NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS
update
Horizontalism:
From Argentina to Wall Street
By Marina Sitrin
For nearly two months thousands of people gathered
at New York Citys Zuccotti Park to protest the role of
Wall Street in the financial collapse and the increas-
ing inequalities that afflict the United States. Under
the motto, we are the 99%, the Occupy Wall Street
(OWS) movement spread to over 100 cities nation-
wide. The following article was written just a few days
before the New York Police Department raided and
evicted Occupy Wall Street on November 15. While
the occupiers are no longer in Zuccotti Park, both the
General Assembly and the working groups continue,
and so does the spirit. As the movement activists say,
you cant evict an idea.
T
wo thousand and eleven has been a year
of revolutions, uprisings, and massive
social movements against unjust politi-
cal systems and rolling economic crises. Across
the planet, people are standing up and occupy-
ing public spaces, from Egypts Tahrir Square,
to the plazas of Spain, Greece, and the United
States. These movements are rooted in the prac-
tice of democratic decision-making, or creating
Marina Sitrin is the horizontalisma space where participants look
author of Every- directly at the people across from them, discuss
day Revolutions, the things that matter most, and decide the agenda
Horizontalism and together. The concept of horizontalism embodies
Autonomy in Ar-
a critique of hierarchy and authority, but it is more
gentina (Zed Press,
2012) and Hori- than that. It is about creating new relationships.
zontalism: Voices The means are a part of the ends. It is not a ques-
of Popular Power tion of making demands, but rather the process,
in Argentina (AK which is a manifestation of an alternative way of
Press, 2006). She is
being and relating.
a postdoctoral fellow
in the Committee on The nightly general assemblies in Zuccotti Park
Globalization and are only the most visible examples of the horizon-
Social Change at the talism being created at Occupy Wall Street (OWS).
CUNY Graduate Over a thousand people are fed each day by a team
Center in New
of cooks using consensus decision-making. Most
York. She lived in
Argentina following of the content for the thousands of messages that
the countrys 2001 are sent out daily through Facebook, Twitter, and
crisis and has been any number of blogs is decided horizontally in
involved in Occupy the media and press working groups. The library,
Wall Street since the
which began with the donation of a few books the
beginning.
day after the occupation began, now holds over
8
4,000 titles, ranging from Barbara Erenreichs
Nickled and Dimed to John Steinbecks The Grapes
of Wrath, and countless texts on the Zapatistas, so-
cial movements, and a number of yoga and travel
books. Popular education workshops occur daily.
Academics, activists, educators, and supporters
participate in endless discussions on every issue,
while the horizontally organized working groups
carry out their activities. There is even a decentral-
ized medical support team and a group of trained
mediators. Zuccotti Park, which the occupiers
have rebaptized Liberty Park, is now a horizontally
organized mini-society; organized prefiguratively,
the occupiers say, to reflect the society they desire
in their day-to-day relations.
But this horizontal democracy that is sweep-
ing across the planet didnt start at OWS, nor in
Madrids Puerta del Sol plaza or Tahrir Square. It
has deep roots. In Greece, assembly participants
are using the ancient Greek term for direct democ-
racy, demokratia, and have begun borrowing meth-
ods from their Athenian ancestors, using a system
of lottery to decide who will speak in mass assem-
blies. At OWS, occupiers are using a form of cir-
cle justice to resolve conflicts, where participants
of the community decide what sort of resolution
is best. The process has roots in Native American
systems of justice, in particular with the Tlingit
and other tribes in Canada. The 1994 Zapatista
rebellion, in Chiapas, Mexico, was rooted in au-
tonomous democratic participation, and it contin-
ues to inspire social movements across the planet.
But perhaps the most defining predecessor to the
present-day struggle of the 99% is the Argentine
community organizing that exploded amid that
countrys 2001 economic crisis.
