Occupy Study Group

 Readings for Occupiers: A Study Group

The Occupy movement is the latest iteration of a global reaction to three interlocking phenomena: economic inequity, social atomization and political disempowerment. It has immediate predecessors in Tunisia, Cairo, Wisconsin, Madrid, and London. The systemic critiques and tactical approaches adopted by Occupy have a robust, if sometimes subterranean, lineage.

This study group will focus on readings that inform the Occupy critique: analyses of wealth disparities, economic and monetary policies, the disproportionate impact of austerity on women and people of color, and the nature of the relationship between the superrich and the global 99%. We will also look at Occupy’s organizational forbears, with special attention paid to the Black Liberation Movement, the New Left, global “autonomism” and the peace movement. We will also examine Network theory, and how this has impacted the possibilities of “horizontal” social change.