When: Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PMWhere: Online, Zoom
A decade ago, on the back of a global financial crisis and the Indignados movement in Spain, activists set up camp in Zuccotti Park in New York’s financial district bearing slogans of opposition to the unjust power and privilege of "the 1%”. In so doing they sparked a global cascade of ‘occupy’ movements. Intellectuals such as Judith Butler, Slavoj Zizek and Frances Fox Piven went and spoke to the crowds, and the crowds grabbed the attention of national leaders. They also bemused them, with their participatory approach to self-organising and a focus on the structural injustices behind social inequality rather than a concrete set of political demands.
But what has been the legacy of Occupy, ten years later? How are we to locate the Occupy movement in light of earlier protest waves, such as the student uprisings of 68 and the worker protests that followed, or the anti-globalisation marches of the late 1990s? What new social and political dynamics has Occupy bequeathed us today? In this panel debate we welcome leading writers and thinkers on the Occupy movement Sarah Jaffe, Michael Levitin and Dr Sam Halvorsen to reflect on these questions as a part of our “Aftermaths” series of events.
Please watch the recording below.