Statement from Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) on the
anarchist legacy of Occupy Wall Street on the movement’s 10th anniversary.Lenapehoking, Turtle Island (also known as New York City) – Since its demise in
the Fall of 2012, various individuals, websites, social media accounts, and
politicians have tried to claim the mantle of Occupy Wall Street. The
associations are endless, from Bernie Sanders-aligned “socialists” to neoliberal
Twitter accounts praising landlords for evicting people. Any journalist writing
about the OWS movement should know its actual history, separated from the
machinations of those who later tried to co-opt its message for themselves. OWS
was anarchism in practice, and that is its legacy.
Several members of MACC were present for the early days of Occupy Wall Street,
and, along with thousands of others, helped to build it into what it became. We
have drafted this press release to ensure journalists understand that in all
likelihood, if you are seeing a website or Twitter account that is “Occupy”
branded today, it does not reflect the politics of OWS. On this, the tenth
anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, we, as anarchists, activists, and witnesses to
history, want to clarify and reclaim the legacy of this incredible movement.
As anyone who was actually there at the creation knows, Occupy Wall Street was
never about electoral politics, and it certainly wasn’t about earning clout or
making money. The occupation of Zuccotti Park was a direct action; we did not ask
permission or request a permit. We, the 99%, liberated and transformed the park
into a directly democratic space through general assemblies and working groups.
Our example inspired the occupations of hundreds of public spaces across the
country and informed the horizontal (non-hierarchical) politics of the broader
Occupy movement. The goal was not to take state power, but to demonstrate a truly
egalitarian society and a living alternative to capitalism. This is what we meant
– what we have always meant – by revolution.
"Occupy Wall Street and Anarchism": https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Cq9R4Lqr1o
Multiple books and articles have been written that emphasize the anarchism of
OWS. In The Democracy Project, the late anarchist and anthropologist David
Graeber claims OWS was part of a long history of democratic resistance against
the state and capitalism. In Thank You, Anarchy: Notes from the Occupy
Apocalypse, the writer Nathan Schneider provides a first-hand account of the
self-organization taking place in the park. In Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism
of Occupy Wall Street, historian Mark Bray interviews over 200 core organizers of
OWS, the vast majority of whom identify as anarchists or have anarchistic
politics. To those who have studied OWS at length, its fundamental anarchism is
not in debate.
Mark Bray has said about the anniversary, “Ten years later, let the historical
record show that Occupy Wall Street was planned and organized in large part by
anarchists. OWS’s popular assemblies, direct actions, mutual aid projects,
rejection of hierarchy, and distance from electoral politics were thoroughly
infused with anti-authoritarian values and practices from the beginning. This
groundbreaking movement that helped spark a dynamic decade of resistance was not
street theater for the Democratic Party, but rather a bold experiment in
imagining a world beyond capitalism and the state.”
The legacy of OWS is the ongoing anarchist movement. It is in occupations of
public space (Occupy ICE, Abolition Park), workplace actions organized by
rank-and-file workers (Industrial Workers of the World, Brandworkers), pipeline
disruptions (Occupy the Pipeline, Sane Energy), and refusing to pay debts (Strike
Debt). It is in networks of mutual aid providing food (Food Not Bombs, Club A,
The Gym, WSP Mutual Aid, Woodbine) medical aid (NYC Action Medical) and care
(MACC Care Assembly). It is in the call to abolish police and prisons (Anarchist
Black Cross, Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Revolutionary
Abolitionist Movement, Black and Pink). It is in the fight against fascism (J20,
Charlottesville). OWS lives when people stop thinking of the world as it is, and
instead imagine what it could be. OWS lives, when people act as if they are
already free.
The Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council (MACC) NYC was formed by original
organizers of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). We have explicitly drawn on lessons
learned from that experience. We have assemblies, spokes councils, and working
groups. We operate via the consensus process. We have robust financial control
procedures. We have a community accountability team to address harm and conflict.
The principles and structure by which we organize are directly informed by OWS.
We are the legacy.
https://noticiasanarquistas.noblogs.org/post/2021/09/29/eua-dez-anos-depois-de-ocupar-wall-street-seu-verdadeiro-legado-e-o-anarquismo-na-pratica/
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