I
n december 2001, after over a decade of in-
tense privatization, the Argentine government
defaulted on $132 billion of debtthe largest
by a country in history.1 For the previous decade,
President Carlos Menem had tagged the Argentine
peso to the U.S. dollar, artificially inflating the
countrys currency. However, over fears of a peso
 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
People participate in a General Assembly at Liberty Plaza on September 17, the first day of the Occupy Wall Street occupation.
devaluation, investors and citizens
began taking their money out of the
banks, essentially pulling the rug out
from under the Argentine economy.
Fearing a run on the banks and unable
to maintain its monetary policy, the
government froze all personal bank ac-
counts. The people had little to no ac-
cess to their savings. By December 19,
tens of thousands had poured into the
streets, cacerolandobanging pots and
pans. That evening the Argentine gov-
ernment declared a state of siege, bru-
tally repressing the protesters. In all,
39 people were killed over those two
days.2 Even members of the Mothers
of the Plaza de Mayo, a group usually
accorded great respect, were beaten. In
response the movement grew.
People said they were breaking with
a history of silence, and they walked
to the government buildings, chanting
Alex Fradkin
Qu se vayan todos! Qu no quede
ni uno solo! (They all must go! Not
even one should remain!). Minister of
the Economy Domingo Cavallo fled
that night, and within two weeks four
governments had resigned.
December 19 and 20, 2001, was a
crack in history upon which vast po-
litical landscapes unfolded. Qu se
vayan todos! was a song of affirmation.
In those defining days of the Argentine
crisis, movements were born, as peo-
ple united in collective kitchens, art
and media collectives, recuperated
workplaces, and indigenous and un-
employed movementssuch as the pi-
queteros and the cartoneros. Each group
stressed horizontalism in their new so-
cial relationship.
In communities across the country,
people greeted one another, kissing
the cheeks of neighbors whose names
they had never known. They began to
ask questions together. This is how the
neighborhood assemblies were formed.
People simply met on a street cor-
ner in their neighborhood, with other
neighbors who had participated in the
update
cacerolazos, said Pablo, a participant in
the Colegiales neighborhood assembly
in Buenos Aires, in 2003.
For example, in my assembly . . .
someone simply wrote on the sidewalk,
in chalk, Neighbors, lets meet here
Thursday night, said Pablo. In the
first meeting there were maybe 15 peo-
ple, and by the next week it was triple.
Why did it increase in this way? It was
not an ideological decision, or an intel-
lectual, academic or political one. . . . It
was the most spontaneous and elemen-
tal thing. . . . Simply we came together
with a powerful rejection of all we knew.
A strong rejection of political parties and
the forms of political parties, a strong re-
jection of all those that occupied spaces
in the state or that organized to occupy
positions in the state.3
People in the neighborhood assem-
blies first met to explore new ways of
supporting one another and meeting
their basic necessities. In each neigh-
borhood the assemblies worked on a
9

update
variety of projects, from helping facili-
tate barter networks to creating popular
kitchens and alternative health clin-
ics to planting organic gardens. Some
communities even occupied buildings,
such as abandoned banks, to create
community centers. These spaces still
house any number of projects, includ-
ing kitchens, small print shops, day
care centers, after-school programs, li-
braries, small businesses, free Internet
labs, and even a small movie theater.
Hundreds of neighborhood assem-
blies emerged in the years following
the Argentine financial collapse, each
composed of 100 to 300 participants.
Inter-neighborhood assemblies (inter-
barriales) of thousands of people met
in parks, representing hundreds of as-
semblies. At the root of their process
was horizontalism and a rejection of
hierarchy and political parties.
