The Indignados and Occupy Wall Street Social Movements, explain how they overcame the

trappings of “slacktivism”.72 This is the phenomena where the internet hampers protestors’

involvement in the public sphere, by making it easy to engage minimally through online activities

which do not transfer into the real world. Occupy showed the opposite. As Cayley Sorochan

argues in The Participatory Condition in the Digital Age, the internet allowed the message to

reach people from diverse backgrounds while also allowing the movement to engage with other

movements around the world.73

66 Thomas Gillespie and Victoria Habermehl, ‘On the graduate with no future’, in Occupy Everything: Reflections on why it’s kicking off everywhere, ed. by Alessio Lunghi and Seth Wheeler (New York: Minor Compositions, 2012) 11-17. 67 500 Hammers, ‘Ideology Fail’, in in Occupy Everything: Reflections on why it’s kicking off everywhere, ed. by Alessio Lunghi and Seth Wheeler (New York: Minor Compositions, 2012) 18-23; Peter Mandelson in Mathew Tempest, ‘Mandelson: We Are All Thatcherites Now’, Guardian (10 June 2002). 68 Dennis Trainor Jr, ‘OccuDoc: American Autumn’, Occupy Wall Street – Full Documentary, YouTube (5 October 2012), <https://youtube.com/watch?v=7DFTy4Jmiko> [accessed 29 March 2020]. 69 Richard Muhammad in ‘OccuDoc: American Autumn’, Occupy Wall Street – Full Documentary, YouTube (5 October 2012), <https://youtube.com/watch?v=7DFTy4Jmiko> [accessed 29 March 2020]; Jose Martin in ‘OccuDoc: American Autumn’, Occupy Wall Street – Full Documentary, YouTube (5 October 2012), <https://youtube.com/watch?v=7DFTy4Jmiko> [accessed 29 March 2020]. 70 Graeber, The Democracy Project, p. 10. 71 Writers of the 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street; Mark Bray, Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street (Hants: zero books, 2013); Ruth Milkman, Stephanie Luce and Penny Lewis, Changing the Subject. 72 Victoria Carty, ‘The Indignados and Occupy Wall Street Social Movements: Global Opposition to the Neoliberalization of Society as Enabled by Digital Technology’, Tamara, 13, 3 (2015) 21-33, (p. 24). 73 Cayley Sorochan, ‘Participation as Ideology in Occupy Wall Street’ in The Participatory Condition in the Digital Age, ed. by Darin Barney, Gabriella Coleman, Christine Ross, Jonathan Sterne, Tamar Tembeck, N. Katherine Hayles, Peter Krapp, Rita Raley and Samuel Weber (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2016), 22-43 (p. 38).

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This radicalism was shown in primary accounts. Almost all first-hand accounts of the OWS

noted its energy, its rejection of the status quo and crucially, the belief that systemic change

was possible. The energetic atmosphere of the protest was described as “electrifying” by more

than one.74 AoT spoke of an “energy” on the first day, exclaiming “you get a visceral feel for the

direct democracy” of OWS.75 While OWS’s first two days were known for their disorganisation,

the General Assembly (GA) provided a foundation of unity and order. At the first GA, Marina

Sitrin asked the protesters three questions: “what would you like to come out of this? why are

you frustrated? [and] “what would you like to see in the world?”.76 Sitrin stated that responses

were “practically orientated” while Nevit described how “people [were]… immediately

engaged”.77 Manissa McCleave was evidence of this, writing in her blog that the experience was

“so real it hurts”.78 At the first GA, they also used the “people’s mic”.79 This was essentially a

human echo, whereby the people surrounding the speaker would repeat what was said so that

everyone could hear. This was done as they were not allowed a loudspeaker in a public place.80

Far from a disadvantaging the occupiers, the people’s mic encouraged a participatory and

communal process and the “vibe and energy totally changed”.81

During the first few days of OWS, occupiers rejected the status quo. A popular joke in the first

few days of the protest went as follows: “how many politicians does it take to change a

lightbulb? Ha! Politicians don’t change anything!”.82 An Occupy blogger reflected this sentiment

by writing they wanted to “fundamentally change the system”.83 This rejection of the

establishment characterised the Occupy movement, particularly in its first days. This informed

74 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Live at Occupy Wall Street: Interviewing the Occupiers’, The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder, YouTube (28 September 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kL8d9peYTw> [accessed 16 December 2019]; TBug, ‘My Notes on Protesting for OccupyWallSt & now OccupyBoise’ in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 49-50 (p. 50). 75 Allison Nevit, ‘Witnessing #occupywallstreet #6: my first day’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), pp. 48, 53. 76 Marina Sitrin, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For the 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 17 (p. 17. 77 Ibid, p. 17; Allison Nevit, ‘Witnessing #occupywallstreet: the power…. of the people … ‘s mic’ in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 57-62, (p. 58). 78 Manissa McCleave Maharawal, ‘So Real it Hurts - Notes on Occupy Wall Street’, Racialicious, (3 October 2011) <https://www.racialicious.com/2011/10/03/so-real-it-hurts-notes-on-occupy-wall-street/> [accessed 29 September 2019]. 79 Chris Garces, ‘People's Mic and democratic charisma: Occupy Wall Street's frontier assemblies’, Focaal Utrecht, 66 (2013), 88-104 (p. 89). 80 Sasha Costanza-Chock, ‘Mic Check! Media Cultures and the Occupy Movement’, in Occupy! A Global Movement, ed. by Jenny Pickerill, John Krinsky, Graeme Hayes, Kevin Gillan and Brian Doherty (New York: Routledge, 2015), 96-108 (pp. 101-102). 81 Marina Sitrin, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For the 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 18 (p. 18). 82 Schneider, Thank You Anarchy, p. 56. 83 Easilydistr, ‘A Message From Occupied Wall Street (Day Four)’ in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 28-30 (p. 30).

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their lack of demands shown explicitly by a poem by occupier Adam Roberts: “Demands | Are

directed | At authority | And help make that authority | Real | Our one demand | Is instead | An

offering | Join us”.84

Crucially, the occupiers also believed they could change the system. The material published by

the GA was radical. On 3rd October, the GA rousingly stated that “if we all act together, we can

affect real change”.85 Sitrin remarked that it was a “beautiful and powerful” moment.86 Indeed,

the GA’s first publication, The Principles of Solidarity, was remarkably practical while at the

same time, soon-to-be Occupy archivist Amy Roberts commended “the idealism of everyone”.87

This radical mentality can be seen in the FIGURE 2 below. This was the response of 99

protestors when asked to describe Occupy in one word. The responses were diverse, however,

there was unity around radical principles such as revolution, equality and change. This

revolutionary spirit was combined with a desire for long-term change. A vlog from inside the

camp showed the occupiers’ commitment to the movement’s “longevity” as well as to

fundamentally “change the system”.88

84 Adam Roberts, Thank You Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy Apocalypse, ed. by Nathan Schneider (California: University of California Press, 2013), 58 (p. 58). 85 Occupy Wall Street General Assembly, ‘Press Release: General Assembly Approved’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 67-68 (p. 68). 86 Sitrin, Occupying Wall Street, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent, p. 18. 87 Occupy Wall Street General Assembly, ‘Principles of Solidarity’, in Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 22 (p. 22); Amy Roberts, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 21 (p. 21). 88 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Live at Occupy Wall Street: Interviewing the Occupiers’.

FIGURE 2: Word Cloud of protestors responses to the question ‘Why do you Occupy?’

