When the Department of Homeland Security says anarchy works then we should take notice. A new study titled "The Resilient Social Network" praises Occupy Sandy, the fluid, grass-roots relief network that emerged following the devastation of Superstorm Sandy.
Michael Premo, a longtime activist and executive producer of Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary about the impact of Superstorm Sandy, explained "This is an acknowledgement of why [Homeland Security was] so paranoid about Occupy Wall Street in the first place. The federal government understands how powerful autonomously organized networks can be." One of the most complex issues that surfaced in the study is the concept of volunteer labor. "Overnight, a volunteer army of young, educated, tech-savvy individuals with time and a desire to help others emerged," the report relates. But quickly, the issue becomes embroiled in deeper concerns about social and economic inequality. "Occupy Sandy attracted a diverse range of volunteers, many from communities hit hard by the storm," the study observes. "Many were white, middle-class, and highly educated. Many were unemployed or underemployed and were eager to use their skills."
The report begins with an "Executive Summary" that trumpets the triumphs of Occupy Sandy: "In the days, weeks, and months that followed [Superstorm Sandy], 'Occupy Sandy' became one of the leading humanitarian groups providing relief to survivors across New York City and New Jersey. At its peak, it had grown to an estimated 60,000 volunteers." The summary concludes, "Unlike traditional disaster response organizations, there were no appointed leaders, no bureaucracy, no regulations to follow, no pre-defined mission, charter, or strategic plan. There was just relief." Among its main observations, the study lists five "Occupy Sandy Success Drivers," which include "the horizontal structure," and "social media as the primary means to attract and mobilize a large volunteer corps."
According to Tamara Shapiro, another activist both points were right, but with caveats.
"Especially in disaster response when you need to be agile and able to shift as information shifts, having a structurelessness to communications, or a way in which people can do what they see in front of them as very real needs without having to get permission, is critical," Shapiro said. "DHS taking notice that horizontality and a networked approach is effective in a crisis moment means that they could potentially use that for good. However, it could also mean that they will use it for bad. DHS has lots of arms, and clearly, disaster relief is only one."
The DHS report on Occupy Sandy found that fluid, horizontal structures were better able to support relief work for undocumented and immigrant populations than existing agencies. A survey by the nonprofit Make the Road New York found 78 percent of immigrants, documented or not, did not apply for disaster relief from the government. Said Michael Premo. "I saw an attempt to navigate that, but as long as there are immigration policies that are as aggressive as Obama's, any federal agency is not going to be supportive of undocumented people getting access to the services and the assistance that they need." When approached by undocumented people in need, Michael Premo observed FEMA's response: use the Social Security number of a family member who is documented to apply for aid. But in this scenario, the risks usually outweigh the benefits, and immigrants look for other options.
The study defines "mutual aid," a central concept to Occupy Sandy and Occupy Wall Street, as a kind of contractual exercise between communities, not unlike pledges of fealty in feudal societies. "When a larger need arises, most jurisdictions have the ability to call on neighboring communities for help, often through prearranged agreements, commonly referred to as mutual aid. ... Mutual aid often encompasses multiple types of agreements through which jurisdictions can request assistance from each other." A wikipedia search of "mutual aid" would have given the authors easy access to the organizational and political theories that underly the concept and this simple definition: "a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit."
According to the report, in the early stages of emergent response networks, the horizontal integration of organizers and volunteers occurs through social media. Over and over, the report emphasizes information sharing. Activists I spoke with saw problems in this approach.
"It wasn't just that the methods of communication were useful; it was that the information we were getting was useful, and then the methods of delivery were fast and effective," said Shapiro, who works with Interoccupy, one of the main communications tools used by Occupy Sandy. "What I see from big institutions like the Red Cross and FEMA and the city is they came into communities and said, 'We're here to help you.' Whereas we said, 'We're here to support you in helping each other.' I think that's a really big difference, and I think it made our information better. Information will always be better when it's based in community knowledge. "There were so many people who had no idea how to interact with FEMA despite FEMA's best efforts," Premo said. "We were able to communicate so much better with our communities because we realize how communities work."
There were limits to the mutual aid Occupy Sandy and communities could provide because volunteers needed to pursue employment to support themselves. "The extreme horizontalism that they look to in the report as an ideal was problematic," Pamela Brown said, an activist and co-author of "Shouldering the Costs,"Within the organizing structure, people did emerge as regular volunteers and leaders, but they didn't have work. So at some point, either they had to find work or they had to advocate to be paid for the work that they were doing that they felt was valuable through stipend." This model for a volunteer organization is inherently unsustainable if volunteers lack political solidarity. The economic system that creates a surplus of skilled workers also takes them away and forces them to labor for wages.
