The Occupy Handbook

Analyzing the movement's deep-seated origins in questions that the country has sought too long to ignore, some of the greatest economic minds and most incisive cultural commentators - from Paul Krugman, Robin Wells, Michael Lewis, Robert Reich, Amy Goodman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Gillian Tett, Scott Turow, Bethany McLean, Brandon Adams, and Tyler Cowen to prominent labor leaders and young, cutting-edge economists and financial writers whose work is not yet widely known - capture the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon in all its ragged glory, giving readers an on-the-scene feel for the movement as it unfolds while exploring the heady growth of the protests, considering the lasting changes wrought, and recommending reform. A guide to the occupation, The Occupy Handbook is a talked-about source for understanding why 1% of the people in America take almost a quarter of the nation's income and the long-term effects of a protest movement that even the objects of its attack can find little fault with.

Issued at this critical point in human history, the vital "Occupy Wall Street Revolution Handbook" reigns as the essential guide for people in the 99-Percent majority of the poor and disadvantaged across the United States and worldwide. Struggling people everywhere look to this essential handbook as a vibrant, common sense approach to our valiant struggle. Working together, let us use the many approaches listed herein to legally bring banks, evil financial institutions, the devilish U.S. Congress, and the many puppets for the wealthy to their political knees.

With urgency and clarity, Noam Chomsky speaks with the movement as it transitions from occupying tent camps to occupying the national conscience

“[A] much needed book…a compelling portrait of the Occupy movement…that capture[s] the spirit of the people involved, the crisis that gave Occupy birth, and the possibility of genuine change it represents.” —Eric Foner, author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery The Occupy Wall Street movement arose out of a widespread desire of ordinary Americans to change a political system in which the moneyed “1%” of the nation controls the workings of the government. In Occupy Nation, social historian Todd Gitlin—a former leader of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who stood at the forefront of the birth of the New Left and the student protests of the 1960s and ’70s—offers a unique overview of one of the most rapidly growing yet misunderstood social revolutions in modern history. Occupy Nation is a concise and incisive look at the Occupy movement at its pivotal moment, as it weighs its unexpected power and grapples with its future mission.

The Occupy Movement Explained is a readable, compact account and analysis of the Occupy protests, by a scholar who participated in several Occupy events. The book is thoroughly researched, painstakingly accurate, and fully documented. It debunks a number of myths and misunderstandings that have become rife. Nicholas Smaligo shows how the movement arose out of radical currents that have been active below the media's radar since the 1970s. Occupiers are not all the same, and the author reviews some of the debates and changes within the movement. The occupations began under a slogan that conjured up a naive sense of unity—"We Are the 99%!" It did not take very long for that sense of unity to give way to an appreciation of just how socially, economically, and ideologically fragmented American society is. For some, this was an excuse to return to their cynicism—for others, it was an invitation to lose their illusions and begin to see the world from the viewpoint of political activists. The Occupy Movement Explained describes this process of education and the lessons learned about "the 99%", the police, direct democracy, political demands, and the intimately related questions of social change, violence and property.

This book is an urgent and compelling account of the Occupy movements: from the M15 movement in Spain, to the wave of Occupations flooding across cities in American, Europe and Australia, to the harsh reality of evictions as corporations and governments attempted to reassert exclusive control over public space. Across a vast range of international examples over twenty authors analyse, explain and helps us understand the movement. These movements were a novel and noisy intervention into the recent capitalist crisis in developed economies, developing an exceptionally broad identity through a call to arms addressed to ‘the 99%’, and emphasizing the importance of public space in the creation and maintenance of opposition. The novelties of these movements, along with their radical positioning and the urgency of their claims all demand analysis. This book investigates the crucial questions of how and why this form of action spread so rapidly and so widely, how the inclusive discourse of ‘the 99%’ matched up to the reality of the practice. It is vital to understand not just the choice of tactics and the vitality of protest camps in public spaces, but also how the myriad of challenges and problems were negotiated. This book was published as a special issue of Social Movement Studies.

Occupy Wall Street, as centered in New York City, received much publicity. Little attention, however, has been granted to the hundreds of Occupy groups in marginal locations whose creative politics were certainly not limited by the influential example of Occupy in Zuccotti Park. This volume rectifies this oversight, with thirteen essays critically addressing the politics of occupation in places such as Indiana, Oregon, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana, and California. It initiates an interdisciplinary and critical discussion concerned with the importance of the ‘local’ to contemporary politics; the evolution of Occupy Wall Street tactics as they changed to fit differing, non-spectacular contexts; and what worked or did not work politically in various contexts. All of the above is designed to inform and improve that as-of-yet-unnamed movement which will come after Occupy. Boasting scholars from sociology, English, anthropology, peace studies, and history, the volume is divided into three major sections: Occupying the Local: Promise and Predicament; Occupying Space and Borders: South, East, and West; and Occupying the Media: Local, Regional, and National Dilemmas.

"This is the first communique from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street." With those words, the Occupy Wall Street movement announced its presence to the world. Within just four weeks, the Occupy movement spread across the country and around the globe, and drastically changed the terms of political debate in the US. OWS is the first mass movement to appear in the US during the Internet age. Technically savvy, the Occupiers posted events as they happened, on the Web, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, livestreams, blogs, and other online resources. There were gripping accounts of being in the center of police actions in Boston and New York. There were hopeful pleas for social change. There were energetic calls to action. There were thoughtful descriptions of a new way of political organizing that had never been seen before in the US, revolving around words like "General Assemblies" and "consensus" and "Working Groups." OWS was not only making history--it was writing it as well. This is the story of Occupy Wall Street, in its own words. All proceeds from this book are being donated to the Occupy Wall Street Movement.