Access Provided by University of Michigan @ Ann Arbor at 02/20/13 8:17PM GMT The Scene of Occupation Tavia Nyong’o

I was going to prison then, and — in so far as in those places the re-education to virtue is reached through idleness — I asked myself: what is there more idle than to still occupy myself with a little materialism? — Antonio Negri (2003:140)

On a gray Sunday in late October, I go in search of Occupy London. I locate St. Paul’s Cathedral on a map (having never noted its existence on any prior visit to London) and take the Tube, wondering as I go what reasoning or happenstance had led activists to choose a cen- ter of state religion as a staging ground for their confrontation with the forces of capital.1 A short walk and I am approaching the cathedral from the side; I wander through the encamp- ment of tents, run my hands along a wire fence covered in protest signs — the snarky, stinging anonymous murmuring of the multitude — before arriving at the church’s august west front,

1. I subsequently learned that St. Paul’s was a recourse after an attempt to occupy the London Stock Exchange was thwarted (The Independent 2011).

Figure 1. Occupy London Halloween zombie march on the Bank of England, 31 October 2011. (Photo © Ed Telling)

TDR: The Drama Review 56:4 (T216) Winter 2012. ©2012 136 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Scene of Occupation 137 - that is — Women & & Women TDR, . He is is Nation, and n+1. He The , Criticism Women Studies Quarterly, Studies Women . [email protected] Text Social until occupiers reclaimed its prior name of Liberty Plaza Park in 2011 — The Thursday prior to my visit, a prominent cleric in the diocese of London had resigned a prominent cleric in the to my visit, Thursday prior The a young woman of color is teaching a dance as Michael In front of the cathedral steps, a different Stimmung than that which The church location lends the London occupation Tavia Nyong’o is Associate Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where he writes, he writes, where University, York at New Studies of Performance is Associate Professor Nyong’o Tavia and teaches critical black studies, queer studies, cultural theory, and cultural history. His researches, of Memory (University Ruses of Performance, the and Waltz: Race, first book, The Amalgamation and theatre for best book in African American Award Hill 2009), won the Errol Press, Minnesota has published articles on punk, disco, viral media, the African diaspora, performance studies. Nyong’o film, and performance, art such as Radical Historyvenues Review in (and another would days later) over plans to evict the occupiers, by force if necessary, from by force if necessary, later) over plans to evict the occupiers, (and another would days an English friend explains the local and as half-comprehendingly, I listen, cathedral grounds. and was of the tabloids that week, which was on the cover controversy, national politics of this linking the contemporary metropol- and political web ecclesial, legal, enmeshed in the complex Wall center and counterpart to (its financial “City of London” the itan city known as London, if I began to intimate, is the cathedral. Paul’s of which St. of London, and the Diocese Street), grounds might resonate within why occupying these particular church not fully comprehend, world economy by finance cap- against the looting and pillaging of the the context of a protest accorded to it as a private cor by privileges the case of the City of London, in protected, ital, of democratic accountability. beyond the reach by royal edict in 1694, poration established the loom- I felt more able to speculate as to how Knowing even a little of this background, All day before the hang over that particular Sabbath, ing threat of eviction and violence might Hallow’s Eve. unlike from the loudspeakers (which Occupy London, blasts intermittently “Thriller” Jackson’s a group rehearses dance moves that bear a fam- her, Behind possesses). Street, Wall Occupy choreographed by Jackson and Michael Peters for ily resemblance to the famous zombie dance Many of the dancers wear Guy directed by John Landis. “Thriller,” the 1983 music video for Anonymous Anonymous (the group of activist hackers). an icon associated with Fawkes masks, at least one of its members is handing out masks appears to have initiated this dance rehearsal; American I accentuate my Going into mock ethnographic mode, to newly recruited dancers. He who the mask depicts. tone I can muster, accent and ask him in the most oblivious-sounding only man who ever entered Parliament with hon- snorts and replies that it is an effigy of the these and other participants will dress up as