Dispatches from the Occupation: A History of Change

by Stephen Collis

Somewhere at the core of almost every intellectual discipline is an attempt to explain change - why and how things "change," and how we negotiate these transformations. These are among the most ancient of philosophical questions. In this collection of essays, award-winning poet Stephen Collis investigates how the Occupy movement grapples with these questions as it once again takes up the cause of social, economic, and political "change.""Dispatches from the Occupation" opens with a meditation on the Occupy movement and its place in the history of recent social movements. Strategies, tactics, and the experiments with participatory democracy and direct action are carefully parsed and explained. How a movement for social, economic, and political change emerges, and how it might be sustained, are at the heart of this exploration.Comprising the second section of the book is a series of "dispatches" from the day-to-day unfolding of the occupation in Vancouver's city centre as the author witnessed it - and participated in it - first short manifestos, theoretical musings, and utopian proposals. The global Occupy movement has only just begun, and as such this book presents an important first report from the frontlines.Finally, "Dispatches from the Occupation" closes with a reflection on the city of Rome, written in the shadows of the Pantheon (the oldest continually-in-use building in the world). In something of a long prose-poem, Collis traces the trope of Rome as the "eternal (unchanging?) city," from its imperial past (as one of the "cradles of civilization") to the rebirth of Roman republicanism during the French Revolution and the era of modern social movements - right up to the explosive riots of October 2011. Woven throughout is the story of the idea of change as it moves through intellectual history.

Genres: Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

First published September 11, 2012

Reviews

[Mike Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a difficult book to evaluate. The author is a professor of contemporary literature and an activist who participated in the Vancouver Occupation of 2011. The book is a collection of short writings that follow the motivation for the occupation movements, not only Vancouver but also Wall Street and other demonstrations in protest of what the author argues are our deteriorating governmental and ecological systems. It is written with academic precision and appropriate annotations and references.

Ultimately, the argument is in favor of civilian demonstrations to voice concern and outrage at increasing income gaps between the "1% and the 99%," and the methods of economic and governmental control that continue to cause such inequities. It is an indictment against capitalism in its most ruthless and hence self-destructive form, and an argument for protest of selfish control by the 1%.

My rating is based on the quality and thoroughness of the writing, not specifically on the validity of the author's argument. Three stars. Hard core conservatives would rate it one, socialists would rate it five.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always curious to discover that what you think is probably your own, relatively isolated experience and hodge-podge intellectual disposition is, in fact, emblematic of a widespread form of subjectivity.

Which is a fancy way of saying that it seems like Collis and I read a lot of the same books, and I agreed with both many of his thoughts and the way in which he expresses them.