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Although Occupy was not without lifestylism, studies by activist academics have been

conducted poorly. Some of this lifestylism came from those new to protest. Sitrin noticed that

most who arrived on 17th September came without a sleeping bag.89 When she asked why they

had not brought one she encountered answers like Marisa Holmes’ who stated that, “I, along

with many others, expected it would fizzle out in a couple of days”.90 This led to several activist

academics accusing more liberal elements of OWS of lifestylism. In Translating Anarchy Mark

Bray chastises the GAs for being “overwhelmingly liberal” and not representative of the core

movement.91 In the weeks and months following OWS’s eviction, he conducted 192 interviews

with who he perceived as the “key organisers” behind Occupy.92 He finds that 39% were self-

labelled anarchists while a further 33% had views Bray describes as sympathetic to the

anarchist cause, or what Graeber describes as “little-a anarchists”.93 Furthermore, he finds that

82% supported a non-hierarchical form of direct democracy while 78% were overtly anti-

capitalist.94 This certainly paints a radical picture of liberal day-trippers and tourists

piggybacking on the efforts of hardcore activists. However, Bray misses the point. If Occupy

was non-hierarchical, which Bray argues that it was, one cannot select a group of people as the

core of the movement. Similarly, Changing the Subject a study written by a collection of activists

based on the interviews of just twenty-five “core Occupy activists” came to similar conclusions

as did John L. Hammond’s The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, which cunningly drew on

almost no primary evidence.95 For better or for worse, Occupy was defined by everyone who

took part.

Ironically, it was the seasoned activists who were guilty of much of lifestylism in OWS’s early

stages. The new definition of lifestylism allows us to find the lifestylism that always lurked under

the surface of OWS as some failed to see a future outside of capitalism. A couple of overlooked

articles throws doubt over the extent of radicalism even in OWS’s inception. Tom Goynes’

Radical Gotham places OWS within a long history of anarchism in New York City.96 While he

overplays the extent to which OWS was an entirely New York phenomenon to a comical

degree, the perspective allows a beneficial insight. He claims the movement, like many

89 Marina Sitrin, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 15 (p. 15). 90 Marisa Holmes, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 18 (p. 18). 91 Bray, p. 44. 92 Ibid, pp. 13-14. 93 Ibid, pp. 44-46; David Graeber, ‘The New Anarchists’, New Left Review, 13 (2002), <https://newleftreview.org/issues/II13/articles/david-graeber-the-new-anarchists> (accessed 30 September 2019]. 94 Ibid, p. 47. 95 Milkman, Luce and Lewis, Changing the Subject, p. 44; John L. Hammond, ‘The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street’, Science & Society, 79, 2 (2015), 288-313, (p. 289-299). 96 Tom Goynes, Radical Gotham: Anarchism in New York City from Schwab’s Saloon to Occupy Wall Street (Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2017), pp. 1-2, 221.

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anarchist protests, “lacked direction” from the start.97 Similarly, Andreas Beer’s Just(ice)

Smiling? draws attention to the prevalence of masks, particularly Guy Fawkes masks, among

protestors.98 While Beer convincingly argues that the use of masks helped propagate a simple

“good versus evil superhero narrative” it made the movement individualistic, performative, and

therefore lifestylist.99

Radicalism was the defining feature of the other major camps in Boston, Oakland and Portland.

In their first few days, they did not develop their own character but lived energetically in OWS’s

radical shadow. The lifestylism that lurked within OWS was not as present in these other

movements, as they had a lower hardcore activist presence. OB began radically on 30th

September when protestors moved into Dewey Square and they collectively published a

statement saying: “we are a large gathering of disaffected angry, fed up Americans from all

walks of life”.100 This was strikingly similar to OWS. On 4th October, Nevit left OWS and moved

to her hometown of Boston to assist with their occupation. Initially, she was concerned that the

movement, while commendable in its cause, was detrimentally disorganised. She claimed the

occupiers did not “understand how GAs work” which meant that while there were a few “rah rah”

moments, it was not “channelled into anything”.101 OB risked degenerating into what White

feared the whole movement could succumb to, meaningless leftist noise.102 However, only three

days later Nevit exclaimed that a “very magical thing” had happened, the GAs began to work.103

A blog by Stephan Squibb showed how a lack of previous protesting experience initially

hampered OB. He wrote on 6th October, “every time a new person walked into the tent, I

thought: At last, this is the person in charge… but this never happened”.104 The politics of

Occupy was so radical that it took some time to adapt to its non-hierarchical structure. A vlog on

2nd October where the interviewer asked occupiers the question “why do you occupy?” shows

how OB began in OWS’s radical shadow. They thought “nobody’s listening”, they were “fed up”

and “tired of it”. Some found Obama’s hope too audacious, one said that she “voted for Obama,

97 Ibid, p. 232. 98 Andreas Beer, ‘Just(ice) Smiling? Masks and Masking in the Occupy-Wall Street Protests’, European Journal of American Studies, 12, 4 (2018), 1-13 (pp. 1-4). 99 Ibid, pp. 4, 7. 100 Tammi Arford and Andrea Hill, ‘Role Conflict and Congruence: Academic Sociologists Occupy Boston’, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 56 (2012), 132-146 (p. 133); Occupy Boston General Assembly, ‘OCCUPY BOSTON: Day 1’, Occupy Boston (27 September 2011) <https://www.occupyboston.org/2011/09/27/occupy-boston-day-1/> [accessed 2 February 2020]. 101 Allison Nevit, ‘from #OccupyWallStreet to #OccupyBoston: lessons’, in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 69-78 (pp. 69-73). 102 Micah White to Nathan Schneider, in Thank You Anarchy. 103 Allison Nevit, ‘#OccupyBoston: learning together’, in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 92-99, (p. 99). 104 Stephen Squibb, Occupy! Scenes From Occupied America, ed. by Carla Blumenkranz, Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen, Mark Greif, Sarah Leonard and Sarah Resnick (New York: Verso, 2011), p. 171.

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[but] now I think he’s bad”. But crucially, they could change things. “This is hope”, one said, “this

is the time”, said another.105

OO was also inspired by the radicalism of OWS. OO began on 10th October and collectively

stated that “Occupy is people coming together to address all these symptoms of the same

disease”.106 Like OWS there was a sense of a newly politicised people. Occupier Robyn said

that before Occupy there was “a certain sense of apathy, a feeling that everyone was asleep”.107

Afterwards, occupier and blogger Omar Yassin wrote it “was like watching someone rise out of a

coma” while Rebecca Solnit claimed it was an “awakening of civil society against the state”.108

Energetic personal narratives were common in OO. An anonymous activist who had just arrived

from San Francisco said “the feeling was electric, empowering. We felt massive and full of

loving fight”.109 Crucially, there was a feeling that systemic change was possible. Leo Panitch in

The Question of Strategy argued that when he partook in OO he felt “part of the same global

uprising” as the other social movements happening around the world which were putting

“capitalism back on the political agenda”.110 OO was also influenced by some of the same long-

term contexts as OWS. The concept of the “graduate with no future” was noted in OO by Annie

Cockrell when she said she felt like a “cog in a machine” but also crucially that it was possible to

“take over the world and carve into it our own utopia”.111 This radicalism was a prominent

feature of OO. Michael Premo claimed that in OO they were “unlocking the radical imagination”

needed for wholesale change.112 An anonymous occupier powerfully proclaimed that “we all

came to build a future”.113

Although radical, OO followed a slightly different path to the other subsidiary movements. This

was due to unique circumstances in the city. Nickolas Mario Perrone’s Radical Roots, Utopian

105 Anonymous Occupiers, ‘Why Do You Occupy?’. 106 Mike King, When Riot Cops Are Not Enough: The Policing and Repression of Occupy Oakland (Rutgers: Rutgers University Press, 2017), p. 6; Occupy Oakland General Assembly, ‘An Insider’s View from Occupy Oakland’, ed. by Jennifer Bardi, Humanist, 72, 1 (2012), 20-27 (p. 21). 107 Robyn, ‘An Insider’s View from Occupy Oakland’, ed. by Jennifer Bardi, Humanist, 72, 1 (2012), 20-27 (p. 21). 108 Omar Yassin, ‘Prefiguring the Realm of Freedom at Occupy Oakland’, ed. by Emily Brissette, Rethinking Marxism, 25, 2 (2013), 218-227 (p. 224); Rebecca Solnit, ‘Prefiguring the Realm of Freedom at Occupy Oakland’, ed. by Emily Brissette, Rethinking Marxism, 25, 2 (2013), 218-227 (p. 218). 109 Anonymous Occupier, ‘An Insider’s View from Occupy Oakland’, ed. by Jennifer Bardi, Humanist, 72, 1 (2012), 20-27 (p. 22). 110 Leo Panitch, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber, The Question of Strategy (Pontypool: Merlin Press, 2012), p. ix. 111 Thomas Gillespie and Victoria Habermehl, ‘On the graduate with no future’; Annie Cockrell, We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), p. xxxi. 112 Michael Premo, ‘Unlocking the Radical Imagination’, in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), 30-37 (p. 30). 113 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Movement Story: Anonymous’, in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), 308-309 (p. 308).

