Occupy This (ePub)

Feminist and social activist Judy Rebick brings decades of experience to her account of the Occupy movement in cities across North America. Linking Occupy to social movements of the past and exploring the courage and creativity of a new generation, Rebick argues that the Occupy movement and its counterparts around the globe represent a rise of people power at least as important as the 1960s. Inspired by the Arab Spring, informed by the Indignados (the "Indignant Ones" who protested austerity cuts in Europe and Latin America) and responding to a call from the Canadian magazine Adbusters to occupy Wall Street, a group of young people set up a camp near the Stock Exchange in New York City on September 17, 2011. They called out to the 99 percent to occupy Wall Street, which they saw as the root of much of the injustice and inequality in the world. Marvelling at how quickly the Occupiers gained support and impressed by their organizing ability and commitment to non-hierarchical democratic processes, Rebick says the encampments provide the sense of community that neo-liberal capitalism-- with its emphasis on the individual instead of the collective good -- has destroyed. Occupiers aren't so much rebelling, she maintains, as creating an alternative to the dominant cultural, economic, and social systems - in other words, a cultural revolution. Filled with eye-opening anecdotes and thoughtful interviews with activists around the globe, Occupy This! is an inspiring look at a new wave of change.