ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 2011, a new form of protest began to be performed around the globe. It did not communicate a coherent ‘message’, nor did it initiate any widespread disorder. It did not pronounce its duration and politely go home after an acceptable period, nor did it summarise its demands in the form of easily readable and recognisable symbols. It came, it stayed and it said little. Whether this new tactic was a success or a failure is hard to judge, since it announced no terms through which it could be evaluated. But by holding public space over time – significant time, in some instances – the Occupy movement began to expose fault lines and flaws in the ways in which we think we understand protest and public disorder.
