Occupy Everything

Anarchists in the Occupy Movement 2009-2011

This book is useful for any anarchists who are figuring out the role of anarchists in popular movements, about which we will always be torn. Yellow vests, occupy, the greek riots in the aughts, all had components that anarchists despise, yet were more or less spontaneous uprisings of the sort we celebrate and want more of. We will always differ about when and how to engage with these moments, but more reflection can only help.

This is a book where anarchists, in their own words, express how and why they engaged in Occupy, what methods they used, and how to evaluate the success of Occupy on anarchist terms. It also expresses the flexibilty, energy, and experience that anarchists brought to The Occupy Movement as it moved beyond lower Manhattan onto the docks and streets of Oakland, the town square of Philadelphia, and abandoned buildings around the country.

The anarchists' way of operating was changing our very idea of what politics could be in the first place. This was exhilarating. Some occupiers told me they wanted to take it home with them, to organize assemblies in their own communities. It's no accident, therefore, that when occupations spread around the country, the horizontal assemblies spread too.
-From Nathan Schneider in The Nation

Contributors: Antistate STL, Anon, Ben Webster, Cindy Milstein, Crescencia Desafio, Crimethinc, David Graeber, Denver ABC, Dot Matrix, Ignite! Collective, ingirum, John Jacobsen, Phoenix Insurgent, R.R, Serf City Revolt, TEOAN, Tides of Flame, TriAnarchy