After the Crest 11

7/29/2019 After the Crest 11

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A ll movemen ineviblyrech limi, i i poinleo beil heir ping i hey ould go on

groing indeniely ionly he pricipnere regic enough.

text liberated from crimethinc.com by

oplopanax publishing


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Further ReadingTree Yer ince he Greek Inurrecion, our interview wit omrde inAten bout te mont ollowing te upriing o Deember 2008

Occupy Oklnd I Ded; Long Live he Oklnd Commune

Crcking under Preure: Nrring he Decline o he Amerdm SquerMovemen, by Lynn Owen


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T he l ime I mny o he comrde Id beriendedover he preceding monh. Te evicion n he gree hre e ceder ll.

Repression hits hardest at the end.Government repreion uully doe not it in ull ore until er movement died down. It i mot onvenient or te tte to ttk

people wen teir upport network ve ollped nd teir ttention ielewere. Opertion Bkre truk yer er te ig point o ErtLibertion Front momentum, wen mny o te prtiipnt d movedon nd te ommunitie tt d upported tem d diintegrted.Similrly, te utoritie wited until My 2012 to trike bk t Oupywit erie o entrpment e.

Te ie gol o repreion i to open te ult line witin te tr-geted oil body, iolting it nd oring it into retive poition. Idelly,we ould repond to repreion in wy tt etbli new onnetionnd poition u or new oenive.

Hold your ground.How do we trnition into oter orm o onnetion wen te exep-tionl irumtne tt drew u togeter re over? Te network ttolee eortlely during te ig point o momentum rrely urvive.Wile new event were unolding, tere w n obviou rewrd or et-ting dierene ide nd interrupting routine to onverge. Aerwrd,te lrge group tt ormed lowly brek down into mller one, wilemller group oen vni ltogeter. Te reuing o llegine tttke ple during ti period i vitl, but it eqully vitl not to loe eoter in te ue.

During te ret o movement, prtiipnt oen tke orgrnted tt it will leve tem t iger plteu wen it i over. But tii rdly gurnteed. Ti my be te mot importnt quetion ing u we ppro te next wve o truggle: ow do we gin nd old ground?Politil prtie n meure teir eetivene ording to ow mny newreruit tey retin, but nrit mut oneive o ue dierently.

In te end, it int jut orgniztion wit ontt lit tt willremin er te ret, but bove ll new quetion, new prtie, newpoint o reerene or ow people n tnd up or temelve. Pingtee memorie long to te next genertion i one o te mot importntting we n do.

A he high poin, i eem like i ill go on orever. You eel invincible, unop-pble. Ten he crh come: cour ce, diinegrion, depreion.

Once you go hrough hi everl ime, he rhyhm become mil-ir. I become poible o recognize hee uphevl he herbe o ome-

hing greer hn ny ingle movemen.

Over te pt ix yer, itie round te world ve een pek o truggle:Aten, London, Brelon, Ciro, Oklnd, Montrl, Itnbul. A dedego, nrit would onverge rom round te world to prtiipte in ingle ummit protet. Now mny ve prtiipted in mont-longupevl in teir own itie, nd more urely loom ed.

But wt do we do er te ret? I ingle upevl wont bringdown pitlim, we ve to k wt mtter bout tee ig pointwt we ope to get out o tem, ow tey gure in our long-term viion,nd ow to mke te mot o te wning period tt ollow tem. Ti i

epeilly preing tody, wen we n be ure tt tere re more upev-l on te wy.

o ti end, we ve orgnized dilogue wit nrit in omeo te itie tt ve een tee limxe o onit, inluding Oklnd,Brelon, nd Montrl. Ti i te rt in erie o reetion drwnrom toe diuion.

Prtilly ll o te prtiipnt in tee diuion indepen-dently reported tt it w relly rd or tem to ormulte teir tougt:I dont know wy, but wenever I it down to work on it, I get depreed.Ti ugget broder problem. Mny nrit depend on trium-plit nrrtive, in wi we ve to go rom vitory to vitory to venyting to tlk bout. But movement, too, ve nturl lie yle. Teyinevitbly pek nd die down. I our trtegie re premied on endlegrowt, we re etting ourelve up or inevitble ilure. Tt goe doubleor te nrrtive tt determine our morle.

Movement A myeriou ocil phenomenon h pire o groh ye,hen oberved, ly pper o be in decline.