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Legacies details how a history of police oppression coloured Oakland’s radical imagination.114

This continued during Occupy. For example, Barbara Epstein detailed the senseless pepper-

spraying of women just standing on a pavement on 24th October.115 Similarly, police brutally

suppressed the first encampment on 25th October, beating Iraq veteran Scott Olsen to death.116

Videos of both events went viral and “reinforced commitment to the movement”.117 As

sociologist Alex Vitale notes, OO had to tread a narrow path between “the militant edge of the

movement” and “the nonviolent posture [that gave it] … its moral authority”.118 These specific

circumstances set OO on a different path. It was radical, but it had slightly different targets of

oppression.

OP followed a similar trend to OWS with Aaron Martin Bach describing it as “an outgrowth of

OWS”.119 However, by starting later on the 6th October, OP immediately benefitted from OWS’s

hard-won popularity.120 OP attracted over 10,000 people on its first day, dwarfing OWS’s

1000.121 The difference in size did not, however, lead to a difference in mentality. On 12th

October both camps collectively rejected the status quo when they decried the evils of the

“exploitative economic system”.122 Furthermore, the chant “we are the 99% and we are too big

to fail!”, while common across all Occupy camps, was noted to be heard particularly frequently

at OP.123 There have been four studies about the make-up of OP. However, the first three all

included samples of under thirty people so cannot be used with any degree of accuracy.124 The

fourth, conducted by Portland State University, however, looked at over 500 occupiers.125

114 Mario Perrone, ‘Radical Roots, Utopian Legacies: A Usable Past for Today’s Communitarians’, Journal of California, 3, 2 (2013), 87-91. 115 Barbara Epstein, ‘Occupy Oakland: The Question of Violence’, in The Question of Strategy, ed. by Leo Panitch, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber (Pontypool: Merlin Press, 2012), 63-83 (p. 67). 116 Ibid, p. 75. 117 Ibid, p. 68. 118 Alex Vitale, ‘Occupy Oakland: The Question Of Violence’, ed. by Barbara Epstein in The Question of Strategy, ed. by Leo Panitch, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber (Pontypool: Merlin Press, 2012), 63-83, (p. 68). 119 Aaron Martin Bach, ‘We don’t have any of those: Looking for leaders in the horizontal structure of Occupy Portland’ (unpublished doctoral thesis, Portland State University, 2013), p. 2. 120 Shamus Cooke, ‘Return to Little Beirut: Occupy Portland is Born with Ten Thousand Stong’, Socialist Viewpoint, 11, 6 (2011), 24-25 (p. 24). 121 Ibid, p. 24; Schechter, p. 131. 122 Occupy Portland General Assembly, ‘Occupy Portland Oct 12th Official Press Release’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 150-152 (pp. 151-152). 123 Bach, p. 40. 124 H, R, Cordero-Gusman, Main Stream Support for a Mainstream Movement: The 99% Movement Comes From and Looks Like the 99% (New York: 2011); D, E, Shoen, Polling the Wall Street Crowd (2011), <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204479504576637082965745362.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_ LEADTop> [accessed 27 February 2020]; C, Panagopoulos, Occupy Wall Street Survey Results October 2011 (2011), <http://www.fordham.edu/images/academics/graduate_schools/gsas/elections_and_campaign_/occupy wall street survey results 102611.pdf> [accessed 27 February 2011]. 125 Katrina Johnston, Public Space and Protest: An Ethnographic Analysis of Alpha and Beta Camps at Occupy Portland (Portland: Portland State University, 2011), p. 5.

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Similar to OWS, it found that the majority had no political affiliation but were broadly committed

to horizontal forms of hierarchy.126 Bach argued there was a clear “rejection of hierarchy and

political institutions, objection to high levels of corporation control, and the embracement of

equality, fairness and participatory democracy”.127 Similarly, the first edition of the Portland

Occupier noted that “people see leaders as a bad thing”.128 Lastly, OP was radical they were

filled with hope and determination to enact the change they desired. Many placards said

“revolution” and “join the revolution” while one anonymous protestor said that “there needs to be

action”.129 Armed with confidence and fortitude, one occupier powerfully told an interviewer,

“we’re not leaving until it changes”.130

Overall, through a new definition of lifestylism and a broader approach, we find that the

American Occupy Movement, on the whole, began radically. This mentality was evident in

Adbusters digital call to arms, much of the digital response to it, the preliminary protests before

17th September and particularly in the first days of the protest until early October. The other

major American occupations, OB, OO and OP, followed OWS’s radicalism. This did not mean,

however, that Occupy began devoid of lifestylism. Crucially, this new definition of lifestylism

allows it to be detected earlier. There were elements of lifestylism in every stage of Occupy, but

particularly from experienced activists. This lifestylism grew as the movement wore on, but at

the beginning, radicalism held sway.

Trainer’s OccuDoc documentary drew on the cultural significance of Gordan Gekko, the

avaricious corporate raider in the 1987 film Wall Street. Trainer argued that Gekko’s mantra that

“greed is good” became the new American Dream.131 As Milkman said, Occupy woke many up

to the nightmare they were partaking in.132

126 Ibid, pp. 5, 10. 127 Bach, pp. 39-40. 128 Cynthia Alvarez, ‘Progressives Must Move Beyond Occupy’, The Portand Occupier, 1 (2011), <http://www.portlandoccupier.org/2012/09/23/progressives-must-move-beyondoccupy/> [accessed 17 February 2020]. 129 Occupy Portland Video, ‘Occupy Portland Stands in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street’, YouTube (3 October 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0AVc74mSss> [accessed 17 February 2020]. 130 Anonymous Occupier, ‘The Beginning’, Occupy Portland Video, YouTube (11 October 2011), <https://www.youtube,com/watch?v=n2fUBIwAY> [accessed 17 February 2020]. 131 Trainor, ‘OccuDoc: American Autumn’; Wall Street, dir. by Oliver Stone (20th Century Fox, 1987). 132 Milkman, p. 37.

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Chapter Two: Seasoned Activists slide into lifestylism

“Perfection or nothing”133 – Chinese anarchist Li Yaotang (pseudonym Ba Jin) – 1927

Due to the American Occupy Movement’s emphasis on autonomy, the movement

fragmented.134 This divide occurred particularly between seasoned activists (many of whom

identified as or displayed traits of being anarchists) and liberal reformists. Seasoned activists

became more pronounced as they increasingly slid into lifestylism. This was true even before

the camps were evicted. These protestors became increasingly entangled in process-orientated

politics as well as other lifestylist forms of self-fashioning protest; however, elements of

radicalism remained. After the camps were evicted lifestylism was magnified along the same

lines, this can be seen in subsequent protests held under the Occupy banner. Lifestylism also

occurred online as the nature of online platforms encouraged further lifestylism.

