If We Burn: Mass Protest and Political Strategy for the 21st Century

What can the last fifteen years of worldwide mass protests teach us about strategy and organization for socialism? Street protests and organizing from Seattle WTO to Occupy and on to George Floyd Black Lives Matter demonstrated new tactics, new generations of activists, and new lessons about the future. Likewise, worldwide protests from the Arab Spring to Latin America, Europe, and Hong Kong also struck hard and have brought many important lessons. Join us for reading and discussion probing three connected themes:

• Mass street protest since Occupy. We will analyze the rich legacy of largely leaderless mass mobilizations as well as new labor struggles, locally and globally, over the last fifteen years.
• Crowdsourcing the Revolution: Digital possibilities, real-world limitations in networked movements. How has digital communications media changed the organizing landscape since the Arab Spring? A critical assessment of the politics and practicalities of digital networking and communication for effective political strategies.
• From mass mobilization to accumulating power against capitalism: new long-term strategy for socialism. What remains important and what has changed in connecting strategy and organization?

Readings will include selections from newly published analyses of and theoretical reflection on recent struggles in the United States and globally:

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, by Vincent Bevins (PublicAffairsBooks)
Twitter and Tear Gas:  The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, by Zeynap Tufekci (Yale)
Communism and Strategy: Rethinking Political Mediations, by Isabelle Garo (Verso)
Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization, by Rodrigo Nunes (Verso)

Bringing direct experience from Brazil, France, Turkey, and the United States, these authors invite reconsideration of political and organizational strategy in light of the worldwide extent of recent struggles. We will make this a new, collaborative exercise and add related readings, multimedia, and possibly guest talks suggested by participants in the reading group.

Tuesdays, at 6:30 pm EST; Winter series ends April 30; RSVP for information about coming Spring series.
Photos: Occupy Wall Street, 1 year later (credit Glenn Halog: 2012); Black Lives Matter (credit: Taymaz Valley 2020)

Convened by Steve Backman and Rebecca Minnich