Date: October 17, 2011 11:37 PM Topic: #TCN @occupyparadeplatz At 10am Paradeplatz was grey, cold and enveloped

by a reptilian lethargy. Not la cking in activity, just very aware of essentials and minimal energy. The only ex cess could be found in the stamping and huffing line in front of the makeshift c offee cart. A group was chain boiling old espresso cans in a small grate for don ations. Bundles of scarves and coats wandered around, handing out pamphlets in t he standard left-wing style of maximum text density on cheap paper. People were setting down blankets and unfolding deck chairs. Boxes of food were brought out along side hi fi systems and battered guitars. It was becoming rapid ly clear that we were amateurishly unprepared. All around us there were signs of of quiet and dogged intent. Slowly but very surely signs were hoisted, placards attached, messages chalked onto the ground, loudspeakers set up. There was no r ecognizable central organisation. Some kind of a podium was being set up, but it was impossible to tell if any of the other infrastructure was in any way affili ated. I felt like I had wandered into a well-organised and experienced theatre c ompany. All around me everyone was purposefully going about their business witho ut orders, fuss or hesitation. We stood around, watching the goings on and studying the pamphlets. The place wa s filling up with a very definitive sedentary atmosphere. By lunchtime makeshift camps, tarpaulins and even a tent filled the island. People were hanging around in earnest now; clustering around the three music PAs, each playing a different rebellious song, so that standing in the middle I was getting a strange surroun d sound of buffalo soldiers, street fighting man and guns of brixton. Groups wer e sitting in circles, playing guitars or earnestly discussing ideology, pamphlet s in hand. Strolling around the square, I was fascinated by the symbols. There are elements from almost all popular uprisings for the last 40 years. Flowers stuck into fak e gun barrels and rainbows emblazoned with peace slogans exist side by side with anarchist/punk symbols and live streams, video messages and a twitter feed. The concept-box of history is once again delved into, re-appraised, re-interpreted and re-applied. Cast again in a new context, the past re-appears in a new guise, yet as a symbol no less potent for it. Around 2 a meeting was called at the main podium. A short declaration was given reiterating the ideas of non-violence and ideological tolerance, after which the speaker stepped down to open up the discussion to anyone wanting to say somethi ng. The speakers varied wildly from the slickly eloquent and alienatingly politi cian-esque to the incomprehensible mumblers. However, there were enough who expr essed real opinion, real intent sans political agenda that a glimmer of hope beg an to well up that this might indeed survive the pit falls which lie in wait for the unwary grassroots movement. These speakers all inevitably got the greatest applause, too. The announcement round was kept savvily short, ending with the ti me and place for the next discussion about a more permanent occupation. Although seemingly little had happened, I felt there was something momentous on the rise; even if only in hopeful potential. It seemed to me like there was much to be said and to be strived for; a feeling that we were standing on the edge o r at the cusp of something truly exciting. Perhaps the rush of historical symbol ism of it all was driving a strange high, but there is something undeniably raw and fresh about this. Here we are, standing up in a growing international outcry against a globalised enemy. We represent the first manifestation, the first sym ptoms, of a global popular movement against an intensely self-serving capitalism geared towards to the blind enrichment of a cynical plutocracy. The world seems to be blundering from one political and economic disaster to the next. Politicians around the globe appear to be more and more disconnected from reality, repeating the same press conference boilerplate each week to an increas ingly incredulous populace, so this is the inevitable result. People no longer b elieve what they are being told; the gap between speech and act is too great. The result has been this strange progeny from the unholy parenthood of the Arab

Spring and the Tea Party. Although both undoubtedly precursors, they differ grea tly in form and content. The Occupy movement is not a reaction against regional politics or national economics, it is primarily a reaction against global corpor ate capitalism and the global political elite supporting it. What it does share is the internet dimension as a horizontal structure and an agenda of discontent rather than demands. A clever marriage of the two could help it avoid the pitfal ls, especially in the case of the Tea Party: political hijacking through celebri ties and Big Money (see Koch Brothers and Michelle Bachmann). The point, however, lies in the vibrant difference. Beautifully akin to '68, it ma y have begun in the US but the Occupy movement is now undoubtedly global. Not on ly in the physical manifestation in form of real people on the ground, but in th eir program, their structure and their organisation. The idea is flooding the wo rld and erupting where its enemy gathers, in front of every central bank or parl iament's house in the developed world, tents are mushrooming out of the ground as the people coalesce in their discontent. The global situation has become so bad and so obvious that all but the most eremitic and the plutocratic feel, at the v ery least, that something has gone horribly wrong. The movement is equally witho ut hierarchy, dogmatic ideology or universalized demands. It remains to be seen if a concrete program or agenda crystalizes; these are but the early hours. It will be an interesting process as the group dynamic attempt s to deal with the need for identity and direction on the one hand and the desir e to avoid dogmatism, exclusion and `ideology' on the other. It remains also to be s een how globally co-ordinated such a process could become. The potential for suc h a development far exceeds that in '68. In the 60's the initial trigger was interna tional, but each movement developed specifically to the respective regional prob lematique. Now the problematique is globalized, as is the potential level of com munication and cooperation. With the advent of Social Media and the Online Commu nity, globalized corporate capitalism is facing a globalized opponent. The final, million dollar question which remains is the Occupy movement's likelyho od of any form of success. They are going up against a vast, political entrenche d and very rich opponent which will soon realise that it is fighting for its lif e. To quote one Guardian reporter, if the banks are too big to fail, are the Occu py protestors to small to succeed? It would seem very much like a David and Golia th scene, just without God's slingshot. Still, while Capitalism and its human mini ons are powerful, they are so in an increasingly archaic mode. The Occupy moveme nt, on the other hand, is yet scarcely dipping its toe in a very new, highly exp erimental and barely tested medium. Consider what the globalized world looked li ke 15 years ago, now ponder the result of another 5 years of such development. Corporate capitalism may have all the established power of the 20th century behi nd it, but it's up against the intensely creative and unpredictable force of the 2 1st. And on this note, I'm going to attempt some sleep. It's nearly 5am and there's is neit her food nor beer left. Discussion group on the Lindenhof tomorrow. 7pm. All are welcome.