They don't represent us? Synecdochal representation and the politics of occupy movements

Abstract

The aim of this article is to better understand the function and place of representation in the politics of occupy movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Spanish 15-M movement. It is often assumed that these movements categorically dismissed any form of political representation, as they criticised representative democracy in its current state and instead experimented with alternative forms of organisation and decision-making. My claim, however, is that these movements employed various forms of representation. In order to establish this, I distinguish between various notions of ‘representation,’ which are then applied to the practices and rhetoric of these movements. Engaging with the work of Ernesto Laclau, I then construct a particular – distinctively synecdochal – concept of representation that I claim is key to an adequate understanding of these movements and their radical-democratic repertoire.