Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations by Jules Evans

Author:Jules Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608682300
Publisher: New World Library

LATE-AFTERNOON SESSION

Politics

9. Diogenes and the Art of Anarchy

IN FRONT OF THE SOLEMN PILLARS of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a multicolored mushroom patch of tents has sprouted. Businessmen hurrying to the London Stock Exchange ignore the signs covering the columns of Paternoster Square: “The beginning is nigh,” “Say no to usury,” “Kill the policeman in your head,” “We are fantasy.” There’s a man in medieval armor and a Guy Fawkes mask clanking around the tents. Another is carrying a large plastic skull and a banner saying “Dance on the grave of capitalism.” Several people are dressed as zombies (it is Halloween) and are practicing the jerking shuffle of the undead. There’s a food tent, a “tranquillity center,” a makeshift cinema, and a “tent city university” with a full schedule of daily workshops on everything from meditation to well-being economics. This, of course, is the Occupy London camp, or #occupylsx as it’s known on Twitter, one of several anarchist occupations that appeared at the end of 2011 like an outbreak of boils on the face of global capitalism. Mainstream media commentators looked on in scorn, then in wonder, then in genuine confusion: “Who are they? What do they want? What are their demands?”

Perhaps the Occupiers weren’t demanding anything, exactly. They were exhibiting. They were living and acting out an alternative vision of society on the streets of New York, London, Bristol, Berlin, Oakland, and elsewhere. The camps were an anarchist version of the Ideal Home Show. They exhibited a communal way of life that tries to abolish authoritarianism and enhance participation. “Come and see what real democracy looks like,” one of the London banners said. Every few hours, the Occupiers held a general assembly on the steps of St. Paul’s: someone took to the microphone to express a point of view, then the assembly broke into small groups to discuss the idea, then feed their opinions back. The Occupiers expressed their sentiments through a common language of hand signals — jazz hands expresses consent, a T gesture means you have a technical point, crossed wrists means you block the vote. The Occupiers were exhibiting an economic system based on sharing and gifts rather than property and capital. They were exhibiting a lifestyle based on imagination, satire, and play, rather than lives spent sitting at a desk watching the clock. And they tried to show how little one needs to be happy: a piece of pavement, a tent, a sleeping bag, and some friends. How’s that for austerity measures?

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