Our language has not yet caught up with the political phenomenon that is emerging in Zuccotti Park and spreading across the nation, though it is clear that a political paradigm shift is taking place before our very eyes. It’s time to begin to name and in naming, to better understand this moment. So let me propose some words: “political disobedience.”
Occupy Wall Street is best understood, I would suggest, as a new form of what could be called “political disobedience,” as opposed to civil disobedience, that fundamentally rejects the political and ideological landscape that we inherited from the Cold War.
With the Cold War decades behind us, a new paradigm of political resistance has emerged.
Civil disobedience accepted the legitimacy of political institutions, but resisted the moral authority of resulting laws. Political disobedience, by contrast, resists the very way in which we are governed: it resists the structure of partisan politics, the demand for policy reforms, the call for party identification, and the very ideologies that dominated the post-War period.
Occupy Wall Street, which identifies itself as a “leaderless resistance movement with people of many … political persuasions,” is politically disobedient precisely in refusing to articulate policy demands or to embrace old ideologies. Those who incessantly want to impose demands on the movement may show good will and generosity, but fail to understand that the resistance movement is precisely about disobeying that kind of political maneuver. Similarly, those who want to push an ideology onto these new forms of political disobedience, like Slavoj Zizek or Raymond Lotta, are missing the point of the resistance.
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3 comments:
A friend who liked it sent me this piece a few days ago, and I don't like it anymore now than I did then. It's a blinkered liberal view of the movement, acting like it's in the know, which it is not. His left parameters are set by the likes of Zizek, Badiou, and Lotta--none of whom I'd want speaking for me, or for the Marxist left (Badiou can be interesting on the problem of ethics). I'm left wondering, too, why The Stone considers Harcourt a philosopher, when he clearly is not. Oh well, that's a quibble, I suppose. Anyway, Harcourt I think is trying to catch a wave with his novel term, but playing with words isn't where it's at. For commentary on the movement, give me Krugman, Klein, Piven, Ehrenreich, and their like any day, instead of Lakeshore Drive liberalism. By the way, are there any farther left voices writing now who are saying smart and useful things about the OWS movement?
There is definitely a large amount of nonsense in the piece. Is it philosophy? No - not a chance. I wouldn't even call it a quibble. Posturing? Yes.
The writer is correct about the need for constant vigilance of rules and regulations that go with an economy of size and maturity. We must be engaged actively on any and every level, all the time.
The thing I do like about this article is the term "political disobedience." It feels right. It resonates. It reflects the level of disgust and distrust so many are expressing. I can commit political disobedience without going to jail and it should scare politicians a great deal.
Make demands? Of course the Occupy movement will make demands. The whole messy and very large movement is trying to get a structure together to develop and formulate those demands, in a way that feels very much like the late 60s, early 70s (when I had the luxury to be in college full-time).
As I interview occupants here in Salem, it becomes crystal clear very quickly that these are people with widely divergent political views and insights and many many disconnects. Education is sorely needed. It is critical. Magnify that confusion around the world....
The one basic thing held in common is "people before profits." And people are attempting to participate in defining the demands and rules and regulations, etc.
"People before profits" is a clear, concise way to state the main point. There are lots of serious implications regarding real change that follow from it.
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