When ocil chnge i ghering momenum, i i proen nd huinviible; only hen i bilize xed quniy i i poible o x lbel o i, nd rom h momen on i cn only decompoe. Ti explin

hy movemen bur like come ino he public concioune he highpoin o heir innovion, olloed by long il o diminihing reurn. A


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Be prepared for burnout and depression.Aer te ret, wen te eupori i over, mny prtiipnt will expe-riene depreion. Sine te event tt regulrly brougt tem togeterve eed, tey re iolted nd more vulnerble. Oter my veer intoddition: ubtne ue n be wy to mintin intimy wit e oternd wit dnger itel wen tere i no more re in te treet. Te implepleure wit wi people elebrted teir vitorie n expnd to ll te

pe le by te reeding tide o event, beoming el-detrutive. Ti inoter reon to etbli new venue to mintin mrderie nd on-netion wen te window o poibility i loing.

Save energy for the fallout.All o tee problem re oen intenied by te exploion o diordtt uully ollow movement demie. One it i ler tt move-ment i denitively over, ll te onit tt te prtiipnt ve beenputting o ome to te ore, or tere i no longer ny inentive to keeptem under te rug. Suppreed reentment nd ideologil diereneure, long wit eriou llegtion bout bue o power nd violtion

o onent. Lerning rom tee onit i n eentil prt o te proett prepre te wy or uture movement: or exmple, ontemporrynrim i deended in prt rom te eminit bkl tt ollowedte New Le movement o te 96. But prtiipnt rrely tink to veenergy or ti pe, nd it n eel like tnkle work, ine te tioni otenibly over.

I e nigh beore he evicion o he Occupy Philly encmpmen, nde ere holding Generl Aembly o decide h o do. enion ererunning high beeen he reiden o he cmp, ho ere primrily home-

le, nd hoe ho priciped chiefy in meeing nd orking group. Tnigh, homele mn inerruped he GA o ccue everl o hoe in led-erhip poiion o being in legue ih he police, being rci, nd plnningo ell ou he homele. Te cilior ried o ignore he dirupion, bu hengry mn droned him ou nd evenully riled up e more people hobegn houing oo. In hi momen o cho nd heighened emoion, e hd unique opporuniy. We could hve hied our ocu rom he hre hhe governmen ned u o rec o, ined uing h GA o nlly ddrehe enion in our on group in hope o building orce h could urviveino he nex phe o ruggle. Ined, he cilior ried o reore orderby direcing u o brek ino mll group nd dicu h repec men.

My her nk. Our hred energy exploive; e needed o chnnel i,no uppre i.

hrper eye cn ee he ocil ermen behind hee exploion, perennil ndboundle, lernely dring in ne pricipn nd emiing ne veo civiy, i in ucceive breh.

In Oupy Oklnd, tree-week ouption gve wy to ix-mont deline. Ti ber repeting: movement pend mot o teir timein deline. Tt mke it ll te more importnt to onider ow to mkete mot o te wning pe.

A ll movement inevitbly re limit, it i pointle to bewilteir ping i tey would go on growing indenitely i only te pr-tiipnt were trtegi enoug. I we preume te gol o ny tti ilwy to mintin te momentum o prtiulr movement, we will neverbe ble to do more tn ret quixotilly gint te inexorble ping otime. Rter tn truggling to tve o diolution, we ould t wit neye to te uture.

Ti ould men onolidting te onnetion tt ve devel-oped during te movement, or being ure to go out wit bng to inpireuture movement, or reveling te internl ontrdition tt te move-

ment never olved. Perp, one movement reed it limit, temot importnt ting to do in te wning pe i to point to wt uturemovement would ve to do to trnend toe limit.

We hd occupied he building or lmo 2 hour, nd e ere ring oimgine h e could omeho hold ono i. I bou o go ou or up-

plie o oriy he plce hen omehing cugh my eye. Tere in he duo he bndoned grge hood ornmen rom cr h hdn beenmnucured in 40 yer. I reched don o pick i up, hen heied: Icould ly look i ler. On impule, I ook i nyy. A hl hour ler, swat qud urrounded he building or block in every direcion. We neverrecovered ny o he hing e buil or brough here. Over hundred o ume, dnced, nd lep in h building, ouide he bound o nyhing ed

previouly been ble o imgine in our lile on, nd h lile hood orn-men i ll I hve o ho i hppened.

