Why Occupy Wall Street is doomed to failure

In the not-too-distant past those who were serious about social change recognized that even degrees of change that fell well short of "revolution" required many years of committed action, education, activism, and organizing. That's an aspect of OWS that is nowhere in evidence.


While we saw impressive numbers in Tahrir Square many of those numbers are attributable to the social media aspect of the uprising. On the one hand the mainstream media were correct in labelling Arab Spring the Twitter or Facebook Revolution, but ultimately Arab Spring has gone nowhere for the same reasons that Occupy won't; it's possible to bring a flash mob together around practically any slogan, from "down with Mubarak" to "down with Goldman Sachs" to "lets rip off the 7-11", but once the mob disperses, there is no grass-roots organization that has done the leg-work required to provide a sustained and coherent opposition to the ruling elite.


When you watch the Occupiers dancing around their campfires you are immediately aware of two realities. One, there is a genuine counter-culture vibe at work here, and that's a beautiful thing.


Secondly, these people couldn't organize a two-car train, let alone a revolution. Revolutions aren't built around social media, although uprisings might be. If you want real change you have to be willing to make sacrifices and be committed over the long term.


But it's a start.