I believe that part of the im-
pulse towards horizontalidad was re-
lated to an inability to trust officials,
said Ezequiel, a member of the Cid
Campeadorneighborhood assembly in
2004. This feeling that all leaders that
existed were corrupt by the mere fact of
being leaders. Regardless of who held
whatever formal position, inevitably
he or she was corrupt, had abandoned
you, and was totally separate from your
problems and necessities.4
Ezequiels assembly in Cid
Campeador, a lower-middle-class neigh-
borhood on the outskirts of Buenos
Aires, remains an important organiz-
ing hub. It is located in the occupied
building of a former Banco de Mayo,
and there are events almost every night,
ranging from tango and salsa classes
to book readings, political discussions,
and other cultural activities. Through-
out the day the assembly is open as a li-
brary, community space, and a popular
kitchen. Cid Campeador participants
believe the reason their neighborhood
assembly has remained active since
10
NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS
2001 is that they organize regular events not appear very organized, but be-
and activities, try to preserve their au- neath the apparent chaos, the layers of
tonomy from the government, are not people, and the mic checkswhich
dominated by political parties, and con- help us to hear each other without
tinue their weekly assemblies. amplificationis a web of networked
Unfortunately, not all of Argentinas organization. We organize in decen-
neighborhood assemblies have been so tralized but inter-connected working
successful. Today there are only a hand- groups focused on issues ranging from
ful of them in Buenos Aires. There are the most concrete, such as food, medi-
several reasons for the decline. Some cal and legal, to things such as art, facil-
were co-opted by the government, itation, education, women, mediation,
others were dominated by political the library, and safer spacesa group
parties, and still others failed to en- that checks in with people to make sure
gage in concrete projects related to the everyone feels they can participate fully
communitys needs, so people eventu- in the process. The list and description
ally became frustrated and left. That of the working groups could be a small
said, assemblies have recently emerged book. And we have just begun.
all across Argentinas Andean region, The day-to-day work of OWS takes
comprised of campesino and indige- place around these working groups.
nous communities protesting the push I, for example, am a member of two
to impose new private multinational groups: facilitation and legal. The for-
mines on their land. Several commu- mer group trains people to facilitate as-
nities have rallied against these mines, semblies and groups, organizes a team
which they say would destroy huge that can facilitate the General Assembly,
segments of the land and pollute their and writes a draft agenda for each meet-
water sources. Each of these horizon- ing. The facilitation trainings are really
tally organized assemblies have many workshops on direct democracythe
hundreds of members. Horizontalism, essence of horizontalismoften us-
many from these communities explain, ing role play to act out scenarios that
is now the way to organize. Argentinas might occur in the assembly, and then
recuperated workplaces continue to exploring the various options for the
occupy, resist, and produceas their facilitator in each situation. The goal of
motto saysand make their deci- the facilitation group is to help create
sions collectively. A new occupation of the most participatory and democratic
70 people began in November in the space possible.
Buenos Aires neighborhood of Flores. In some ways, the legal group is
more straightforward. It is foremost
T
his form of horizontalism is at concerned with keeping people safe
the heart of our organizing at and out of jail. To do so, we coordi-
Occupy Wall Street. Anyone who nate with dozens of volunteer lawyers,
has participated in our nightly General most of them through the National
Assembly in Liberty Plaza will likely Lawyers Guild. We have also created a
have both felt inspired and not just a conflict-resolution group, which trains
little confused about how it all works. volunteers to mediate disputes and
Where do proposals come from? How lead workshops in techniques of de-
do we come to agreement? Do people escalating conflicts. They also facilitate
really listen to each another for hours at a Healing Circlea form of restorative
a time every night, even when there are justicewhere people can resolve con-
more than a thousand people? It might flicts through a community-based ef-
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
fort. The goal is to adjudicate our own
conflicts horizontally, with healing and
togetherness, yet ensuring that who-
ever has a grievance feels satisfied with
the agreements from the circle. The
model for this mediation and conflict
resolution work comes directly from
similarly organized groups around the
world. Internal conflicts can be some of
the most challenging issues the group
must confront, such as petty theft, ha-
rassment, and rare acts of violence.