The schism occurred before the camps were evicted as the movement became mired in

lifestylist process-orientated politics driven by experienced protestors. Zephyr Teachout argued

that OWS became increasingly “legalistic, bureaucratic and process-focused” where the laws

were “more important than the reasons for the laws”, while Hannah Appel contended that the

GAs placed ritual over productivity.135 Cayley Sorochan argued that OWS overvalued structure

due to an “absolutist interpretation of inclusiveness”.136 Sorochan went as far to say that the

“fetishization of organisational structures and processes [were]… goals in themselves”, shown

by the emphasis on the hand-signal system they developed [FIGURE 3].137 As FIGURE 3

shows, the system was complicated, with each signal only being valid in specific scenarios. For

many seasoned activists, the process became the most important part of the protest, and as

such the movement became less inclusive. This process obsessed mentality can be seen in a

conversation, between occupier Keith Gessen and a friend who had come down to Zuccotti

Park for the day who sarcastically remarked he “managed to catch an entire discussion about

133 Li Pei Kan, ‘On Theory and Practice’ in Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism, 300CE to 1939 ed. by Robert Graham (Montreal: Black Rose, 2005), p. 362. 134 Jodi Dean, ‘Claiming Division, Naming a Wrong’ in Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America, ed. by Carla Blumenkranz, Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen, Mark Greif, Sarah Leonard and Sarah Resnick (New York: Verso, 2011), pp. 81-51 (p. 85). 135 Zephyr Teachout, ‘Legalism and Devolution of Power in the Public Sphere: Reflections on Occupy Wall Street’, Fordham Urban Law Journal, 39, 5 (2012), 1867-1894 (p. 1868-1869); Hannah Chadeyane Appel, ‘The Bureaucracies of Anarchy’ in Dreaming in Public: Building the Occupy Movement, ed. by Amy Schrager Lang and Daniel Lang/Levitsky (Oxford: New Internationalist Publications, 2012), 112-120 (pp. 112-113). 136 Cayley Sorochan, ‘Participation as Ideology in Occupy Wall Street’ in Participation in the Digital Age, ed. by Darin Barney, Gabriella Coleman, Christine Ross, Jonathan Sterne, Tamar Tembeck, N. Katherine Hayles, Peter Krapp, Rita Raley and Samuel Weber (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2016), 22-43 (p. 23). 137 Ibid, p. 32.

26

whether [the GA] should buy some shelves”.138 This was not just a critique from outsiders, it was

admitted as the aim by core protestors. Graeber held up democracy as the key achievement of

OWS which was echoed by Sitrin’s pride in the occupation’s “real, direct and participatory

democracy”.139 For Graeber, it was not an oppressive bureaucracy that scuppered Occupy, but

some protestors’ inexperience and use of the improper procedure.140 This view was common

among seasoned activists. For instance, Occupy’s democracy is seen as the key achievement

to be taken forward in After Occupy, a book written by activists looking to continue Occupy’s

momentum.141 OB was also “bogged down in… process”, particularly driven by Nevit.142

Although nobly motivated by a desire “to make it safe for oppressed voices to be heard”, she

138 Keith Gessen, ‘Laundry Day’, in Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America, ed. by Carla Blumenkranz, Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen, Mark Greif, Sarah Leonard and Sarah Resnick (New York: Verso, 2011), 160-171 (p. 164). 139 Marina Sitrin, The occupy movement explained: from corporate control to democracy, ed. by Nicholas Smaligo (Chicago: Open Court, 2014), 91 (p. 91); Graeber, The Democracy Project, pp. 8, 296, 307. 140 David Graeber, ‘Afterward’ in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjoy, Mike McGuire, and David Graeber (California: AK Press, 2012), 114-122 (p. 115). 141 Malleson, After Occupy. 142 Betsy Leondar-Wright, Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures (New York: Cornell University Press, 2014), p. 226.

FIGURE 3: Visual Aid of the hand-signal system used during GAs

27

believed that “structure is the only way”.143 On 23rd October, OB’s GA urged people to “occupy

this space for the purpose of democracy”.144 The means became the ends. Process-orientated

politics was less noticeable, however, in OO and OP.145 This was likely due to less seasoned

activists to enforce it, shown through various surveys of participants.146

Occupy also became bogged down in other lifestylist forms of self-fashioning protest. Eve

Cherniavsky argued that Occupy was “engaged in rethinking the form of the people”, meaning

that “for better or for worse [Occupy was] caught up in a politics of self-fashioning”.147 Fears that

Occupy was “just another self-marginalising protest” returned.148 Aaron Bornstein gave up on

Occupy despite initial enthusiasm as it began to look “exactly like… college radicals… dressing

up putting bandanas on their faces, … that’s cool… [but] it’s not gonna mean a damn thing”.149

This lifestylist asceticism also manifested in ironic humour. Occupier Josh MacPhee proudly

named a large pile of pizza boxes in OWS “Pizzatopia”.150 This kind of humour became more

common towards the end of Occupy and suggests OWS moved away from radical protest,

mocking their inability to create their desired future. The lifestylism was not all benign though. In

a widely shared article, The Cancer in Occupy, Chris Hedges decried the prevalence of Black

Bloc tactics among seasoned activists for marginalising the movement.151 Black Bloc was a

form of protest associated with anarchism and petty criminality where protestors wore black to

conceal their identities. The emphasis on inclusivity and education, outside of the formal politics

of the GA, also had lifestylist elements. For example, OB cancelled several GAs for inclusivity

workshops.152 Once the precedent had been set for cancelling GAs for educational activities

Denis Fox noted how several were cancelled for anarchist classes such as “Anarchism,

Psychology and Law”.153 OP also got caught up in the growing tide of lifestylism. On 16th

143 Allison Nevit, ‘OccupyBoston: Triumph and Tedium’, in Voices From the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 176-183 (pp. 182-183). 144 Occupy Boston General Assembly, ‘Statement of Purpose from GA 23rd Oct’, Occupy Boston: ‘voices’, <www.occupyboston.org/page224> [accessed 21 January 2020]. 145 Emily Brissette, pp. 218-224; Bach, pp. 39-42. 146 Johnston, pp. 1, 5; King, pp. 5-6; Bazua Morales and Carlos Miguel, ‘Doing ethnography in Occupy Oakland: An analysis of the use of hegemony by a “Democratic” Dictatorship’, University of California World Cultures Graduate Student Conference (2013), <https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sp818nb> [accessed 5 April 2020]. 147 Eve Cherniavsky, ‘Refugees From This Native Dreamland: Life Narratives of Occupy Wall Street’, Biography, 37, 1 (2014), 279-299, (pp. 279, 296). 148 Bray, p. 102. 149 Aaron Bornstein, ‘Interview 6/26/12’, in Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, ed. by Mark Bray (Hants: zero books, 2013), 105 (p. 105). 150 Josh MacPhee, ‘Pizzatopia’, in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy From Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjob and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), xxi (p. xxi). 151 Chris Hedges, ‘The Cancer In Occupy’, truthdig (6 February 2012), <https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-cancer-in-occupy/> [accessed 29 March 2020]. 152 Jeffrey S. Juris, Michelle Ronayne, Firuzeh Shokooh-Valle and Robet Wengnonowitz, ‘Negotiating Power and Difference within the 99%’, Social Movement Studies, 11, 4 (2012), 434-440 (p. 435). 153 Dennis Fox, ‘Reflections on Occupying’, Journal for Social Action in Counselling and Psychology, 3, 2 (2011), 128-136 (p. 131).

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October, J. Orygun wrote in their blog that there was a choice of three marches that day: “Banks

Got Bailed Out; We Got Sold Out”, “Peace Now”, and “Free Tibet”.154 Such a variety of marches

smacks of lifestylism as there was no direction to the movement, just various outlets for

occupiers to appease their consciences on a given day. Orygun said the day “took me right

back to the 60s” showing how the marches were not about building a different future and

therefore not about real social change.155 However, this lifestylism was generally absent from

OO as they were preoccupied combatting racism and police repression.

