OCCUPY EVERYTHING

Future of the Public School

the editors — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:08:54 +0000

The destiny of social movements is to change the structure of human relations -- so be careful what you ask for! This class aims to look at the cultural roots of the current university crisis, and in that light, to explore the role that experiments like The Public School could play in re-imagining education. The class will be discussion based and can be expanded/completed/reoriented by other inputs. It will take place September 4-5.

Loren Goldner in LA & SF

the editors — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:59:19 +0000

That world capitalism is in a profound crisis is no secret, especially in hard-hit areas such as California. But a radical response requires an understanding of the deep, "epochal" causes of the crisis, beyond now-mainstream banter about financialization or sub-prime or Wall Street bailouts and bonuses. What has happened since 2008 is merely an acceleration of the "slow motion" crisis that has been with us in reality since the late 1960's/early 1970's. The crisis is global, and the response to it must ultimately be global.

Interview with Brian Holmes: Steps Toward a Cultural Strategy

Michael Wilson — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:49:51 +0000

An economic collapse can set off the dynamics of resentment, it's been seen before. But the key is to find the affective nexus where resentment and authoritarianism spring, and to offer some different resolution, a kind of constructive play – far away from standards and discipline.

On Not Allowing the Dead to Work, or Fight Firing with Firing

the editors — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:44:22 +0000

A conversation about getting fired, losing a job, and the implications and hidden potentialities of unemployment moderated by Michael Wilson as part of an installation and event series by Liz Glynn.

FAULT LINES & SUBDUCTION ZONES: The Slow-Motion Crisis of Global Capital

Brian Holmes — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:13:12 +0000

The housing-price collapse of 2008, the credit crunch, the bank failures, the downswing of the world economy, the fiscal crisis of the sovereign states, all have been expressed as wild gyrations in the global circulation of information, attention, emotion. Everything undergoes tremendous acceleration at the crucial moments, before the wave recedes into a blur. We are sure that beneath the surface agitation, something has really changed. Yet people find their surrounding environments exactly the same; while world leaders call for just one thing, a return to normal.

COME ON, COGNITARIANS: One more effort if you want some equality

Brian Holmes — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:50:51 +0000

Amid the bewildering complexity of the predatory knowledge economy, what's missing is an active egalitarian and ecological critique of the owning and managing classes, a critique that does not remain locked away in the university but reaches out to the rest of society. That's what we can build in the wake of the budgetary crisis, now that the new lines of inclusion and exclusion have been drawn and the writing on the wall is legible to practically everyone.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Organizing Inland

the editors — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:10:53 +0000

The Inland Empire has emerged as an epicenter for the relentless growth/crash dynamic of global capitalism - forcing workers out of jobs, families out of homes and students out of school. This massive displacement is the context for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Organizing Inland.

Boggs, Wallerstein on Detroit, Movements, and Systems

the editors — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:17:47 +0000

Frank Edwards | AreaChicago – It was truly an honor to be witness to a conversation between Grace Lee Boggs and Immanuel Wallerstein this morning at the Social Forum. I recorded audio (available for download here), and jotted down a few notes that I'd love to share. I know I will listen to this conversation again soon, and hope to spend some more time when things are less hectic reflecting on their words and observations.

Report Back: The US Social Forum Detroit 2010

Brian Holmes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:46:38 +0000

It was June 22 in the hot afternoon and there were thousands of people in the streets, people singing, people joyful, people angry, people with signs, with banners, with costumes, people giving you fliers and newspapers and petitions, people who cared enough to go out and let everyone know that we still have the right to assemble in public. But where, I kept wondering, were the usual wall-to-wall cops with their truncheons and tear gas and sound guns and dozens of less-lethal weapons?

Occupying Editor 01: Brian Holmes

the editors — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:22:12 +0000

For the next few weeks, this site will be occupied by Brian Holmes. A member of the editorial collective of the French journal Multitudes from 2003 to 2008, he is the author of Unleashing the Collective Phantoms: Essays in Reverse Imagineering and Escape the Overcode: Activist Art in the Control Society. Holmes was awarded the Vilém Flusser Prize for Theory at Transmediale in Berlin in 2009. He holds a doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of California at Berkeley.