Each working group also brings pro-
posals to the General Assembly when
they are related to the work of that
body or if the decision will affect the
larger collective (for example, negotia-
tions with the mayors office or using
money for bail). Every day trainings are
organized, lawyers are on call, food is
cooked and distributed to more than
1,000 people, facilitation is smooth,
and people are cared for (a team of
volunteer nurses and psychologists are
working with us). Translation is avail-
able into seven languages, including
sign language, and all of this is live
streaming continuously at nycga.net.
Our communication between the
working groups is not yet seamless,
but we continue to work at it, and as
we grow and change, our forms of or-
ganization necessarily do as well. New
structures are constantly discussed so as
to create the most open, participatory,
and democratic space. On November
8, we launched a new spokes-council
model of decision making to take into
account the thousands of voices that all
want to participate in daily decisions.
The spokes council largely represents
the groups involved in the day-to-day
functioning of the occupation, while
the General Assembly is focused more
on bigger questions for the movement.
It is another experiment in democracy.
We are attempting to create the sort of
alternative that we desire in our day-to-
day relationships.
T
he organizing on wall street
didnt appear out of nowhere.
Before the occupation on
September 17, the New York General
Assembly began to meet during the
summer. Long before the occupation
we debated the question of demands
and agreed not to make them. Most
of us believed that the most important
thing was to open space for discussions
and democracyreal, direct, and par-
ticipatory. Our only demand was that
we be left alone in our plazas, parks,
schools, workplaces, and neighbor-
hoods so we could meet one another,
reflect together, and in assembly decide
what form our alternatives would take.
Once we had opened these democratic
spaces we could then discuss potential
demands and who we believed might
be able to meet them. Or, perhaps,
once we have assemblies throughout
the country, the question of demands,
on someone or something, will no
longer be an issue, since we might be
making those decisions that most di-
rectly affect our lives.
Today, thousands are occupying the
plazas and the parks. Soon, I hope, we
will be in the neighborhoods, schools,
and workplaces, taking back our lives
with tools of horizontal decision-mak-
ing, creating, as our Spanish compa-
eros say, Democraca Real Ya! (Real
Democracy Now!) What this will look
like is up to ustogether.
In one month on Wall Street, we
have gone from a conversation among
70 people in Tompkins Square Park to
occupations in a few dozen cities and
over 1,000 assemblies and actions or-
ganized across the United States. Tens
of thousands are now actively involved
in horizontal forms of organizing in
only a matter of weeks.
This form of discussion and
decision-making makes sense. We
have been left out of the vast majority
of decisions that affect our lives. And
update
the most natural thing to do is come
together, speak, and create alternatives
that reflect the horizontalism of our
new social relationships.
As Neka, from the Unemployed
Workers Movement in the neighbor-
hood of Solano, outside of Buenos
Aires, explained in 2004:
We began learning together. It was a
sort of waking up to a collective knowl-
edge, and this had to do with a self-
awareness of what was taking place in
each of us. First we began asking ques-
tions of ourselves and each other, and
from there we began to resolve things
together. Every day we keep discover-
ing and constructing while we walk.
It is like each day there is a horizon
that opens before us, and this horizon
doesnt have any recipe or program. . . .
More than an answer to a practice, it is
an everyday practice.5
I
n the early morning of november
15, the New York Police
Department raided and evicted
the occupation at Liberty Plaza. Their
belongings and equipment were con-
fiscated. The following day, after a
court injunction, occupiers were al-
lowed to return to the park, but were
restricted from using tents or building
structures. That evening, with over
1,000 people present, the occupiers
held one of the largest GAs since they
began the occupation on September
17. Two days later, on the two-month
anniversary of OWS, 30,000 people
took to the streets of New York City
for a day of action. Meanwhile the as-
semblies continue, as do discussions
of how to expand them into more
neighborhoods and workplaces. Peo-
ple are not deterred. Territory is not
only a geographic location, but a po-
litical use of space. As occupier Eudes
Payano put it the day after the raid:
The movement will continue and it
will be even stronger.
11

notes
Do It Yourself
1. Wendy Brown, Neoliberalism and the End of Liberal Democracy, in Edgework: Criti-
cal Essays on Knowledge and Politics (Princeton University Press, 2005), 3759, 42.
