I liked this piece from Ilyse Hogue at The Nation:
(Snip)When asked to write about what the future holds for Occupy Wall Street, I found myself pondering what a future looks like without it. Or at least without the Occupy enshrined in our minds: the one defined by a tactical commitment to seizing and holding public space, an adherence to universal direct democracy and a resolve to clear all decisions through the General Assembly. At first, the exercise felt illicit, as though I might lose my progressive credentials for even giving the thought voice in my head. But as I allowed myself to go there, the act of sedition felt important and empowering. The whispered anxiety I hear about whether Occupy will re-emerge this spring with sufficient force seems misplaced. What’s paramount is to ask: If Occupy died tomorrow, would it have left behind a fundamentally transformed landscape with new players, new methods and new values? The answer to that is an exciting and liberating yes.
Occupy Wall Street has already transformed beyond recognition from its original state. Very few Occupies still hold public spaces and the ones that do have lost members through attrition, arrests and extreme weather. The core players are focused on protesting the police repression that many sites experienced in the fall. There’s nothing wrong with self-defense, and police repression is certainly more pronounced in communities experiencing economic and political crisis. Still, this focus relegates the debate squarely within a familiar police versus protesters trope—a tough one for protesters to win, especially at a time when the country yearns to keep economic inequality front and center.
Meanwhile, campaigns have emerged outside the constraint of the trademark Occupy tactics. These campaigns often have an independent infrastructure, targeted goals and a nimbleness that prevents bringing every decision to a General Assembly. Not content for process to be the extent of their contribution, these campaigns have specific demands for justice: Occupy Our Homes demands that banks adjust or forgive loans so people can stay in their houses; Occupy the SEC pressures government for enforcement of the Volcker Rule; Occupy Our Colleges insists that governors refuse to cut one more dime from school budgets so that our youth can be educated without mortgaging their future.
The rallying cry of the Occupy movement—“We are the 99 percent”—has also taken on a life of its own. With a spirit of inclusiveness that mimics the slogan, established institutions from MoveOn to National People’s Action to the United Auto Workers are investing collective resources into The 99% Spring, a massive training project that aims to train 100,000 people in nonviolent civil disobedience and economic literacy.(More at link)
http://www.thenation.com/article/166826 ... ive-occupy
