ABSTRACT
The chapter argues that the street, the urban street, as public space is to be differentiated from the classic European notion of more ritualized spaces for public activity, with the piazza and the boulevard the emblematic European instances. It examines the strengthening of anti democratic forces deep inside the neoliberal state with the rise of global corporate capitalism. Today's political practices, the chapter argues, have to do with the production of "presence" by those without power, a politics that claims rights to the city and to the state rather than protection of property. It proposes that the deployment of anti terrorism units to contest a peaceful social movement on native soil is yet another material step in this process. It explores the role communication technologies have to play. Finally, the chapter looks at how Occupy Wall Street shows us the limits of superior armed force but also the anti democratic character of the neoliberal state.
