Understanding Anarchism Today: Examining Theory and Practice in the Occupy Movement

• In Event: 474 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 14. The Occupy Movement

Abstract

The Occupy Movement that began in 2011 re-popularized anarchism as a political philosophy and growing social movement. Anarchists were instrumental in establishing the Occupy framework, which included the use of the occupied space for prefigurative purposes. This demonstrated the modern-day anarchist emphasis on aiming to radically transform both internal (personal, psychological) and external (structural, institutional) relations as an integral part of an ongoing strategy. In this paper, I first describe the prefigurative practices of Occupy Wall Street anarchists. I then examine the claim by media, scholars, and Occupy participants that Occupy Oakland was the “most radical” of the Occupy manifestations, which many Occupy anarchists understood as “most anarchist.” Contrasting Occupy Oakland with Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Pittsburgh, I argue that this was due to: 1) explicit anti-state framing, 2) greater autonomy of the space than was present in other occupations, 3) attention to the challenging concept of decolonization, and 4) the militant attempts at expansion and de-centralization of liberatory space. These four dimensions reveal more about the anarchist movement today, and point to some tensions. For example, I find that Occupy anarchists place as much emphasis on autonomy, which includes an embrace of confrontation, as they do on prefiguration. This troubles the existing understanding of prefiguration by scholars and many movement activists, explains conflicts that happened within the encampments, and presents evidence of anarchists in the U.S. today attempting to enact practices that address a theoretical paradox within anarchist thought.

Author

• Marie Skoczylas, University of Pittsburgh