The evolution of social movements: From ACT UP to Occupy

>> on your hands. those of us that have to pose are going to die. we are here until we get arrested.

>> we have helped many companies through the process. we can take your drug to the market and we will pave the way for you with the food and drug administration . this total reluctance on your part is going to get you nowhere. it will end up killing us. all right?

>> see this mark on my forehead? it's going spread. it's going to kill me. you coming to my funeral because you are the man responsible. you are my murderer in your shirt and tie.

>> really intense scene from a sit-in at the pharmaceutical company . the first thing they say is we are here to demand, a very specific demand. how do you respond when occupy made the decision to reject the demands?

>> this is the 21st movement -- 21st century movement. in august of last year, we add discussions of how to address the injustice all together. occupy is a part of continuing social movements in the 21st century . the struggle that act up launched hasn't ended. what we are trying to do right now is create space for many social struggles in existence right now in different groups that are better situated to make the demands. we stand in solidarity and develop analysis. the idea that a year in right now, we are coming up with this analysis and rolling it up for people. we should be mindful that, how do you deal with mofia capitalism. a time our government is incapable of dealing with the grip of global capital .

>> i add to that. we are looking for transformational change, not transactional change. we use the tactics of act up and we try to learn from our elders and those who came before. we have affinity groups . this is a structure that worked well on monday. we have decentralized actions, four zones, autonomous actions and groups. people had demands. they took actions i have been a part of. the sit in at general snyders office. you provided that for us by coincidence. we have demands in these affinity groups , people trying to shut down the pipeline. we don't speak with a single voice.

>> this gets to the question, how do you deal with what you call mofia capitalism or the inequality. right?

>> right.

>> the answer -- i don't have the answer. the first step is breaking it into smaller problems. how am i going to program it. how do i draw a block on the screen. breaking up into smaller problems is what made act up very effective, right?

>> absolutely. there were 40 different committees. there were act ups all over the country. there was an act now network. it was an international movement. each of those committees dealt with a very broad array of issues and gave rise to other organizations which i think still exist and it's important people know housing works . a needle exchange project began as a civil disobedience action, do needle exchange when it was legal. a law in new york state changed around that. they continue to do work on aids treatment policy and the aids vaccine coalition that continues to do work on vaccine policy.

>> that's the long run, really. ultimately, ten years and 15 years of aids activism produced. in the first year, act up wasn't all that remarkably dissimilar to what occupy accomplished over its first year. it began as a, you know, a -- inopposition to the government. just right out on the street. protesting, being arrested. the tactics were really similar. it took a long time, as you see in the movie, which covers nine years. it took a long time for the development of a really refined strategy for the very specific goals that they have.

>> that's interesting.

>> that strategy began to include the development of self-education, the scientific sphere. people were so well versed. they were able to not only speak the language of the people they were asking for, they were asking change from, but were able to join them and develop the changes together. housing works and the other aspects that work in response to the broadening idea for the need for change.

>> that's what we are seeing out of occupy. you see people self-educating. we are releasing the debt resistors operation manual. it's a very well researched put out guide to bet, bankruptcy to how people are affected by it.

>> the power of expertise and able to chip away is a common theme. we'll take a quick break. [ heart