“Horizontal” Organizing and Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – WYNC leads, this morning, with an interesting post about Occupy Wall Street (OWS) by reporter Kathleen Horan.  The article is valuable because it offers a description of the signature anarchist organizing techniques at work in OWS.  Curiously, terms like direct action, horizontalism, leaderless structure, block,  are presented without once using the word “anarchist” by way of establishing a broader context for the reader. Nonetheless, the article is well worth reading and suggests, by virtue of having been written, that a small part of the mainstream media has shifted from casting aspersions on OWS in order to lay down a baseline description.  Besides a bunch of people discussing direct actions without a leader, what is “horizontal” organizing and why is it so important for OWS?

Innovative “Direct Action” Key to Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – One of the more vexing issues for people looking at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) from the outside has been the movement’s reluctance to adhere to the norms of established politics–in particular, the refusal to elect spokespeople who communicate a set list of demands.  If we ask why this is the case, the answer brings us to the idea of “direct action,” a concept which should be examined a much greater length than it has been by the media thus far.

Force of 1, Power of 99

NEW YORK (Frameshop) – More than any other phrase, “We are the 99%” has emerged as the key phrase and core symbol of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.  Why?  Why does this phrase make sense to so many people?

The answer lies in a very simple political distinction between “force” and “power.”

When a Message is Clear, but Some Don’t Get It

NEW YORK – If you have been following the Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS), by now you have heard the question “What is the message?”–posed sometimes nicely, often aggressively. This is often followed by some variation of “they have no message.”

Let me clear this up right now, because the message of this first stage of OWS has been crystal clear. The message is: “Join us.” Also, that message has been received from sea to shining sea, as the saying goes. The proof is in the pudding, or in this case: the proof is in the fact that the one OWS event has not spread to dozens of events and marches, with many more in the offing.

But wait a sec: if I get this, and you get this, why are so many people not getting this?