The camps also fragmented geographically as both groups tended towards lifestylism. The

collection of occupiers who wrote Occupying Wall Street noted how the camp became

increasingly divided between east and west.156 The western side was home to working-class,

revolutionary elements while the east sported the more affluent and liberally inclined.157 As the

gap between them grew, they both became increasingly lifestylist. KV, one of the organisers of

the Class War Camp, stated that “this [western] side of the camp isn’t for reform. This side is for

revolution… we have nothing to lose… we don’t want to fix the system we want to f****** burn it

to the ground”.158 Despite the rhetoric, KV’s Class War Camp did little to enact change, refusing

to engage with GAs without suggesting an alternative.159 While college student Daniel Levine

questioned KV’s characterisation of an east-west divide, he called the west side a “ghetto” and

admitted that it “gets pretty nasty” there.160 A similar divide occurred in OO, whereby radical

groups “evolved” into the Occupy Commune and chastised more liberal elements of the

movement.161 For example, the Workers Vanguard argued that while OO “tapped in [a]…

widespread anger” it was an “overwhelmingly petty-bourgeoisie protest”.162 One of these liberals

even seemed to agree with this. A poem by occupier Peter Neil Carroll included the line “I hear

the cynics chant, foolish, idealistic, child-like dreamers – all true of course”.163 Yet he continued

to protest.

While some radicalism remained, it was a retreating force. On 22nd October, Chomsky gave a

speech to OB where he urged them to be practical, address the big questions and “raise

consciousness”.164 While he gave them hope that “making moves in the direction of real

democracy is not utopian”, he warned them not to reduce themselves to blindly thinking “we’re

154 J. Orygun, ‘Occupy Portland’, in Voices of the 99 Percent: An Oral History of the 99 Percent, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 199-200, (p. 199). 155 Ibid, p. 199. 156 Writers For The 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street, pp. 61-67. 157 Ibid, pp. 62-63. 158 KV, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), p. 64. 159 Writers For The 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street, p. 67. 160 Daniel Levine, Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of an Action That Changed America, ed. by Writers For The 99 Percent (New York: OR Books, 2011), 64-65 (pp. 64-65). 161 Cherniavsky, p. 291. 162 Anonymous, ‘Thousands Come Out to “Occupy Oakland” Protest’, Workers Vanguard, 990 (2011), 8-12 (pp. 8-9). 163 Peter Neil Carroll, ‘Wall Street Occupied’, in Poems from the Occupy Movement, ed. by Pam Annas, Radical Teacher, 96 (2013), 21-38 (p. 26). 164 Chomsky, p.39.

29

gonna get out of it”.165 Many commented on Occupy’s unity and “solidarity” in the face of

eviction.166 Several vlogs noted the power of the chant “you can’t evict an idea whose time has

come”.167 However, this was not a movement struck down in its prime. Rather, it was the last

hurrah for a movement already faltering and therefore did not represent a return to radicalism.

Many seasoned activists realised that the movement was already in decline.168 Holmes admitted

that “we were having a lot of internal issues in the park at that point”.169

After the camps were evicted lifestylism continued to increase. Occupier Cathy O’Neil astutely

realised that “there was no longer a way for the average person to join Occupy” which led to

lifestyle activists dominating.170 There were numerous protests after the main OWS camp was

evicted on 15th November, including one on 17th December 2011 which attracted more than

1500 people.171 However, those numbers did not represent a return to radicalism. The socio-

economic divide that began in the camps continued in these protests. Long-term radical Mike

Andrews dismissed most occupiers as “just a bunch of f****** liberals” while an anonymous

protestor rejected the likes of Andrews, saying that “some anarchists are so attracted to this

outsider status where they don’t have to engage with people outside their affinity group”.172 Bray

showed his lifestylist colours by siding with Andrews.173 He believed it was crucial to reject

reformism in the search for utopia, citing Jin’s maxim “perfection or nothing”.174 The dominance

of process-orientated politics also continued. Spokescouncils carried on meeting into the Spring

of 2012, urging “conversation not decision-making” while spectator Andy Cornell noted the

ritualistic use of the hand-signal system.175 Cornell argued that the masks worn by the protestor

165 Ibid, pp. 25, 48. 166 GradLife, ‘The Best Occupy Wall Street Footage You’ll See’, YouTube (14 October 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE1OAkO5J_Q> [accessed 29 March 2020]; Writers For The 99 Percent, Occupying Wall Street, p. 161. 167 Ibid; nothingofficial, ‘OWS: "You Can't Evict An Idea Whose Time Has Come"’, YouTube (21 November 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvJgFaUQdI> [accessed 29 March 2020]; Illumina Films, ‘OWS re-Occupies Zuccotti Park: 'You can't evict an idea whose time has come' + Ray Lewis’, YouTube (16 November 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CLy-MNYFJ8> [accessed 29 March 2020]. 168 Allison Nevit, ‘OccupyBoston: A Hard Day’s Night’, in Voices of the 99 Percent An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, ed. by Lenny Flank (Florida: Red and Black Publishers, 2011), 209-212 (p. 212); Squibb, p. 171. 169 Marisa Holmes, Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, ed. by Mark Bray (Hants: zero books, 2013), 163 (p. 163). 170 Cathy O’Neil, After Occupy: Economic Democracy for the 21st Century, ed. by Tom Malleson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 35 (p. 35). 171 Bray, pp. 134-135. 172 Mike Andrews, ‘Interview 2/4/12’, in Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, ed. by Mark Bray (Hants: zero books, 2013), 145 (p. 145); Anonymous Occupier, ‘Interview 2/6/12’, in Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street, ed. by Mark Bray (Hants: zero books, 2013), 146 (p. 146). 173 Bray, p. 146. 174 Ibid; Kan, ‘On Theory and Practice’, in Anarchism, ed. by Graham, p. 362. 175 Marisa Holmes, ‘The Center Cannot Hold’, in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy From Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjob and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), 15-17, (p. 15); Andy Cornell, ‘Consensus’, in We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy From Occupation to Liberation, ed. by Kate Khatib, Margaret Killjob and Mike McGuire (California: AK Press, 2012), 17 (p. 17).

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in the guide to the hand-signal system shown in FIGURE 3 furthered its lifestylism.176 This

lifestylism was summed up in Occupy’s last major rally on May Day 2012. Although they

chanted “Another World Is Possible!”, they did little to enact it.177 A lot of the focus was on a

concert named “Occupy Guitars”.178 One unashamedly said that “we’re gonna have a joyous

time, marching and singing”, while others waved anarcho-socialist and North-Korean flags.179

While New York was about music, Portland was simply focused on causing disruption, with

many vlogs showing the antagonistic approach to the police.180 This was carried out by a

separate body called The Portland Liberation Organizing Council which formed after the eviction

and was made up of old-time radicals trading off the “energy unleashed by the Occupy

Movement”.181 Oakland also partly slipped into lifestylism, holding weekly barbeques leading up

to May Day called “From Barricades to Barbeques”.182 Emily Brissette, who attended these

barbeques, wisely said that while “living the vision of a transformed world in the here and now

may provide meaning and a sense of authenticity… it will ultimately prove illusionary if the world

is left as it is, if the transformation goes no further than the borders… [of the] experiment”.183

Occupy’s ideology also became more extreme and lifestylist after the evictions. The first edition

of Occupy’s theory journal Tidal in December only identified an existential “vague spiritual

nausea”.184 However, by the second edition, a new editor had joined using the pseudonym Rosa

Luxemburg (an early twentieth century Marxist), and Sitrin wrote an anarchistic article saying,

“the state, whether capitalist or socialist cannot be the emancipatory agent of change”.185 A

similar radicalisation occurred with the Occupied Wall Street Journal although it was less theory

based.186 The Portland Occupier also became more lifestylist, as it gradually came to defend the

