Occupy—The End of the Affair

Abstract

This is a first person account of my time at one of the Occupy camps that sprung up around the UK in November 2011. It is, of course, only a personal and subjective account. I try to give a feel for what it was like to live through it. I describe the hope and potential which seemed to be there at the start, the difficulty of effective action in that environment, the problems caused by substance abuse, differing views of the movement's aims, misogyny and a failure to address women's issues (within a movement that was ostensibly about all of the 99%), and the acrimonious breakdown it ended in.

Notes

For the reasons explained in this Profile piece, the author wishes to remain anonymous.