Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Just to answer David's last question.
My first book was a fieldwork study of a New York City neighborhood
during the 1975 fiscal crisis. At the time we weren't even familiar
with the word neo-liberal or the now well-known concept of
gentrification.
However, by the time I was writing the conclusion (6-7 years after
the fiscal crisis) the NYC Mayor was inventing the concept of
"planned shrinkage" or focussing on wealthy neighborhoods and
cutting services such as health care, transportation and other
municipal responsibilities in poor neighborhoods - in other words
they were saying out loud that it wasn't worth providing services
for working class people.
I documented and analyzed the occupation of a firehouse in what was
then a predominantly white working class neighborhood in Brooklyn -
it seemed like an urban backwater with sealed up buildings, housing
projects and tenements occupied by poor white and Latino families.
That area was Greenpoint-Williamsburg (designated Community District
1 at the time). Of course we all know that this has now turned into
arguably the wealthiest and most high cost housing in NYC, 
At the time it was the area with the most industry in all NYC - and
the place from which most factories, formerly along the waterfront,
were leaving - Schaeffer Beer, Domino Sugar etc.
I wrote an update of the book based on ongoing fieldwork, in 2012
Updated Norman Street: Poverty and Politics in an Urban
Neighborhood.

Having followed protest movements from then on, including housing
movements and protests by and for the homeless up until
OccupyWallStreet - I became interested in theorizing the ways in
which different kinds of movements arise at different moments of
capitalism - and it was this question which led me to focus on
France and Spain, and also the idea of protests in Global Cities,
after showing the transformations of living and protest movements
over time in NYC as it shifted from a city based on Industrial
capital to an economy based on Financial capital - such as banks and
insurance - often called FIRE: Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate.
  

    
I am currently putting together a book on my research on Barcelona:
the city of Commons.
I have been working in Barcelona for over a decade - partly because
it struck me originally as representing one of the most active
street protests and commoning in Europe. Starting with the rich
history of anarchism in the late 19th Century, through the Civil War
in Spain of the late 1930s when the anarchists of Barcelona joined
the elected Republican Government in trying to protect their new
republic from the take over by General Franco and the first
imposition of fascism in Europe of that era. These events were
brilliantly described by Georde Orwell in Homage to Catalonia. When
I went to Barcelona in 2014 I interviewed members of the grassroots
who were running for municipal elections for a party of the Commons,
which actually won and continued in power for over ten years. 
the book I am working on will be edited with researchers and
activists from Barcelona and will tell the story of the long history
of activism and anarchism in the region - in an effort to illuminate
the impact of history and a culture of anarchist resistance in the
processes of commoning we see today 
  

    
I have also been developing short articles to show the ways in which
the Yellow Vests might illuminate the US experience today.
This short blog discusses the similarities with the  ICE protests
which ended with the police shooting and killing of 2 community
activists.

https://www.radiofree.org/2026/02/09/a-new-era-of-political-mobilization-is-da
wning/

and I have tried to show how commoning is much more than protesting
-especially in places like Barcelona and in the building of cabins
to reconstitute the social among the Yellow Vests - this piece was
published in Scheerpost

https://scheerpost.com/2026/07/15/commoning-thresholding-and-the-concrete-fant
asy-lessons-from-france/

In general, in my work from NYC, to the South African movement for
AIDS drugs in the early 2000s, to battles among unions and
neighborhood women against the exportation of toxic industries in
Puerto Rico, tp the Yellow Vests to Barcelona, I have tried to
document how people fight for social transformation and to
understand protest movements from the ground up in the context of
rapidly changing capitalist relations - and also in the light of
previous history and theoretical perspectives.
  

    
Ida, I apologize for coming to this so late in the game, after the
discussion is officially over.

But if I were to summarize what I think I've read so far, you are
saying (as many, myself included, would say), like Gramsci, that we
are in a terrible period where older paradigms no longer work, and
it isn't clear what is to come. In such a time, traditional
definitions of "left" and "right" lose some of their traditional
signification - what it means to be on the left or right may still
run from something like "collectivism" to "individualism", but the
institutions, how that turns into real power and real change are in
flux 

Into this breach step "commoning" - taking back privatised areas and
turning them into commons, and the intersections between commons,
the "thresholding" in which people feel out new alliances and
rethink what being on the left or right means. Because these
struggles are not yet choate, it is easy to call, say, the yellow
vests "right" or "left" because, as you point out frequently, both
are present.