When I viied my riend in he By Are he olloing eek, heyere in he me e o elion I hd been hen I le he building: We lkround nd people ee u nd cll ou OCC-U-PY! Ting re ju going o

gro nd keep on groing!

Keep perspective.During reendo o oil truggle, it n be difult to mintin


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Te trjetory o green nrit truggle in Oregon t te turno te lt entury oer drmti exmple o ti kind o intion. Atte beginning, te gol were mll nd onrete: protet pei treeor pei tret o oret. Aer te World rde Orgniztion protetin Settle, te gol o green nrit in te region ypertropied untiltey reed ttil impe. Wen your immedite objetive i to tkedown indutril iviliztion, jut bout nyting you n do i going to eelpointle.

Indeed, during delining pe, it my be importnt to reit tetendeny to elte. Wen te shac mpign rn ground, Root Foreet out to pply te me trtegy gint mu bigger trgetling uprom ingle niml teting orportion to te mjor inrtruturlproj-et underlying trnntionl pitlim. A shac-tyle mpigntrgeting mller orportion migt ve ueeded, empowering new gener-tion to go on pplying te trtegy, but Root Fore nevereven got o te ground.

Quit while youre ahead.Te delining pe o movement n be dngerou time. Oen, pop-ulr upport died down nd te ore o repreion ve reginedteir ooting, but te prtiipnt till ve ig ope nd eel ene ourgeny. Sometime it bet to i ou beore ometing relly debili-tting our.

Yet quitting wile youre ed i omplited. I te onnetiontt ve been mde re premied on olletive tion, it n be difult toretin tee witout tying in te treet togeter.

Mont er Oupy Oklnd w denitively over, polie bru-tlly ttked n nrit mr gint Columbu Dy, mking everl

rret nd preing elony rge. It i n open quetion weter tiowed tt nrit d overextended temelve, but er pybktion te ollowing nigt in Oklnd, treet tivity in te By Are dieddown or lmot yer. On te oter nd, er te UK tudent movementdied down, n exploion o riot in Augut 2011 uggeted tt mny o teunderl prtiipnt elt bndoned by te witdrwl o teir ormertivit llie rom treet tion. It i poible tt, d te movement on-tinued in ome orm, te riot migt ve turned out dierently point o deprture or noter wve o olletive truggle, rter tn tedeperte t o mrginlized popultion riing ruinouly gint oietyitel.

perpetive; ome ting eem entrl yet prove trnitory, wile oterting ll by te wyide tt erwrd turn out to ve been pivotl.Oen, we mi opportunitie to oter long-term onnetion, tkinge oter or grnted in te urgeny o reponding to immedite event.Aerwrd, wen te moment ped, we dont know ow to nd eoteror we ve no reon to, ving burned our bridge in ig-treitution. Wt i relly importnt, te ttil ue o prtiulrtion, or te trengt o te reltionip tt ome out o it?

Likewie, it i rrely ey to tell were you re in te trjetory oevent. At te beginning, wen te window o poibility i wide open, it iunler ow r ting n go; oen, nrit wit to get involved untiloter ve lredy determined te rter o te movement. Lter, tte ig point, it n eem tt te prtiipnt re t te treold otremendou new potentilwen in t tt window o poibility lredy begun to loe. Ti onuion mke it difult to know wen it ite rigt time to i ger to new trtegy.

We ere ouide c in donon Oklnd couple monh ler. I

king h my riend hough he propec ere or he uure. Ting illpick up gin hen pring rrive, hey ured me.

A r I believed hem. Wn everyone ying he me hing llround he counry? Ten i hi me: e ere iing here in he unhine,ering -hir, in he ciy h hd een he mo inene cion o he holeOccupy movemen. I here n noher occupion here lredy, i ncoming bck.

Keep the window of possibility open while you can; ifyou have to split, split on your own terms.

Movement uully begin wit n exploion o unertinty nd poten-til. So long te limit re unler, wide rnge o prtiipnt veue to get involved, wile te utoritie mut old bk, unure o teonequene o repreion. How do we keep ti window o poibilityopen long poible witout idetepping rel digreement? (Tinko Oupy Wll Street wen it rt got o te ground nd ll mnner ordil nd retionry tendenie mingled witin it.) I it better to pot-pone le over ideologil iueu nonviolene veru diverityo ttior to preipitte tem? (Tink o te ontroveril blk blo inOupy Oklnd on November 2, 2011.)

