Tuesday, Nov 22, 2011 1:00 AM UTC
All-American occupation movements
It turns out we've been making history like this for a long time SLIDE SHOW
Topics: Occupy Wall Street, News, Politics News
When squaring off against unaccountable and abusive power, sometimes the only course of action is to plunk down and fix a stake. The history of social protest in the United States is the history of people taking a stand, but in the last century this has increasingly meant taking a seat. In response to injustice, Americans have learned to gather their fellow aggrieved, park somewhere symbolic, and make their lack of movement the message. Dissent transformed into a fixed community quickly becomes an object of orbit instead of a subject. It commands attention instead of pleading for it. As Occupy Wall Street has shown, occupation protests are young planets that shift gravity.
Alexander Zaitchik is a journalist living in Brooklyn. More Alexander Zaitchik.
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