"From the co-creator of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a refreshing manifesto that inaugurates the future of social activism and the end of protest as you know it. Intellectually ambitious and spiritually compelling, The End of Protest will be the most talked-about non-fiction book in 2016. Activism is broken. In recent years we have witnessed the largest protests in human history. And yet these mass mobilizations no longer change society. Now protest is at a crossroads: innovation or irrelevance. Drawing on his unique experience as a founder of Occupy Wall Street, in his first book, The End of Protest, Micah White explores the theory, tactics and principles of social change. Sweeping from contemporary uprisings to pre-modern paradigm shifts such as the conversion of Constantine that ushered in the Christianization of Western Civilization, The End of Protest is a far-reaching inquiry into the miraculous power of collective epiphanies. Despite the challenges facing humanity, White finds reason for optimism: the end of protest is the start of a new era of change. Occupy Wall Street was a constructive failure that exposed the limits of activism at the same time as it revealed a practical way forward. On the horizon are increasingly sophisticated global movements that will emerge in a bid to win power, govern cities and reorient the way we live. The End of Protest is an exhilarating vision of an all-encompassing revolution."-- Provided by publisher.
Table of Contents
Preface 1 (4)
A wild wish
951 Occupations, eighty-two countries
Political miracle
Normalcy returns
Edward Snowden on Occupy
Police counter-tactics
Outdated rituals
Protest is broken
Let's fix activism
Introduction: You Are Needed 5 (4)
The protest to end all protests
A tool for social transformation
For those who fear revolution
You are needed
Dissent is productive
PART ONE TODAY
1 The Birth Of Occupy
9 (15)
Setting the stage
Largest protests in history
Mohamed Bouazizi
Arab Spring
Tahrir Square
Acampadas in Spain
Carnivalesque Rebellion
Student occupations
#Occupywallstreet
Tactical briefing
Bring tent
The first tweet
Anonymous
Zuccotti
Beautiful event
Two flukes
2 A Constructive Failure
24 (5)
Innovative tactics
Unquestioned assumptions
False theory of change
Failure is a springboard
3 The Lost Moment
29 (5)
Winter is coming
Mood shifting
Death, disease, drugs
Paramilitary raid
Zuccotti is lost
Coordinated evictions
Occupiers plea with the president
The end
4 The End Of Protest
34 (10)
The end is a new beginning
Nearly perfect movement
Police repression
Governments ignore protests
Colour revolutions
Democracy
negated
Occupy tested all our hypotheses
Reinventing activism
Paradigm shift
No more marches
Stop repeating tactics
The future of social change
Metanoia
5 I Am An Activist
44 (8)
My early protests
Pledge of allegiance
Underground newspaper
Atheist club
Drug testing
Snake march
Electronic civil disobedience
Commitment to experimentation
6 The Point Of Protest
52 (17)
Social technique of collective liberation
Rudolf Eucken on aktivismus
Why activism?
Productive role of protest
The history of democracy is the history of revolution
The four human wishes
What is revolution?
Obey just laws; disobey unjust laws
What is protest?
Collective ritual
The spectrum of protest
Collective behaviour paradigm
A conscious strategy
Breaking the script of protest
Vectors of transmission
Willing historical moment
7 A Unified Theory Of Revolution
69 (38)
Parable of the three pigeons
The axes of revolution
A unified theory is not an eternal theory
Two layers of reality
Kairos and chronos
The four theories
Voluntarism
On direct action, violence and performance
Structuralism
Revolutions are not made
The impact of food prices
Fooled by randomness
The upside
Subjectivism
Change your mind; change the world
Emotional contagion
Theurgism
Divine intervention
We need mystery
Ascension of an activist
PART TWO YESTERDAY
8 The Recent Past Of Protest
107 (35)
Wake up!
The Dialogue of Ipuwer
Protest is war by other means
Tactical arms race
People's Party
Syriza, Podemos and the Five Star Movement
Debt
Inventing a new tactic
Occupy
Horizontalism and leaderlessness
Global March
February 15, 2003
Human Shield
Inside the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine
9 The Distant Past Of Protest
142 (25)
An eternal force
Ghost Dance
The prophecy of Wovoka
Wounded Knee massacre
Riot
Nika Revolt unites Blue and Green
Epiphany
Conversion of Constantine
Chi Rho and the cross in the sky
Ambush
Arminius and the greatest protest in history
PART THREE TOMORROW
10 Mental Environmentalism
167 (16)
Brainwashed at the laundromat
Commercial propaganda
Our double-bind
Advertising captures the Internet
Naming calls into being
Spirit and creativity
Post-environmentalism
The catastrophe has already happened
Universal struggle
The differend
Silent Spring
A fable for tomorrow
Eco-fascism
11 The Future Of Protest
183 (9)
A breakthrough in warfare
Sargon of Akkad
Real-time tactical innovation
Speed
Fast future
Time niches
Ultrafast extreme events
Temporal arbitage
Slow future
Three-generation perspective
Deep time
Slow memes, complex behaviours
12 Three Scenarios For The Next Revolutionary Moment
192 (15)
Always a surprise
Rural revolt
Cascadia
Digital populism
Nehalem
Sovereignty and self-governance
World Party
Matriarchy
Mundialization
Winning elections worldwide
Unity, Liberty, Mutual Aid
Protest bot
Automating social movement creation
Super-intelligent machines
Computer-assisted revolution
13 We Innovate, We Win
207 (13)
How the weak win wars
Detachment
Try, fail, try again
Odds of revolution
Overcoming fear
Risk of ruin
Moral and ethical dilemmas
Justice
Legitimacy
Civil war
Magical thinking
Political and social revolution
Decisive accidents
Heroism, not coercion
Meme war
Clicktivism
Metrics are lying
14 Eight Principles Of Revolution
220 (21)
Twenty-eight days
Innovate
Spirit
Death blow
Constraint
Wobble
Transposition
Edge
CONCLUSION
15 Political Miracle
241 (13)
Activism at a crossroads
Spiritual insurrection
Reorientation
Our power
Lesson of Kronstadt
Rebirth of history
99%
Authority
Social mobilization
Conquer the world
Beware of front groups
Dark side of protest
Open vs. closed movements
Sybil attack
St. Paul's advice
CIA on campus
State secrets
Purpose of front groups
Signs you've been recruited
Follow your heart
16 Prophecy Of Protest
254 (9)
Glad tidings
Good times
Humanity is evolving
Come as you are
Multi-generational struggle
Necessity of rebirth
Revolution through revelation
Global sovereignty
Spiritual revolution, political revolution, social revolution
Final word to the ones to come
Acknowledgements 263 (2)
Reading List 265 (12)
Image Credits 277 (1)
Endnotes 278 (14)
Index 292