After the previous post, on the problems of leaderlessness, I don’t want people to get the wrong impression. I feel nothing but deep admiration and gratitude for the Occupiers—in Zuccotti and elsewhere, from Tunis to Melbourne. As I stepped out into the cold rain this morning to pick up the papers—which included that Roula Khalaf piece—I thought: man, it must suck to be camping out in this. But I’m so happy there are people who do it anyway.

So when I post something like that Khalaf excerpt, I want to remind people that we have to think about how an occupation can be made truly, materially transformative. There are people who dismiss that sort of concern as old farty parade raining (actual weather aside). Some think we shouldn’t even talk about such things. But we should. It doesn’t mean I love the Zuccottians less. It means that I love them so much that I don’t want to see all their courage and tenacity become little more than an enchanting memory.