We’re thrilled to bring you Episode 61 of Krystal Kyle & Friends, with our special guest Michael Levitin. You know Michael from his book Generation Occupy, a look at how, ten years down the road, the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to resonate through contemporary politics and shape the way we think about leftist collective action. With Michael joining the conversation, we’re talking about protests past and present, from his insight on Occupy to his thoughts on the truckers’ protests in Ottawa, Canada. Watch below:
The “million-dollar question” on the table, according to Michael, is how the Occupy ethos — rejecting corporatist obstruction of the people’s agenda — can galvanize American leftists looking to take on the current corporate henchmen of the Democratic Party. We know that policies like Medicare for All are widely popular, but candidates bringing them to the table face serious setbacks from the party. How can we achieve Occupy-style social reform with this set of Manchin-style elites in our way?
Michael’s answer is that it’s hard to see a way out of the bind we’re in without a mass populist movement — one that can demand the political changes we so desperately need to see, rather than asking politely for them and being rebuffed by Democrats and Republicans alike. In our conversation and in Michael’s book, it’s clear that Occupy set the tone for a decade of thinking in terms of the 1% versus the 99% — and directly addressing the antagonistic, exploitative relationship between these two groups. Now, after the Sanders campaigns made the framing of class struggle even more explicit and the policy goals even clearer, leftists have the opportunity to build upon Occupy’s legacy and elaborate on its original vision. But it’ll take all of us coming together to achieve this goal.