2. See Anne Nelson and Ivan Sigal, with Dean Zambrano, Media, Information Systems,
and Communities: Lessons from On-the-Ground Realities (CDAC, Internews, Knight
Foundation, January 2011).
3. Kimberly Coates, Q&A: Media in Post-Earthquake Haiti, Tomorrows News (blog),
Ashoka International, October 1, 2010.
4. Editoryal, Chimen Lakay, no. 1 (July 2010): 2.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Mark Schuller, Unstable Foundations: Impact of NGOs on Human Rights for Port-au-
Princes Internally Displaced People, October 4, 2010.
8. Nick Owens, Wheres the Money for Haiti Gone? The Daily Mirror, May 27, 2010;
Dana Milbank, The Sad Math of Aid in Haiti: 6 months, 2 percent, The Washington
Post, July 13, 2010.
9. Chimen Lakay, no. 1 (July 2010): 3.
10. Coates, Q&A.
11. Jodi Dean, Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies (Duke University Press,
2009), 33.
Horizontalism
1. Clifford Krauss, Argentine Leader Declares Default on Billions in Debt, The New
York Times, December 23, 2001.
2. Pagina/12, La causa por la represin sigue sin definiciones, March 13, 2007.
3. Marina Sitrin, Horizontalism: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina (AK Press, 2006),
41.
4. Ibid. 48.
5. Ibid. 58.
Introduction
1. Agncia Brasil, Em marcha em Braslia, professores pedem aplicao de 10% do PIB
em educao, October 26, 2011.
2. AFP, Polica contina desalojo de estudiantes que mantienen tomados colegios,
August 9, 2011.
3. Christopher Newfield, Unmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the
Middle Class (Harvard University Press, 2008).
4. Steven Roberts, Ronald Reagan is Giving Em Heck, The New York Times, October
25, 1970.
5. George M. Dennison, Privatization: An Unheralded Trend in Higher Education, pre-
sented at the Governors Conference on Higher Education, Montana, October 2002.
6. BBC Mundo, Los estudiantes de Colombia y Chile intentan exportar su protesta,
November 15, 2011.
A Dream Detained
1. Research for this article was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and USCs Media, Activism, and Public Participation Project at the An-
nenberg School for Communication/Journalism; Leslie Berestein Rojas, Undocu-
mented Student Activists in LA Get Audience With Federal Officials, Get Arrested,
MultiAmerican, October 12, 2011.
2. See Monica W. Varsanyi, Neoliberalism and Nativism: Local Anti-Immigrant Policy
Activism and an Emerging Politics of Scale, International Journal of Urban and Re-
gional Research 35, no. 2 (2011): 295311.
3. Maria Eugenia Miranda, DREAM Act, Part II, Diverse Issues in Higher Education,
April 28, 2011.
4. See Roberto Gonzalez, Left Out but Not Shut Down: Political Activism and the Un-
documented Student Movement, Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy
3, Spring (2008): 22223.
5. J. S. Passel, and D. Cohn, A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States
(Pew Hispanic Center, 2009).
6. Yo Soy El Army: The Dream of Citizenship (Big Noise Films/ Producciones Cimarrn,
2010) is illustrative of the Dream Act as a military recruitment tool, 67percent.net.
7. Vamos Unidos Youth, Latino Youth Defines DREAM Act as a DeFacto Military
38
NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS
Draft, The War Resisters League Blog, September 23, 2010.
8. J acob Simas and Vivian Po, Latino College Enrollment Skyrockets, But Will Upward
Mobility, New America Media, October 30, 2011.
9. J eanne Batalova and Margie McHugh, DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential
DREAM Act Beneficiaries (Migration Policy Institute, July 2010).
10. H inda Seif, Wise Up! Undocumented Latino Youth, Mexican-American Legislators,
and the Struggle for Higher Education Access, Latino Studies 2 (2004): 21030.
