The transformation of the Occusphere

ABSTRACT

Between September and November 2011, the Occupy Wall Street protest encampment in New York captured the public imagination worldwide and generated similar events in hundreds of urban spaces. Even after riot police evicted the occupations, the Occupy social movement continued to confront political authority over questions of inequality, and it remains active both online and at diverse protest events. However, beyond the social movement there has been a growth of related anti-capitalist politics. The Occusphere is constituted by the totality of Occupy-inspired activity on the internet and in social networks, and in the larger area of political ideas. This study explores the Occusphere as an expanding zone of densely interlinked anti-capitalist politics with three modes of existence – urban spaces, virtual electronic spaces, and intellectual spaces.