In some ways, it sounds like Alinsky-style organizing - or "Agile
software development" (to use a popular project management
methodology that parallels iterative organizing) as people try
things, fail, then fail better (to paraphrase Beckett, as you quote
in your first chapters).

Does this make sense?

Because, if so, in a real sense what you're saying is that you what
we are _hopefully_ watching/participating in is that attempt to stop
the increase in the wealthy enshittifying the poor (mindful that the
opposite is currently ascendant and jealously guarding that
increasing privilege) by rethinking what a better, more democratic,
more egalitarian society looks like and how it works.

But there is also an emphasis in commoning and thresholding in
horizontal organizing - a lack of hierarchy - and it's not clear to
me if this is part of the process, the goal, or both.
  

    
Also, perhaps related, the response in some cities to ICE
kidnappings - especially in Minneapolis - seems to have roots in the
Occupy movement, but perhaps even moreso to the Yellow Vest
movement, which raises the question of "what next" for both the
Yellow Vests post-pandemic, and anti-ICE resistance today.
  

    
Ida, thank you for broadening my knowledge of the Yellow Vest
movement and thought structures re how things sometimes change by
coming to Inkwell. And thank you for making your book available to
be read broadly.
  

    
thank you for these latest comments and your interest in the book.
The outline by Ari above captures the spirit of the current protests
and the changes we are living through. The book considers
theoretical questions of Left and Right as well as trying to
understand the 1930s as the opening years for fascism. 
Such historical context and concepts can serve as possible
guideposts but clearly we are also in an era of new finance,
reconfigured work and AI that are not easily explained by historical
parallels. I see commoning as partly harking back to the street
riots of the 19th century but also as experimenting with very real
contemporary processes to generate new lived ideals of constructive
change, and as Ari mentions, an emphasis on horizontalism. This
horizontalism is a direct reaction to the hierarchies of both the
left and the right. Nevertheless, it opens up other dangerous
tendencies such as the rejection of science and increasing ideas of
conspiracy such as occurred particularly during the covid lockdowns.

 I suggest in the conclusions that social transformation based on
some  collaboration between the commoning occupations of the streets
with union organizing and even political parties can help to steer
commoning in a direction of social transformation. I certainly do
not suggest that such processes are inevitable but a level of
cooperation or parallel avenues of organizing across the different
groups can possibly help to move the needle in the direction of
progressive social change. We are absolutely in a very dark era but
we have the political space still remaining to engage in these ways
- under these conditions, people are experimenting and hopefully
learning how to mobilize against the worst possibilities. 
  

    
Speaking of union organizing - to what degree is that fusion
happening, and perhaps more important, how are unions doing in
France. Obviously, here in the US there is a minor resurgence of
unionizing, but resurging from a fraction of what was once there,
and against fierce opposition. And, what effect has the Yellow Vest
movement had on all of this? (I'm not sure that Occupy had any
effect on union efforts in the US, but, I do note greater sympathy
for unions and unionizing over the last decade or two, even if the
laws are tilted against the unions, still, in many important regards
- see workers at Amazon, Starbucks, REI, Trader Joes, etc.)
  

