Occupy collapsed because it rejected theory and organization while ignoring its own neoliberal backers

Evidence

Although it seems impolite to mention it, the collapse of the “Occupy” movement over 2011–12 was largely due to the long-discredited notion that political action could be sustained and effective in the absence of any sort of theoretical guidance and hierarchical organization of shortto longer-term goals. … Besotted by the millenarian idea of starting anew, and lacking any sense of the history of protest and political organization, both neoliberals and neoclassical economists rapidly addled whatever political curiosity and radical inclinations that the well-intentioned protestors might have had. Rebels railed against corporate power, but apparently had no idea how it actually worked. The result was predictably utter failure. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 904

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: how horizontalist, anti-theory protest movements structurally leave themselves open to co-optation by the elites they oppose — Occupy’s funding and intellectual sourcing from Adbusters and mainstream economists as the case study.
• XREF: Relates to the reader’s interest in the neoliberal ‘thought collective’ — the claim that even protest movements got populated with neoclassical economists (Stiglitz, Krugman, Rajan, Cowen). — connects to: Occupy failed because it lacked a coherent counter-repertoire to embedded neoliberalism — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 906; Occupy’s horizontalist, demandless prefiguration rejected institutions themselves as the problem. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 190; Occupy mirrored the Tea Party’s anti-government populism while ignoring its commercialization of protest — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 909 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Is it empirically true that the Tea Party had more coherent theory than Occupy? The claim that Ayn Rand guidance beat Stewart-as-inspiration is provocative and worth checking against political-science literature on both movements.

Broader Connections

• Occupy failed because it lacked a coherent counter-repertoire to embedded neoliberalism #expands (0.92) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 906
• Occupy’s horizontalist, demandless prefiguration rejected institutions themselves as the problem. #corroborates (0.85) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 190
• Occupy mirrored the Tea Party’s anti-government populism while ignoring its commercialization of protest #expands (0.78) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 909