11. G onzalez, Left Out but Not Shut Down, 220.
12. Ibid, 231.
13. J ulia Preston, Bill for Immigrant Students Fails Test Vote in Senate, The New York
Times, October 25, 2007.
14. Jonathan Perez, Jorge Gutierrez, Nancy Meza, and Neidi Dominguez Zamorano,
DREAM Movement: Challenges with the Social Justice Elites Military Option Ar-
guments and the Immigration Reform Leaders, Truthout, September 21, 2010.
15. Samya Behary, Students Storm Capitol Hill for National Dream Act Graduation
Day, Immigration Impact, June 25, 2009.
16. DREAM Activist, DREAM for America: National DREAM Act Graduation Day
June 23, 2009, press release, June 21, 2009.
17. Dream Activist Our Stories, webpage.
18. See Alfonso Gonzalez, The 2006 Mega Marchas in Greater Los Angeles: Counter-
hegemonic moment and the future ofEl Migrante Struggle, Latino Studies 7, no.
1 (2009): 30-59.
19. The Dream is Coming, About Us, webpage, thedreamiscoming.com/about/.
20. Nancy Lofholm, Secure Communities Immigration Effort Disproportionately Targets
Latinos, Report Says, The Denver Post, October 20, 2011.
21. Molley OToole, Obama Deportation Raise Immigration Policy Questions Reuters
(U.S. edition), September 20, 2011.
22. Elise Foley, New Policy on Deportations Allows Some Non-Criminal Undocumented
Immigrants to Stay, The Huffington Post, August 18, 2011.
23. Aarti Kohli, Peter l. Markowitz, and Lisa Chavez, Secure Communities by the Num-
bers: An Analysis of Demographics and Due process, Chief Justice Earl Warren
Institute on Law and Social Policy Research Report, October 2011.
24. Elise Foley, Immigrants to Wells Fargo: Stop Investing in For-Profit Detention, The
Huffington Post, October 17, 2011.
25. See Leslie Rojas Berestein, A High-Profile Challenge to the White House New
Deportation Guidelines, MultiAmerican, September 21, 2011.
26. Elise Foley, New Policy on Deportations allows some Non-Criminal Immigrants to
Stay The Huffington Post, August 18, 2011.
27. Mercedes Gonzalez, Dreamers: We Told Obama Yes We Can at NCLR, Voice
of the Mainland magazine, July 28, 2011.
28. United We Dream, History, website, unitedwedream.org/about/history.
29. Julio Salgado, Queer, Undocumented, and Unafraid: Sexuality Meets Immigration
Politics in a Youth-Led Movement for Immigrant Rights, Briarpatch, May/June 2011.
The Fight for Mexican American Studies in Tucson
1. T om Horne, Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by
Tuscon Unified School District, Pursuant to A.R.S. 15-122(B), Save Ethnic Studies,
December 30, 2010.
2. C abium Learning, Inc., Curriculum Audit of the Mexican American Studies Depart-
ment Tucson Unified School District, Save Ethnic Studies, May 2, 2011.
3. D  irected by Three Sonorans, The TUSD Tragedy - Save Ethnic Studies, 2011,
vimeo.com/23516724.
4. S tate of Arizona House of Representatives, House Bill 2281, 2010.
5. H  orne, Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by
Tuscon Unified School District.
6.  Ibid, 7.
7. E duardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persis-
tence of Racial Inequality in the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
8. O  tto Santa Ana, Brown Tide Rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American
Public Discourse (University of Texas Press, 2005).
9. A  rizona State Legislature, Bill Status Votes for HB2281-Final Reading.
10. Tom Horne, Interview by Gary Tuchman, Visiting an Ethnic Studies Class, CNN,
May 20, 2010 (time 1:53).
11. Horne, Finding by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Violation by
Tuscon Unified School District.
12. D.A. Morales, Video: John Huppenthal to Stop La Raza Today? TusconCitizen.