Recent calls for activists to occupy Wall Street, starting September 17, are a deliberate salute to the spirit of Egypt’s Tahrir Square. The idea originated with the folk at Adbusters, but it has been taken up and promoted by many other groups in the last few days. Competing slogans are flying thick and fast, but the central demand of the event is crystal clear. This is an explicit challenge to the corporate control of politics. The discussion is providing a wonderful, live illustration of network member Dan Gallin’s recent maxim: “The network is the vanguard.”
Will they/we reach the goal of 20,000 campers? Will unions have a presence? Will this be the turning point — the American spring — that people have been hoping for? These are not rhetorical questions. The event will be whatever we can make it.
The all-important FaceBook group is here: http://goo.gl/TYwDy. You can have your say on the key demand here: http://www.reddit.com/r/occupywallstreet. Posters etc are here: http://occupywallstreet.tumblr.com/. The collective twittering is here: http://goo.gl/uxaBz.