It was a just a year ago—on July 13, 2011—that the Canadian magazine Adbusters sent the tweet that triggered the Occupy movement. “Flood into lower Manhattan,” said its editors, “and Occupy Wall Street.” Thousands responded, not just in Manhattan, but in cities around the world. By the end of 2011, Occupy was hailed as the most powerful progressive force in American politics in a generation. Today, just six months later, it is all but dead—an apparent suicide, killed by its own distaste for democratic politics.
It may seem odd to say this. The hallmark of the Occupy movement was its commitment to open, consensus-based decision-making. “This is what democracy looks like,” its supporters proclaimed. Anyone could attend one of the Occupiers’ general assemblies and block a proposed decision if they felt that it violated an ethical principle. Of course, this made it difficult for assemblies to agree on policy demands, manage life in the Occupy camps, and condemn vandalism by fringe elements. Many sympathisers quit the movement out of frustration. Some said that Occupy’s problem was actually too much democracy.
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blog/occupy-failed-adbusters-on-year-anniversary/
