Institutional Liberation
11.30.2016
Collectives concerned with fossil fuels, labor, and decolonization are deploying institutions as targets and resources for radical political practice....
Essays & Writing
Not An Alternative produces original essays on contemporary issues and themes at the intersection of art, activism and theory. Below are select writings, originally featured in E-Flux, Creative Time Reports, The Guardian, Chto Delat, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, ROAR Magazine, and other platforms.
Occupy the Party
2.20.2016
Instead of treating the Democratic Party as some kind of authority with the power to co-opt our message, we should treat it like any street or park and occupy it....
The Limits of Neutrality
12.21.2015
"Neutrality is a political category, one that hides from view the alternatives against which it is defined." Op-ed in The Guardian by members of Not An Alternative. ...
Counter-Power as Common Power: Beyond Horizontalism
6.6.2014
Occupy was powerful not because of its consensus decision-making processes but because of its participants’ collective commitment to a shared idea....
Occupy: The Name in Common
9.17.2012
Many of us long dreamed of creating a political form (a common) that could be adopted and adapted, that would circulate and inspire, in a protean, expressive, horizontal fashion. We imagined a politics capable of exceeding the confines of issues and identities. With Occupy, we...
Occupy Wall Street and the Politics of Representation
3.19.2012
Debates over demands, tactics, and the ninety-nine percent have featured prominently in Occupy Wall Street since the movement’s inception. Underpinning these debates is the question of representation. What does the movement represent and to whom?...
The Limits of Collaboration
5.14.2010
The fantasy of participation is a powerful one, postulating, as it does, the invitation and inclusion of everyone, everywhere....