Taken from the Truth Out website here
Michael Premo, a longtime activist and executive producer of Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary about the impact of Superstorm Sandy, explained "This is an acknowledgement of why [Homeland Security was] so paranoid about Occupy Wall Street in the first place. The federal government understands how powerful autonomously organized networks can be." One of the most complex issues that surfaced in the study is the concept of volunteer labor. "Overnight, a volunteer army of young, educated, tech-savvy individuals with time and a desire to help others emerged," the report relates. But quickly, the issue becomes embroiled in deeper concerns about social and economic inequality. "Occupy Sandy attracted a diverse range of volunteers, many from communities hit hard by the storm," the study observes. "Many were white, middle-class, and highly educated. Many were unemployed or underemployed and were eager to use their skills."
The report begins with an "Executive Summary" that trumpets the triumphs of Occupy Sandy: "In the days, weeks, and months that followed [Superstorm Sandy], 'Occupy Sandy' became one of the leading humanitarian groups providing relief to survivors across New York City and New Jersey. At its peak, it had grown to an estimated 60,000 volunteers." The summary concludes, "Unlike traditional disaster response organizations, there were no appointed leaders, no bureaucracy, no regulations to follow, no pre-defined mission, charter, or strategic plan. There was just relief." Among its main observations, the study lists five "Occupy Sandy Success Drivers," which include "the horizontal structure," and "social media as the primary means to attract and mobilize a large volunteer corps."
According to Tamara Shapiro, another activist both points were right, but with caveats.
"Especially in disaster response when you need to be agile and able to shift as information shifts, having a structurelessness to communications, or a way in which people can do what they see in front of them as very real needs without having to get permission, is critical," Shapiro said. "DHS taking notice that horizontality and a networked approach is effective in a crisis moment means that they could potentially use that for good. However, it could also mean that they will use it for bad. DHS has lots of arms, and clearly, disaster relief is only one."
The DHS report on Occupy Sandy found that fluid, horizontal structures were better able to support relief work for undocumented and immigrant populations than existing agencies. A survey by the nonprofit Make the Road New York found 78 percent of immigrants, documented or not, did not apply for disaster relief from the government. Said Michael Premo. "I saw an attempt to navigate that, but as long as there are immigration policies that are as aggressive as Obama's, any federal agency is not going to be supportive of undocumented people getting access to the services and the assistance that they need." When approached by undocumented people in need, Michael Premo observed FEMA's response: use the Social Security number of a family member who is documented to apply for aid. But in this scenario, the risks usually outweigh the benefits, and immigrants look for other options.
The study defines "mutual aid," a central concept to Occupy Sandy and Occupy Wall Street, as a kind of contractual exercise between communities, not unlike pledges of fealty in feudal societies. "When a larger need arises, most jurisdictions have the ability to call on neighboring communities for help, often through prearranged agreements, commonly referred to as mutual aid. ... Mutual aid often encompasses multiple types of agreements through which jurisdictions can request assistance from each other." A wikipedia search of "mutual aid" would have given the authors easy access to the organizational and political theories that underly the concept and this simple definition: "a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit."
According to the report, in the early stages of emergent response networks, the horizontal integration of organizers and volunteers occurs through social media. Over and over, the report emphasizes information sharing. Activists I spoke with saw problems in this approach.
"It wasn't just that the methods of communication were useful; it was that the information we were getting was useful, and then the methods of delivery were fast and effective," said Shapiro, who works with Interoccupy, one of the main communications tools used by Occupy Sandy. "What I see from big institutions like the Red Cross and FEMA and the city is they came into communities and said, 'We're here to help you.' Whereas we said, 'We're here to support you in helping each other.' I think that's a really big difference, and I think it made our information better. Information will always be better when it's based in community knowledge. "There were so many people who had no idea how to interact with FEMA despite FEMA's best efforts," Premo said. "We were able to communicate so much better with our communities because we realize how communities work."
There were limits to the mutual aid Occupy Sandy and communities could provide because volunteers needed to pursue employment to support themselves. "The extreme horizontalism that they look to in the report as an ideal was problematic," Pamela Brown said, an activist and co-author of "Shouldering the Costs,"Within the organizing structure, people did emerge as regular volunteers and leaders, but they didn't have work. So at some point, either they had to find work or they had to advocate to be paid for the work that they were doing that they felt was valuable through stipend." This model for a volunteer organization is inherently unsustainable if volunteers lack political solidarity. The economic system that creates a surplus of skilled workers also takes them away and forces them to labor for wages.
Taken from the Truth Out website here
1 comment:
Another article on Occupy Sandy and anarchism
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/22880-occupy-sandy-and-the-future-of-socialism
"perhaps horizontalist socialism will supplant ideologies that have long relied on the downtrodden swallowing vague promises about eventual peerage in the Kingdom of Heaven."
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