176 Cornell, p. 17. 177 Scott McPartland - Extreme Weather Photography, ‘May Day Protests Occupy Wall Street- Bryant Park, NYC 5.1.12’, YouTube (1 May 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmGCkNoqw2I> [accessed 20 March 2020]. 178 ArtisanNewsService, ‘RATM TOM MORELLO LEADS GUITARMY AT OCCUPY WALL STREET MAY DAY MARCH’, YouTube (2 May 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LaMxzAZ6R0&t=96s> [accessed 20 March 2020]. 179 Anonymous Occupier, ‘RATM TOM MORELLO LEADS GUITARMY AT OCCUPY WALL STREET MAY DAY MARCH’, ed. by ArtisanNewsService, YouTube (2 May 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LaMxzAZ6R0&t=96s> [accessed 20 March 2020]; ArtisanNewsService, ‘RATM TOM MORELLO LEADS GUITARMY AT OCCUPY WALL STREET MAY DAY MARCH’. 180 Vandross01, ‘Occupy Portland 5-1-12 MayDay Protests’, YouTube (6 May 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBbqN6XKwBA&t=115s> [accessed 20 March 2020]; The Oregonian, ‘May Day Portland: Protesters march through downtown, clash with police’, YouTube (2 May 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHtwNdV6mmo> [accessed 20 March 2020]. 181 David Osborn, ‘Radical Interventions: Impacts and Effects of Preexisting Radical Communities on Occupy Portland’, in What Comes After Occupy?: The Regional Politics of Resistance, ed. by Todd A. Comer (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015), 2-18 (pp. 17-18). 182 Brissette, p. 225. 183 Ibid, p. 226. 184 Anonymous Editor, ‘Communiqué’, Tidal, 1 (December 2011), 1, (p. 1). 185 Anonymous Editor, ‘Communiqué #2’, Tidal, 2 (March 2012), 1 (p. 1); Marina Sitrin, ‘Pulling the Emergency Break’, Tidal, 2 (March 2012), 2-3 (p. 2); Bray, p. 131. 186 Bray, p. 133.

31

use of “anarchist” throughout December as it got taken over by seasoned activists.187 Similarly,

on 23rd December the Boston Occupier announced that it was “in support of mutual aid”, the

theory of anarchist Peter Kropotkin.188 These publications were taken over by what Bray called

Occupy’s “core organisers”, therefore it comes as no surprise that 80% of Bray’s 192

interviewees thought Black Bloc tactics could be used effectively.189 This ideological lifestylism

was expressed clearly. After the eviction, Sitrin spoke about how the camps were only ever

meant to be “symbolic”.190 Graeber is an exception to the lifestylist rule, as he made a

convincing case in The Democracy Project that revolution is fought on the battlefield of people’s

“common sense”.191 Graeber was still working for social change. Most, however, were not.

Lifestylism also increased online after the camps were evicted. This was due to seasoned

activists dominating the movement, helped by the structure of social media sites such as

Facebook and Twitter. While speaking to OB, Chomsky spoke of the good work done by the

interoccopy website in uniting the cause.192 However, after the eviction, and when the

movement most needed a united forum to communicate, the website became dominated by

Jewish activists who removed posts which opposed their agenda.193 Afterwards, some used the

website occupytogether, however, the bad experience of interoccopy put many off and

engagement fell sharply.194 Thomas Swann and Emil Hustel explain how social media,

particularly Facebook, was incongruous with Occupy’s emphasis on horizontal hierarchies.195

For example, many of Occupy’s Facebook groups were private, which is not inclusive, and they

also had admins, which granted certain members power over others.196 Their findings,

therefore, contradict the common assumption that social media “resonates with the democratic

ethos of social movements”.197 Similarly, Sky Croeser and Tim Highfield realise that although

Twitter was a useful tool for OO when the camp was operational through the use of livestreams,

it became a hindrance after the eviction.198 They argue that tweets are individualistic, which

187 Cascadian Joe, ‘Perspectives of an Anarchist’, Portland Occupier, (29 December 2011), <https://www.portlandoccupier.org/2011/12/29/perspectives-of-an-anarchist/> [accessed 2 February 2020]; John Springer, ‘Goals for Occupy Portland’, Portland Occupier, (31 December 2011), <https://www.portlandoccupier.org/2011/12/31/goals-for-occupy-portland/> [accessed 2 February 2020]. 188 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Occupy Boston Commits to Mutual Aid’, Boston Occupier (23 December 2011). 189 Bray, pp. 14, 198. 190 Marina Sitrin, The Occupy Movement Explained: From Corporate Control to Democracy, ed. by Smaligo (Chicago: Open Court, 2014), 91-92 (p. 91). 191 Graeber, The Democracy Project, pp. 287-288, 307. 192 Chomsky, p. 13. 193 InterOccupy, <http://interoccupy.net/> [accessed 28 November 2019]. 194 OccupyTogether, <https://www.occupytogether.org/> [accessed 28 November 2019]. 195 Thomas Swann and Emil Husted, ‘Undermining Anarchy: Facebook’s influence on anarchist principles of organization in Occupy Wall Street’, The Information Society, 33, 4 (2017), 192-204 (p. 192). 196 Ibid. 197 Ibid. 198 Sky Croeser and Tim Highfield, ‘Occupy Oakland and #oo: Uses of Twitter within the Occupy Movement’, First Monday, 19, 3 (2014), 5 (p. 5).

32

leads to lifestylism.199 Twitter is also an environment “particularly prone to fostering

misunderstanding and conflict”.200 Similarly, OP set up a site called ThePortlandAlliance which

also took an anarchist approach, finishing every article with a quote from Emma Goldman who

was an anarchist in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.201

Overall, much of the increasingly fragmented American Occupy Movement slid into lifestylism.

This was particularly true for seasoned activists who came to dominate parts of the movement.

This began in the camps, with a turn to process-orientated politics and a lifestylist mentality.

Lifestylism grew after the camps were evicted, magnified by the impact of social media.

Although some radicalism remained among hardcore activists, they were an increasingly rare

phenomenon. At the same time as this increase in lifestylism, there was a growing reformist

movement in Occupy, but they were unable to convert these seasoned activists. Ironically,

Bray’s fondness of Jin’s dictum applied in a way he would not have hoped. By pursuing

perfection through lifestylism, seasoned activists increasingly achieved nothing.

199 Ibid. 200 Ibid. 201 The Portland Alliance, <https://www.theportlandalliance.org/occupyportland/> [accessed 7 February 2020].

33

Chapter Three: Some choose reformism

“Real life must be dealt with: the infant must learn to walk.”202 - Shamus Cooke

The American Occupy Movement did not slide into lifestylism in its entirety, however. Parts of

the movement evolved into reformist groups, pushing for local issues. This moved these

occupiers outside of debates on lifestyle activism, as they worked to reform the system rather

than create a new one. OWS had the most limited reformist efforts due to the dominance of

seasoned activists. However, there was some reformist protest about housing as well as relief

work in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. OB became focused on the issue of racism, which was

felt to be a particular issue in the city, forming Occupy the Hood (OtH). In Portland, reformist

efforts were more limited, however, they did respond to the local issue of homelessness. Lastly,

OO abandoned the issues of racism and police repression which had dominated concerns when

the camp was active, and instead focused on labour unions.