    
As you say, unions in France, despite much decline in power, are a
much more active aspect of politics and people's lives than they
have been in the US recently.
The links and conflicts between the Yellow Vests and the unions is
something I discussed in many chapters - it was very clear that the
massive union demonstrations against the pension changes were
energized by the Yellow Vests and almost universally supported by
Yellow Vests. Yellow Vests participated in the first wave of
demonstrations in late 2019 and 2020 and at that time I was able to
take photos of many yellow vests as they marched with the nurses,
the teachers and other unions. These protests succeeded in forcing
Macron to abandon his approach at that time.  After his re-election,
in 2023 Macron tried a different assault on the pensions and even
more unions came out opposed - again Yellow Vests populated the
second massive wave of pension protests which greeted the new
changes. By this time, people were afraid to don Yellow Vests for
fear of police retaliation but the Yellow Vests songs became pretty
much the national anthem for the union protests and could be heard
on nearly every march - as the Yellow Vests resonated through the
echoes.
In Chapt 13, May Day, I talk about the contradictory ideologies of
the unions and the street protests - as well as the ways in which in
the end, they complemented one another in their interactions with
the state. 
Although they criticized the unions in principle, YVs were
frequently joining and supporting the strikes in their workplace and
had often been very active members of their unions.
As the union leaders said to me, " their power came from the point
of production"
They thought street protests and specifically the Yellow Vests were
chaotic and disorganized and had no direct power.
The Yellow Vests believed the unions were too hierarchical and they
saw them as selling out to the state in neoliberal deals.
The Yellow Vests saw their power in the occupation of space and the
blocking of highways as well as other disruptive and "wild" actions.
In the end however, the unions and the Yellow Vests often seemed to
benefit from one another and often to rely on the particpation of
the other.
In contrast to the US, French unions can be seen on a spectrum from
the far left and communist to the more conservative.
All these unions joined together in opposition to the 2nd efforts of
Macron to raise the age at which people were entitled to take their
pensions. French almost universally, saw this as "stealing their
futures" which they had already paid for when they were working -
stealing 2 years of their lives, as some people said. Yellow Vests
were outraged by these changes 
  

    
Yes. As I get through more of the book (I'm just starting Chapter
12) that becomes more obvious. I don't think I realized how
right-wing Macron was until I picked this up. That "they're stealing
our future" meme is so different from the US, where we are so
hostile to the idea of government - perhaps even more hostile than
we are to big business.

But, I'm also wondering if what we're seeing is a more quotidien
chaos of outrage. The old systems are broken - absolutely true here
in the US, and clearly also true in France. That commoning gathers
the outrage and provides the opportunity for a lot of thresholding,
which is, for now, more horizontal than hierarchical - the existing
hierarchies simply aren't working for most people! But, it doesn't
presage, I don't think, a move to less hierarchical power structures
(although I wish it did), as make apparent the thrashing as people
try to figure out what works and providing some freedom for things
to come back together differently - which, as I think you point out,
could be more left, more right, better, worse, who knows at this
point?
  

    
yes, nothing is written in stone.
However, I do believe that the horizontalism of today, which has
been around since the alt-global movements and their opposition to
hierarchy, was a strong force, at least among the Yellow Vests -
when people postured as Yellow Vest candidates in the elections they
were disparaged and rejected by the YV themselves.
Many on the left in Europe are as suspicious of the hierarchy in the
old communist logic as they are of the right. In addition, in
contrast to the US, the YV and the groups they coalesce with are
founded and grounded in the grass roots - if we call this populist
(a la Chantal Mouffe etc) it is the opposite of the US Maga movement
which is based in and created in some ways by, a ruthless
"apprentice" of Roy Cohn - clearly similar to the draw of Joseph
McCarthy as they are discussing these days in relation to Kai Bird's
new book.
The grassroots movements such as the YVs and others have yet to show
any inclination to follow such a hierarchical authoritarian
anti-democratic figure.
  

    
To continue, for example, Marine Le Pen, a longtime leader of the
extreme right, bases her party on an anti-immigrant stance similar
to Trump as well as Nigel Farage and Orban among other European far
right poliiticians,
However, while I found in conversation some resentment towards
"immigrants" among the YVs, they followed no dog whistle of
anti-immigrant politics in their protests or in their demands. It
did not enter their public discourse - in spite of the nation-wide
polemics of Marine Le Pen. Indeed, in echoes of Le Pen, when Macron
also began to adopt certain anti-immigrant polcies this certainly
brought him no support - he certainly didn't solve his massive
unpopularity problem.
  

    
Interesting. I have some more notes from today's reading as soon as
I have a bit of time.
  

    
[thanks to ari and Ida for continuing this discussion.]
  

    
Second that!
  

