Occupy Wall Street

Abstract

The political commitments that arise out of the theological thinking developed in earlier chapters find their application in the event of Occupy Wall Street. The first part of the chapter details the events and conditions of late 2010 and the first half of 2011 that led up to the occupation of Zuccotti Park on September 17, 2011. Included are the Arab Spring, the Wisconsin State House takeover, and the 15-M Movement in Spain. The next part examines Slavoj Žižek’s claim that Occupy is the Holy Spirit by using theology as a method to interpret the general structure and quality of Occupy Wall Street. Occupy’s modeling of social relations differently––specifically through anarchic modes of organization and participatory democracy. The third part examines Occupy Wall Street’s refusal to make concrete demands through a methodological transposition that attempts to think of Occupy as politically apophatic.