Thirteen years ago today, a thousand demonstrators descended on Wall Street, occupying Zuccotti Park and kicking off what came to be known as the Occupy movement. Revisiting that moment, we can see how dramatically the terrain of social movements has changed as our society has polarized. The organizers of Occupy Wall Street proposed to create a movement that could bring all society together against the ruling order and the few who profit from it, mobilizing under the slogan “We are the 99%.” Today, the divisions that cut through our society have only deepened, rendering it more difficult to imagine social change. Now, the capitalist order is not stabilized by the illusion of general consent, but rather by the looming threat of violent conflict. Yet if anything, this only renders it more important to learn from and experiment with the legacy of the Occupy movement today.

CrimethInc.

Reflecting on Occupy Wall Street, Thirteen Years Later

Revisiting the Occupy movement today, we can see how dramatically the terrain of social movements has changed as our society has polarized.

As the news cycle focuses on the latest apparent assassination attempt, the real story here is that arms profiteers have flooded the United States with weapons—while social crises have intensified—to such an extent that even billionaires like Donald Trump are experiencing the consequences. There have already been hundreds of mass shootings in the United States in 2024. Trump is just getting a small taste of how the rest of us live. The difference is that the rest of us don't have the Secret Service and millions of dollars in security to protect us. As usual, the ruling class create a threat to us, profit on it, then pretend to be the chief victims. The solution is not more police repression, nor more state-imposed gun control (since that would only be enforced via more police violence). We have to organize collectively and horizontally to defend ourselves against arms profiteers, police, and politicians.

CrimethInc.

Their Guns Won't Protect You, but They Can Get You Killed

Neither Republican calls for more policing nor Democrat demands for more gun control can put an end to the epidemic of mass shootings in the US.

The attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 left much of the US population more stunned than bellicose. Yet politicians had prepared a flood of new legislation and military interventions in advance for precisely such an opportunity. They initiated a new round of colonial wars and crackdowns on domestic dissent. More than a million people died as a consequence of the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the resulting turmoil. The rise of the Islamic State and, later, the disorganized withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan showed how little these operations achieved their professed objectives. Yet by creating this disaster, George W. Bush managed to ride the coattails of war to another term as president. Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli government has pursued a similar course, taking advantage of the opportunity to destroy Gaza and butcher tens of thousands of Palestinians. This will not make anyone safer in the region—neither Palestinians nor Israelis nor anyone else. It is calculated to create an ongoing crisis that will keep the most chauvinistic Israeli politicians in power at everyone else's expense. Today as in 2001, our leaders will not protect us, but they can get us killed. Stop the genocide in Palestine.

The French 9/11

A dialogue with the French news source Lundimatin about the Terror War, state security, and what the aftermath of September 11 can teach people in ...

In 1930, the German state of Thuringia was the first in which the Nazi Party won the elections. This week, the fascist party Alternative für Deutschland won the highest number of votes in Thuringia. The resurgence of fascism in Germany is reflected in a wave of Nazi street violence around the country. Around the world, neoliberal regimes have brutally repressed anti-capitalist movements, creating a situation in which fascists can pretend to represent the only alternative. Fascism will continue to gain momentum until we create grassroots movements that can crush it while addressing the problems capitalism creates. Background:

CrimethInc.

Germany: In the Streets against Fascism, Again

Anti-fascists explore the recent rise of fascist politics in Germany and the potential of the current street mobilizations against it.

In their coverage of the Democratic National Convention, the New York Times reports that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Kamala Harris represents the "working class." Actually, AOC said "middle class." Let's unpack this little error. When she entered Congress, AOC was a "democratic socialist." It only took a couple years for her to come around to using the same rhetoric as other politicians. This apparently took even the New York Times by surprise. One of the chief forces protecting capitalism in the United States is that so many workers identify as middle class despite having no prospect of owning their own homes or retiring comfortably. There is a vast gulf in standard of living between a doctor and a barista. Politicians and journalists do their best to obscure these differences. We're all supposed to think of ourselves as being somewhere in the middle. But if you consult the data, the majority of us are struggling while a small middle class and a very small ruling class make out at our expense. As long as we put our faith in politicians, however "democratic" or "socialist" they claim to be, we will always end up being betrayed. We have to build powerful grassroots movements against capitalism itself—understanding ourselves as the protagonists, not politicians. crimethinc.com/antiwork

Charlottesville Revisited—2017 to 2024 A review of the resistance to the "Unite the Right" rally, drawing on the recollections of some of those who were on the front lines.

CrimethInc.

Charlottesville, Revisited—2017 to 2024

Seven years ago, anarchists and other anti-fascists converged in Charlottesville, Virginia to oppose the “Unite the Right” rally. A retrospective.

Seven years ago, anti-fascists converged in Charlottesville, Virginia to oppose the “Unite the Right” rally, which brought together Klansmen, neo-Nazis, far-right militias, and fascists from the so-called “alt-right” aiming to build a unified white supremacist movement. A few hundred brave people set out to stop them. The anti-fascists were outnumbered, underprepared, and terrified. It’s important to remember this today—first, because the Trump era still isn't over. As exhausting and demoralizing as it is, we still face the same threats and challenges we confronted seven years ago, and the outcome remains as uncertain today as it was then. Revisiting these events illuminates the stakes of the struggles before us now. At the same time, the outcome of the events in Charlottesville shows how much a small number of courageous people can accomplish by putting their lives on the line when it counts, even when victory seems impossible.