Occupy Homes (OH) was a practical, reformist movement that took off in New York in late 2011

and early 2012.203 It began in Minnesota in November 2011 through a “decentralised network of

activists”.204 They aimed to occupy foreclosed homes and make them available to the homeless

and those on low-incomes. OH built on the Take Back Our Land movement which began in

2006 and used the energy of Occupy to revitalise the issue.205 By 6th December, the movement

had spread to twenty-five cities across America and found particular support in New York.206

This was due to its proximity to Zuccotti Park, as well as the continuing symbolism of being

close to Wall Street, the location of most of the major banks which foreclosed homes. OHs was

motivated by similar to issues as OWS, particularly the notion of an unattainable American

Dream. In A Queer Home, Rana Jaleel notes how homeownership, frequently held up as a

cornerstone of the good life, was unreachable for many.207 Although OH shared many of the

same characteristics as OWS, as vlogs showed the People’s Mic and the hand signal system,

they were protesting for a specific reformist purpose.208

202 Cooke, p. 24. 203 Marianne Manilov, ‘Occupy at One Year: Growing the Roots of a Movement’, The Sociological Review, 54, 2 (2013), 206-213, (p. 208). 204 Sarah Jaffe and Alyssa Figueroa, ‘Occupy Infiltrates Financial District with Create Decentralized Actions for First Anniversary’, Alternet (18 September 2012), <https://truthout.org/articles/occupy-infiltrates-financial-district-with-creative-decentralized-actions-for-first-anniversary/> [accessed 23 March 2020]. 205 Manilov, p. 209. 206 Milkman, Luce and Lewis, p. 36. 207 Rana Jaleel, ‘A Queer Home in the Midst of a Movement? Occupy Homes, Occupy Homemaking’, The Social Text Collective (2013), 1-10 (pp. 1, 3). 208 OccupyTVNY, ‘D6: Occupy Our Homes | Occupy Wall Street’, YouTube (7 December 2011), <https://youtube.com/watch?v=35BD1f4S5TE> [accessed 9 April 2020].

34

Occupy Sandy (OS) was a relief effort by the Occupy Movement due to the hurricane which hit

the east coast, including New York, in October 2012.209 William Conroy describes them as a

group of “local activists” who continued Occupy’s principles of horizontalism to help people in

need, particularly ethnic minority communities who were disproportionately affected by the

hurricane.210 Over 50,000 volunteers raised over $600,000 and were also on the scene before

the Red Cross.211 While OS experienced the lifestylism of seasoned activists at its fringes, the

vast majority were practically orientated. For example, Benjamin Shepard claimed that OS was

operating to “re-imagine what [the] city could look like”, while another bizarrely described the

hurricane as an “oppressor”.212 However, the core of the movement, described by Conroy,

provided food, medical treatment, legal counselling and housing advice.213 They did, however,

continue Occupy’s practices. They named the relief centre the “People’s Store” while Jaleel

emphasises the importance of “mutual aid”.214 However, OS had a distinctly reformist approach.

One of the organisers, Amin Hussein, explained their role as an auxiliary to the state, saying

that “when the state doesn’t step in, that’s the opportunity for us to create networks of mutual

support”.215 This was not about imagining a different future. This was about doing their best to

provide practical help to people in the present within the current system.

OB became increasingly concerned with reform to address racial inequality. This had been a

feature while the camp was operational. For example, Nevit initiated the “progressive stack”, a

system which prioritised marginalised voices at GAs, as she believed they were not being heard

while anti-oppression workshops were also a frequent feature.216 This developed into a separate

movement, OtH. On 21st October 2011 OB signed a letter of solidarity with OtH, showing that

they were two distinct movements.217 Indeed, Emahunn Campbell explained OtH was an

“offshoot” of OB due to the lack of black representation.218 Although it was formed by a single

person, Malik Rahsaad, the movement followed many of the key principles of Occupy as it

emphasised horizontalism, education and the attitude that “we are the change we’ve been

209 Rana Jaleel, ‘Into the Storm: Occupy Sandy and the New Sociality of Debt’, Social Text Collective (2013), 1-3 (p. 1). 210 William Conroy, ‘The (Im)mobilities of Mutual Aid: Occupy Sandy, Racial Liberalism, Insurgent Infrastructure’, ACME, 18, 4 (2019), 875-891 (p. 876). 211 Milkman, Luce and Lewis, p. 37. 212 Anonymous Occupiers, ‘The (Im)mobilities of Mutual Aid: Occupy Sandy, Racial Liberalism, Insurgent Infrastructure’, ed. by William Conroy, ACME, 18, 4 (2019), 875-891 (p. 880). 213 Conroy, p. 881. 214 Jaleel, ‘Into the Storm’, pp. 1-2. 215 Occupytheory, ‘Occupy Sandy’, YouTube (22 November 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pP7M1FzOfg> [accessed 20 March 2020]. 216 Nevit, ‘Triumph and Tedium’, p. 183; Juris, Ronayne, Shokooh-Valle and Wengronowitz, p. 435. 217 Occupy Boston General Assembly, ‘Solidarity with Occupy the Hood’, Occupy Boston ‘voices’, (21 October 2011), <https://www.occupyboston.orh/page225> [accessed 3 March 2020]. 218 Emahunn Raheen Ali Campbell, ‘A Critique of the Occupy Movement from a Black Occupier’, Black Scholar, 41, 4 (2011), 42-51 (p. 46).

35

looking for”.219 However, as Rahsaan later explained at Occupy Congress in March 2012, OtH

was focused on going beyond the consciousness raising of the Occupy Movement, and bringing

practical, local change.220 He spoke of a desire to build a “community effect” in a “globalised

economy”, hence the use of food co-operatives and urban gardens. Jeffrey Juris explained this

as “a desire to build connections with grassroots communities”.221 OtH saw itself as the next

practical step of the Occupy movement, taking the protest into the real world.

OP also adapted a reformist approach to aid the local issues. However, the reformist drive was

more subdued than in the other major cities Occupy had been involved in. Joel Stein is

therefore misguided to argue that “Portland has one of the strongest remaining chapters” of the

Occupy movement.222 However, Stein is correct when saying the activists “mostly… work on

homelessness”.223 This was due to OPs close relationship with the city’s problem with

homelessness. Stein notes that many homeless people came to the camp before it was shut

down “for free food, clinics, day care, electricity and safety”.224 The occupiers “chose to focus

less on decrying the evils of overleveraged banks and more on feeding their new camping

buddies”.225 This sentiment was made clear by one of these activists, Joe Bennie, who said that

“when your need is immediate survival, the banking issues don’t mean anything to you”.226

Along with Jose Serrica, Bennie led a small group of committed activists who worked closely

with existent reformist groups.227 Cooke explained that OP had always been dominated by local

concerns. Even while the camp was operational, “the majority of the signs were of immediate

demands”.228 This broader drive for local reform was embodied by the Friends of Occupy

Portland which formed in April 2012.229 They emphasised a practical approach in “the

community’s public interest”.230 Cooke supported this method, prophesying that “we are entering

219 Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, ‘“Occupy the Hood”: Black Protestors Start Chapter to Educate, Diversify OWS’, Socialist Viewpoint, 11, 6 (2011); Talia Whyte, ‘Occupy the Hood Boston Protests 10/21/2011’, YouTube (24 October 2011), <https://youtube.com/watch?v=Kw6WcCkyyPk> [accessed 3 March 2020]. 220 Spiritualation, ‘Occupy Congress with Malik Rahsaan, founder of Occupy the Hood’, YouTube, (15 March 2012), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2PSlcasmC8> [accessed 3 March 2020]. 221 Ibid. 222 Joel Stein, ‘The Dream of Occupy Wall Street is Alive in Portland’, Bloomberg (16 September 2013), <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-09-12/the-dream-of-occupy-wall-street-is-alive-in-portland> [accessed 29 January 2020]. 223 Ibid. 224 Ibid. 225 Ibid. 226 Joe Bennie, ‘The Dream of Occupy Wall Street is Alive in Portland’, ed. by Joel Stein, Bloomberg (16 September 2013), <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-09-12/the-dream-of-occupy-wall-street-is-alive-in-portland> [accessed 29 January 2020]. 227 Stein, ‘The Dream of Occupy Wall Street is Alive in Portland’. 228 Cooke, p. 24. 229 opdx@1131, ‘Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws’, WordPress (2 May 2014), <https://web.archive.org/web/20141214132417/http://opdxat1131.wordpress.com/articles-of-incorporation-and-bylaws/> [accessed 25 February 2020]. 230 Ibid.

