NEW YORK CITY, NY – The book "Organizing Occupy Wall Street: This is Just Practice," authored by activist, organizer, and writer Marisa Holmes, was published today in paperback by Springer Nature. Holmes' book is the first study of its kind on the processes and structures of the Occupy Wall Street movement, written from the perspective of a core organizer who was intimately involved throughout the mobilization. Holmes is making herself available for media interviews to discuss the book and its still-timely themes.
"What shines through this fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Occupy Wall Street movement by one of its key strategists is the sheer joy that people experienced in forging new kinds of cooperative relationships," said Francesca Polletta, Chancellor's Professor of Sociology at UC Irvine. "Without discounting the movement's internal battles and tactical challenges, Holmes makes a powerful case for Occupiers' success in learning, teaching, and honing the practice of radical democracy."
While much has been written on the Occupy movement, few books have focused on how it was organized. Holmes aims to fill this gap by deriving the theory from the practice and analyzing a broad range of original primary sources, from collective statements, structure documents, meeting minutes, and live tweets, to hundreds of hours of footage from the Occupy Wall Street Media Working Group archive. In doing so, Holmes reveals how the movement was organized in practice, which experiments were most successful, and what future generations can learn.
"As an author, filmmaker, and organizer, no one is better positioned to unravel the inner workings and historical significance of the Occupy movement than the indefatigable Marisa Holmes," said Mark Bray, Assistant Professor of History at Rutgers University. "She brings her firsthand experience traversing the pathways of recent global movements—from Egypt to New York to Spain to Charlottesville—to bear on her razor sharp analysis of struggle in this definitive study."
The Occupy Wall Street movement was a beacon of hope for many. In the depths of the economic crisis, people rose up in a collective refusal to engage in business as usual. What began as an encampment in the financial district of New York City quickly spread across the country, and the world. Within a matter of months, thousands of camps took shape. What happened in these spaces was no less than the creation of a new society. Rather than look to others to solve critical social problems, people looked toward each other, and created real democratic alternatives. Holmes argues that it is precisely this energy that is needed now, in the present, to carry us forward toward a better future.
"Against a backdrop of rising fascist ideology and right-wing extremism, war, and ecological crises, worsening inequality, and skyrocketing costs of living and inflation, and with a sinking realization that politicians won't save them, it is and easy for people to fall into cynicism, and foreclose on any possibility of a better future," said author Marisa Holmes. "My book 'Organizing Occupy Wall Street' reminds us that it is in these moments, especially, when we must dare to dream."
Holmes is an organizer, filmmaker, writer, and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the director of two non-fiction feature films and has authored numerous short films and articles. Her work has appeared in Truthout, Paris-Luttes, Nawaat, PBS, and Al Jazeera. Currently, she teaches courses on social movements and media at Rutgers University and Fordham University.
"'Organizing Occupy Wall Street' is essential reading for anyone who wants to change the world," Holmes continued. "Those who study movements, whether academics or organizers, will gain critical insights. It is especially important reading for young people, the next generation of social movement organizers." To find out more about "Organizing Occupy Wall Street: This is Just Practice,"
or to place an order, go to Springer Nature's web page on the book at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-8947-6.
# # # |
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten