12. Strange Contours: Resistance and the Manipulation of People Power Edmund Berger
Without substantial social reform and redistribution of economic assets, representative institutions - no matter how ‘democratic’ in form - will simply mirror the undemocratic power relations of society. Democracy requires a change in the balance of forces in society. Concentration of economic power in the hands of a small elite is a structural obstacle to democracy. It must be displaced if democracy is to emerge. Barry Gills, Joen Rocamora and Richard Wilson1 All reformers, no matter how radical they thought themselves to be, could be (and have been) caught up in reform structures whose underlying purpose is to reduce the inharmonics of the existing social system. James Weinstein2
Even as attempts to curb protests through evictions and violence are conducted across the country, the movement is spreading - every day, more and more flock to their local parks and city centers, rallying under
This article was first published in Dissident Voice, 21 December 2011. <http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/12/strange-contours-resistance-and-themanipulation-of-people-power/>