One wy to ppro ti llenge i to try to lriy te iue

t tke witout drwing xed line o politil identity in te proe.


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loed nd nobody wnt to oupy nyting t ll. In omi exm-ple o ti tendeny to xte on ertin tti, er Oupy Oklnd wevited, Oupy Wll Street miled lrge number o tent ro te oun-try geture o upport. Tee tent merely took up torge pe overte ollowing mont te truggle in Oklnd reed it onluion onoter terrin.

Dont regress to outmoded strategies.Sometime, er new trtegy tt i ttuned to te preent ontext reted new momentum, tere i tendeny to revert to previoupproe tt ve long eed working. Wen people wit little priorexperiene onverge in movement, tey ometime demnd guidnerom toe wo ve longer itory o involvement; more oen, it i tevetern temelve wo demnd to provide ti guidne. Unortuntely,longtime tivit requently bring in old tti nd trtegie, uing tenew opportunity to reume te deeted projet o te pt.

For exmple, ourteen yer go, worldwide ummit-oppingoered wy to exert trnntionl leverge gint pitlit globliztion,

oering model to reple te lol nd ntionl lbor orgnizing tt dbeen outnked by te interntionl mobility o orportion. Yet wenlbor tivit got involved, tey ritiized ummit-opper or runninground te world rter tn orgnizing lolly te old-ioned wy.Likewie, Oupy got o te ground beue it oered new model or ninreingly preriou popultion to tnd up or itel witout tble eo-nomi poition rom wi to mobilize. But gin, old-ioned lbortivit w ti new movement only potentil pool o bodie to up-port union truggle, nd nneled it momentum into eily ooptedded end.

In te wke o every movement, we ould tudy wt it ueend ilure ow bout our urrent ontext, wile reognizing tt by tetime we n mke ue o toe leon te itution will ve nged onemore.

Beware of rising expectations.Wen movement i t it ig point, it beome poible to t on le previouly unimginble. Ti n be debilitting erwrd, wente rnge o poibility ontrt gin nd te prtiipnt re no longerinpired by te tti tey engged in beore te ret. One wy to pre-erve momentum pt te end o movement i to go on etting ttinble

intermedite gol nd frming even te umblet eort towrd tem.

A oon ttil or ideologil digreement i undertood onitbetween ditint oil bodie, te orizon begin to loe. Te moment opotentil depend on te uidity o te movement, te irultion o ideoutide teir uul domin, te emergene o new oil ongurtion,nd te openne o individul prtiipnt to peronl trnormtion.Te entrenment o xed mp undermine ll o tee.

Ti problem i urter omplited by te t tt te top prior-ity o te utoritie i lwy to divide movementoen long te meline tt te prtiipnt temelve wi to divide. It my be bet to trynot to preipitte ny permnent brek until te orizon o poibility loed, ten mke ure tt te line re drwn on your own term, not teterm o te utoritie or teir unwitting liberl tooge.

Push the envelope.Wt i till poible one te orizon been irumribed? In dyingmovement, one n till pu te envelope, etting new preedent or teuture o ubequent truggle will be ble to imgine going urter. Tii good reon not to void ideologil le indenitely; in order to

legitimize te tti tt will be needed in te uture, one oen tobegin by ting outide te previling onenu.

For exmple, t te onluion o November 2, 2011, OupyOklnd prtiipnt ontroverilly ttempted to tke over building.Ti provoked gret del o bkl, but it et preedent or erie obuilding ouption tt enbled Oupy to begin to llenge te n-tity o privte property during it long wning pegiving Oupy mu more rdil legy tn it would oterwie ve d.

One years breakthroughs are the next years limitations.During te burgeoning tge o movement, prtiipnt oen beomexted on ertin tti. Tere i tendeny to try to repet one motreent uee; in te long run, ti n only produe onervtim nddiminiing return. Diminiing return re till return, o oure, nd tti tt i no longer eetive in it originl ontext my oer gret delo potentil in noter ettingwitne te ouption o kim Squrein June 2013, wen no one in te US ould imgine oupying nytingever gin. But tti nd retori eventully beome ued up. One noone expet nyting new rom tem, te me logn nd trtegie ttgenerted o mu momentum beome obtle.

A oon Oupywas in te new, nyone wo d n

ouption in mind d better urry to rry it out beore te window oopportunity

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After the Crest 11