Occupying Power: Strategies for Change in Occupy London

Occupy London came to life on October 15th, 2011, part of a global day of occupations, and represents one of the longest standing protest camps from the Occupy movement. Many have commented on the autonomist and anarchist practices that underlie Occupy, such as consensus decision-making, suggesting that the movement rejects strategies of taking power through the state and is instead focused on building autonomy and alternative forms of power. Drawing on our empirical research, including ethnography, interviews and discourse analysis, this chapter explores in more detail the different ways in which the movement sought to ‘Occupy’ power, by focusing on two sets of practices within our case study in London. Firstly, we explore the ways in which Occupy London engaged with the state, through participating in the legal action taken against the camp and through the issuing of demands, examining the tensions of working with and against the state’s legal-institutional apparatuses. Secondly, we shift our attention to the myriad ways Occupy London constituted itself beyond the state, creating its own territoriality and set of institutions. This opens up another set of tensions between those who see horizontal forms of organising as a process for creating an anti-power, and those who see horizontality as a means of institutionalising new forms of constituent power. By exploring these strategies for change, we bring together debates from within the Occupy movement with more longstanding theoretical debates about the nature of power and radical social change.