Occupy: Neoliberalism Analysis

The signature Occupy tactic of ‘the people’s microphone’ perfectly exemplifies the movement’s rejection of leadership and its concomitant practices. Owing initially to the fact that any form of electronic amplification was strictly banned in Zuccotti Park, speakers expressed their thoughts and concerns by articulating in snippets, which then had to be repeated by the entire crowd. What was born out of necessity soon turned into a central feature of Occupy camps across the world (Costanza-Chock, 2012, 381). Movement organisers have noted that such a mechanism creates “a powerful sense of the collective through shared speech”, engendering a more profound sense of belonging than passive participation. Moreover, such tactics encouraged members …show more content…
In virtue of the fact that the movement levelled a systemic critique at neoliberalism and the hypocrisy of representative democracy in its current state, it may be asserted that the movement can be branded a ‘failure’ due to its inability to incite a revolution, or to overthrow neoliberal capitalism. Yet to simply reject the movement as unsuccessful would be to ignore the point that the movement was primarily a cultural one, whose key focus lay not upon achieving specific policy aims, but instead on opening up a realm of political discourse whereby systemic critiques could become a part of mainstream dialogue and thereby infiltrate mainstream culture (Gamson, 2012, …show more content…
In drawing attention to the severity of structural injustice and framing it in simplistic terms of the oppressed minority and oppressive financial and political elite, Occupy initiated important discussions of our social system which continue to hold purchase today. However, by refusing to articulate specific demands or to offer a credible alternative, the movement also found itself vulnerable to criticism from those seeking answers rather than merely questions regarding the shortfalls of neoliberalism and its seemingly impermeable economic structures. Indeed, whilst it is important not to perceive a movement openly lacking in answers what it did possess in enthusiasm in too idealistic a light, it did serve the important purpose of raising awareness of structural inequality at precisely a moment in time when austerity measures hold more force than ever before in recent memory (Ng and Khan, 2012, 272). Whilst the camps lasted mere months, the legacy of Occupy continues, with its calls for each and every member of the international community to stand up and be counted holding as much urgency today as on the 17th of September 2011, when the flames of the movement were