Occupy representation and democratise prefiguration: Speaking for others in global justice movements

Teivainen, Teivo

doi:10.1177/0309816815627387

Cited by 33 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…Many anarchist and radical democratic theorists have argued before that radical democracy requires various forms of recallable delegation or imperative mandate (Bookchin, , p. 26; Cohn, , pp. 255–256; Teivainen, , p. 23; Wilson, , pp. 147–148).…”

Section: Political Representation In the Practices Of Occupy Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

They don't represent us? Synecdochal representation and the politics of occupy movements

Sande

2020

Constellations

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In 2011 and the ensuing years, the world witnessed a global wave of various "occupy movements," from the Spanish 15-M and the Greek anti-austerity protests of 2011 to Occupy Wall Street (OWS), and from the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul to Nuit Debout in Paris. Inspired by the Arab Spring earlier that year-and by the iconic image of an occupied Tahrir Square in particular-protesters in different parts of the world took possession of public spaces in order to oppose the austerity measures of their governments, to challenge the power of financial industries and economic elites, and to voice their widely shared experience of a democratic deficit. I emphasize from the outset that there are many, and often very substantial, demographic, cultural, economic, and political differences among these various occupy movements and among the contexts in which they intervened. There is thus no particular reason to assume, as some enthusiastic commentators suggested at the time, that they were all exponents of a single global movement (Hardt & Negri, 2012; Mason, 2011). But it is also clear, on the other hand, that they often expressed a strong sense of solidarity with each other, and referred to each another as important sources of inspiration (Graeber, 2013, p. 237). Notwithstanding the many differences between these movements, they did share at least a number of important points in common. What, then, did these movements have in common-next to the obvious but important fact that they all involved the occupation of public space (Harvey, 2012, pp. 161-162)? First, in most cases conventional political organizations or institutions played a minor role, if any, in these mass mobilizations. None was spearheaded by established political parties or politicians (Tormey, 2015, p. 8) and they often had a strikingly diverse composition (Juris, 2012, p. 265). Most categorically refused to negotiate or even engage with any representative institutions or public bodies (Klein, 2011). One possible explanation for this, second, is that many of these movements had strong horizontalist aspirations (Sitrin, 2012) and advocated direct or participatory forms of politics, organization and decision-making. Finally, not only This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Political Representation In the Practices Of Occupy Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

They don't represent us? Synecdochal representation and the politics of occupy movements

Sande

2020

Constellations

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“…Whether a participant represents oneself, a membership, or a constituency in deliberations and decision-making process must not be the basis for determining the power of an argument and the legitimacy of an idea (cf. Teivainen, 2016). Participatory democracy guarantees full rights to every member, and enjoins all representatives to voice out and express themselves without threats and intimidation from fellow members.…”

Section: Past Internationals Democracy and The Audacity Of Strugglementioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Samir Amin’s legacy and the case for a political organization of the global justice movement

Juego

2019

Globalizations

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A case is made here for the desirability and viability of the late Samir Amin's call for a new International. However, the project to forge a political organization of the global justice movement must in the first instance draw lessons from the limitations of the recent network structure of new social movements, notably the World Social Forum, and rectify the failures of the old internationals of left-wing cadres. The actualization of such a radical idea also needs to observe the realpolitik of class formation and class struggle under conditions of the imperialistic globalization of capitalism today. Envisioned as a plural and participatory learning organization, the new International's progression should be evolutionary and its strategic engagements have to balance the imperatives of political realism with the ideals of democratic values.

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“…La consigna zapatista "preguntando caminamos" refleja también eso. Considerando que las prácticas prefigurativas son características para muchos de los nuevos movimientos globales surgidos a partir de 2011, estos han sido también denominados movimientos prefigurativos por varios autores (Maeckelbergh, 2011;Teivainen, 2016;van de Sande, 2013). Teivainen (2016) propone hablar de prefiguración democrática, ya que históricamente han existido también movimientos prefigurativos religiosos, esotéricos y fascistas.…”

Section: Utopías Concretas Y Políticas Prefigurativasunclassified

Construyendo utopías concretas: el movimiento comunero en Venezuela

Azzellini

2017

conrec

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En el transcurso de la historia las utopías han jugado un papel importante en la construcción de alternativas sociales. En este artículo se analiza al mecanismo de autogobierno local venezolano de las comunas como prefiguración utópica o como “utopía concreta”. Se discuten diferentes conceptos marxistas y emancipadores de utopía conectándolos con el pensamiento latinoamericano, para demostrar cómo la prefiguración utópica es de considerar necesaria en los procesos de lucha revolucionaria. Luego de resumir estructura y funcionamiento del autogobierno local sigue el análisis de cómo en las comunas se ensaya una prefiguración utópica. Las comunas tienen sus raíces en tradiciones políticas y sociales latinoamericanas y se conectan con experiencias socialistas y revolucionarias, como también con la historia de resistencia indígena, negra y popular. Su estructura y funcionamiento del autogobierno local muestra que en ellas se ensaya una prefiguración utópica. En el imaginario popular, el Estado comunal sustituirá el Estado burgués.

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Occupy representation and democratise prefiguration: Speaking for others in global justice movements

Cited by 33 publications

References 22 publications

They don't represent us? Synecdochal representation and the politics of occupy movements

They don't represent us? Synecdochal representation and the politics of occupy movements

Rethinking Samir Amin’s legacy and the case for a political organization of the global justice movement

Construyendo utopías concretas: el movimiento comunero en Venezuela

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