    
Sorry for the long delay. I finished reading the book - it is
wonderful! I had to make time to type my notes in to the computer so
that I will have them moving forward. That process also helps me
figure out what it is that I have read.

One of the most fascinating spin-offs from these horizontal
threshholdings is the CoopCycle - a worker-owned/programmed
alternative to everything from Uber to InstaCart.

Is it still extant? How is it doing?

<https://coopcycle.org/en/> is still there, and indicates a lot of
local action in France and elsewhere in Europe. All of two outposts
in North America. But, I'm not seeing news, press releases, or
conversation.

On the other hand, on BlueSky, I find this, from January: New
tripleC article about the platform cooperative CoopCycle, written by
Vangelis Papadimitropoulos and Haris Malamidis: The Transformative
Potential of Platform Cooperativism: The Case of CoopCycle

<https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1418>
  

    
It is interesting, how in the US at least, I see potential
thresholding between small town folks reacting to the closing of
rural hospitals, lack of opportunity, difficulty of
starting/maintaining a small family farm - and the core urban
disaffected. Perhaps opposition to Data Centers provides a key or
link to creating that thresholding?

It is also interesting to read about the foregrounding of race on
the French Left. Very different from the US, but potent as a
divider, nonetheless. It's that ability to separate the "other" I
suspect.

Finally, I am seeing the anti-ICE actions in the US renewing the
commoning that happened with Occupy. I am not seeing any useful new
ideas in anti-ICE protests here in Massachusetts - certainly none of
the thresholding that would tie what is happening to broader
anti-Racist AND broader social justice/ecology movements. But, it
seems like that would be the key? Perhaps there is more going on in
Minnesota or California or other states where ICE has been
particularly heavy-handed.

Obviously, the Yellow Vest movement is spawning new activism
post-pandemic (and with Macron still in power). What should we be
paying attention to?
  

    
Hi - It's great you like the book! Yes coopcycle is incredible and
going strong - I will write a description of what's going on now
when I get back to this. They have expanded in all sorts of
imaginative ways and the hardest transition, from the initial
activists to now the coop riders themselves running the
organization, has been well established.
I've just started teaching for the semester so I have to catch the
train to get to class - it's foundations of social theory - so all
the things we are discussing here are completely relevant!
  

    
Just to describe coopcycle:
as I talk about in the book, it was formed by a variety of young
people who met at the French Occupy movement Nuit Debout, Standing
all night. After working together at the Place de la Republique for
about 7 months, they knew each other pretty well and were aware that
it couldn't last forever. However, as they became more politically
committed over time, they invented a way to continue by creating a
bike delivery app that would be controlled by the riders themselves
- in France and Spain, already there were poltically active coops
among bike riders - the innovative and challenging idea was to
invent their own APP that would not be controlled by corporations
such as UBER or Deliveroo. Activists took unemployment or worked
together in their apartments over night to create this new APP -
computer tech workers, unionized bikers, journalists, grad students,
many unemployed worked over 5 years to build an effective APP and
bring together bike delivery coops from all over Europe - I followed
the group from these early ideas to the implementation to the
phenomenal growth - from 2016 until today, - as I watched these
engaged activists I came to see them as collective organic
intellectuals - in a very real sense they generated ideas together
in the interests of the biking collectives, although many of them
were of middle class backgrounds and most bikers, often immigrants,
were not. 
Since that time, this organic collective has not only grown to
include thousands of coop members who now use the APP to control
their own schedules and riding choices - they are not ruled by the
corporate values of speed, efficiency and corporate profit with no
regard to human needs. 
When I last visited the Paris founding branch of COOPCYCLE they had
created a bikers community center with computers, access to health
care and comfort, where bikers could meet, look up what they needed
and rest as they chose. This new form of community center was now
run by the bikers themselves  with access to assistance with
computers, accessing benefits and much else. Most bikers in Paris
are new immigrants of color, possibly undocumented and until
recently not entitled to the benefits of union workers. Much of that
has changed over the period that Coopcyvle has been critically
engaged. It is a remarkable example of the unpredictable
consequences of Nuit Debout and the process of commoning.
  

    
That sounds great. Thanks for the detail, Ida.