36

the infant stage of a new social movement, and once the new-born’s excitement of being alive

passes away, real life must be dealt with: the infant must learn to walk”.231

OO had the largest reformist movement. Surprisingly, they largely abandoned the fights against

racism and police repression which dominated their activism while their camp was operational.

Instead, cooperation with labour unions became their central concern as Israel Jurich argued

OO “adapted to its local context”.232 This was most apparent in their solidarity with the

longshoreman workers (who were members of the International Longshore and Warehouse

Union) for a General Strike.233 On 2nd November 2011, it was agreed that a twenty-four-hour

strike would occur on 12th December.234 The issue was over pay and the wider problem of

corporate greed, where Goldman Sacs, who owned the Port of Oakland, threatened to fire

workers if they did not accept a wage cut.235 The pressing single-issue nature of the problem

united occupiers around practical ends. As Jennifer Bardi explained, they did not want to

overthrow capitalism but simply “keep the economy churning – we just want it to churn

properly”.236 They combined this reformist drive with Occupy structures such as horizontal

leadership. They further adapted to the situation by forming the Occupy Oakland Labor

Solidarity Committee which, as Bill Balderson argued, largely took the “preconceived goals” of

the labour movement.237 This can be seen in vlogs capturing the Port Shutdown, with chants of

“we stand with workers”.238

Overall, part of the American Occupy Movement adapted its initial cause after the camps were

evicted and began to drive for reform, based on local issues. In New York, the focus was on OH

and later OS. Boston’s OtH emphasised the importance of racial equality while OP mainly

worked for the homeless. Lastly, OO’s initial fervour for fighting racism and police repression

waned as they came to cooperate with labour unions. This reformist mentality placed them

outside debates over lifestyle activism, as they worked practically to affect change within the

existing system. Although these movements did not attract the numbers that Occupy did in its

first few weeks, they had a very real and positive effect on the few who they helped in their local

communities. As the initial excitement of Occupy’s birth faded and as the camps themselves

were left, occupiers were left with the question of how to continue the movement. These

reformers were determined to face the real world and to deal with its problems. For them, the

infant had to learn to walk.

231 Cooke, p. 24. 232 Israel Jurich, ‘A Word From a Seminarian’, Review & Expositor, 110, 2 (2013), 183-185 (p. 183). 233 Bardi, p. 23. 234 Epstein, pp. 74-75. 235 Bardi, p. 23. 236 Ibid. 237 Bill Balderson, ‘Occupy Oakland and the Labor Movement’, New Politics, 14, 1 (2012). 238 Without Wall Films, ‘Occupy Oakland Port Shutdown’, YouTube (13 December 2011), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhc25B6kaF4> [accessed 1 March 2020].

37

Conclusion

This dissertation has provided vital and original research to the study of the American Occupy

Movement and radical protest. It has revised the definition of lifestyle activism to a more

appropriate level using Fisher’s theory of capitalist realism which had previously not been used

in this debate. It has applied this theory to the American Occupy Movement in a new way by

focusing on the four largest camps in America to provide a more holistic analysis of the

American movement. Moreover, the dissertation has stretched both the time-scale and scope of

analysis to provide a more complete representation. This included more of the digital response

to Occupy as well as original research about the movement’s fragmentation as it slid

simultaneously into lifestylism and reform. To aid this original work, this dissertation has also

made use of new source material, made possible due to the movement’s occurrence in the

digital era. Overall, this dissertation finds that the American Occupy Movement began radically,

by working for social change they thought possibly. However, within a matter of months the

movement fragmented, one movement became increasingly lifestylist, while the other became

concerned with reform for local issues.

Chapter One demonstrated that the majority of the American Occupy Movement began

radically. Adbusters’ digital call to arms, much of the response to it, as well as the first few days

of protest, were resoundingly radical. This radicalism was encouraged by cultural currents, both

local and global. The worldwide wave of social protests in 2011 made another future seem

possible, while American dissatisfaction with the fall-out from the 2007/8 financial crisis as well

as the longer-term impact of domestic neoliberalism fuelled discontent. Although attempts by

academics to label elements of the early movement as lifestylist were misguided, there were

elements of lifestylism. This occurred particularly among seasoned activists, both in their

reaction to Adbusters as well as their behaviour in the camps. However, at first, the movement

was overwhelmingly radical. The stronger definition of lifestylism allows us to see just how

radical it was.

The remaining chapters covered the fragmentation of the movement. Chapter Two showed how

part of Occupy descended into lifestylism. This was particularly true among seasoned activists,

who even in the camps began to turn to process-oriented politics and other forms of self-

fashioning protest rather than working to enact a different future. The little radicalism that

remained in the camps’ final moments dissipated once they were evicted. Lifestylism

subsequently came to dominate, fuelled by activism online and shown in subsequent protests

as the movement became hijacked by lifestylist activists. Chapter Three demonstrated how

other parts of Occupy moved outside of radical activism by agitating for reform. Although they

utilised the energy of the Occupy movement, they placed their concerns firmly within existing

systems. There were elements of reformism while the camps were operational, however, it

38

mainly occurred in the months afterwards. All of these groups, both lifestylist and reformist, have

received very little academic attention. This, therefore, should be a focus for future research.

There are other avenues for further research, building off the limitations of this study. This

dissertation has not covered the whole Occupy movement, as there were hundreds of other

protests both in America and around the world. Similarly, much of the secondary literature

focuses exclusively on OWS. While this dissertation has gone some way to incorporate OB, OO

and OP into the movement of which they were very much a part, there is still more to do done.

We are, therefore, still waiting for an authoritative history of the Occupy movement. Additionally,

the revised definition of lifestylism is versatile and could be applied to other radical protests. The

definition could also be modified further. For example, Fisher’s understanding of Jacques

Derrida’s concept of hauntology, that being, a nostalgia for the “lost futures” of the past, could

prove fertile ground.239 Practically, if a protestor was re-enacting the “lost futures” of 1960s

protest, then they would not be imagining, and working to create, a future outside of the present

system, and would, therefore, be lifestylist.240

But why do we need future research on Occupy, why did we even need this dissertation?

Certainly, through a more holistic approach and an injection of new ideas, this study has moved

us closer to how it really was and towards a meaningful understanding of the movement. But

why does the subject itself matter, why did Occupy matter? Here, we return to the beginning.

“We need to take back our country and restore democracy”.241 This rallying cry from a protestor

in OB is strikingly similar to the populism that emerged in the years that followed. While the

politics behind Brexit and Trump were very different to the politics of the American Occupy

Movement, a core dissatisfaction with the status quo and a belief that change was not only

necessary, but possible, was at the heart of all three. We have much to learn from Occupy. Its

beginnings were a canary in a coal mine for future politics, how it developed may also be.

239 Jacques Derrida, Spectres of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International, trans. by Peggy Kamuf, ed. by Bernd Magnus and Stephen Cullenberg (New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 10; Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures (London: zero books, 2014), p. 12; Mark Fisher, ‘“We Have to Invent the Future”: An Unseen Interview with Mark Fisher’, in K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2016), ed. by Simon Reynolds (London: Repeater, 2018), 675-682; Mark Fisher, ‘Hauntology, Nostalgia and Lost Futures: Interviewed by Valerio Mannucci and Valerio Mattioli for Nero’, in K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2016), ed. by Simon Reynolds (London: Repeater, 2018), 683-689. 240 Fisher, Ghosts of My Life, p. 12. 241 Anonymous Occupier, ‘Why Do You Occupy?’.

39

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