corporate zom- The following day, est intentions. reading in a Halloween action fronted by banners bies and descend on the Bank of England, “This Has Just Begun.” and “Dancing on the Grave of Capitalism” Street (which held its own zombie walk earlier in Wall I had felt during my visits to Occupy under the encamping by decision or happenstance, Whether October; see Nyong’o 2011). of sacred resonances “vortex” occupation within a shadow of a cathedral placed the London as Zuccotti Park occupiers chose a privately owned plaza known York, In New (Roach 1996). from 2006 Liberty/Zuccotti Park is the kind of privatized required by law to remain open to the public. typically city, public space that developers concede in exchange for zoning exemptions from the as well as to permit developers to build higher than zoning laws permit (colonizing shared sky - architec baroque Wren’s Although Christopher and fountain. wide steps, towers, with the two of life the hum eternity, contemplation of heavenward in pious to lift the eyes ture was designed shoul- and ears, eyes, instead drew the of the occupation the tented encampment in and around squat- or simply discussion, or place of tent, info a kitchen, One stooped to enter ders down. oneself and to watch and passersby, occupiers, of tourists, to watch the circulation ted outside being watched. Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, of Feminist A Journal Performance: part of of the editorial collective “Thriller,” 30 October 2011. (Photo by Tavia Nyong’o) Figure 2. Rehearsing the zombie dance at Occupy London to Michael Jackson’s 138 Tavia Nyong’o ereignty of “the economy” overpoliticsandsociety: sovereign divinity, anadministrationcovertlybutcontinuously linkedtothecontemporarysov- of religiousrefuge. This impression, whilenotfullyaccurate, istellinginthatitbringsforward state powerthatlaydeepinthehistoryofcity. October 2011. (Photo by Tavia Nyong’o) Figure 3. Rehearsing the zombie dance at Occupy London, 30 a political- on anexusofthepolitical-commercialpowergoverningurbanspace, thelatterdidsamefor but forthetransportofcommunicantsintopresencedivine. Where theformeracted ism ofoccupyinghallowedground, landsetapartneitherforcommercenorpublicrecreation, lic” landcarvedoutfromrapaciouslyexpandingprivatizedspace 2. comes thereforetotakeonthe complexsemanticsphereofthetheologicaloikonomia. The The Latintermdispositio, fromwhichtheFrenchterm dispositif, orapparatus, derives, To thewanderingtourist, inotherwords, OccupyLondoncouldinitiallyappeartobeanact John Zuccotti) is told in Fitch (1993). of the economic base of ofthe the cityDunlap destruction capitalists (including by predatory 2011). The story in 2006), was only completed in 1980, when the lease of the last remaining holdout on the block ran out (see Begun in the late 1960s, the privately owned public park that is today known as Zuccotti Park (it was so named commercial-religious nexus, unearthingaconnectivegridofeconomic, ecclesial, and ­ tion ofthingsbyaunitaryand accounting fortheadministra- theological strategiesfor descend fromearlyChristian English —may in “apparatus” ments ofgovernmentality selected todescribetheinstru- has argued, thetermFoucault Giorgio Agamben commentator mentality (2007). As hisrecent theme inhislecturesongovern- mon rootwasFoucault’sgreat sacred andsecular. This com- as thedividedrealmsof unites whatwetypicallyaccept to strikeatacommonrootthat ing: themannerinwhichitseeks one significantaspectofoccupy- dispositif inFrench, translatedas — ruptcy inthe1970s. wake ofthecity’snearbank- and realestateindustriesinthe city byitsfinance, insurance, over thenakedtakeoverof land). They arefigleafsdraped there The decisiontotakeastand occupiers toexcludesleeping. 15 November2011evictionof terpreted inthewakeof ment for24-houraccess, rein- city block)andtherequire- ing status(itoccupiesanentire is unusualonlyinitsfreestand- contrasts withthesymbol- — in asliverof “pub- 2 The park The — The Scene of Occupation 139 - - dead vulnerable lives Time for collected in the book Time And after all, as Marx and Engels noted in The as Marx and Engels noted And after all, 3 - pros future and legacy the parttake over debate spirited a in did of occupation. What time of occupation. precarious in order to theorize what I would call the (2003), apparatuses enjoining us to preoccupy ourselves constantly, to aspire to a commercial to aspire to a commercial apparatuses enjoining us to preoccupy ourselves constantly, — , casting the occupiers not only as protestors against capitalist greed, but as ­ against capitalist greed, casting the occupiers not only as protestors , Although the day I visited Occupy London I London Occupy visited I the day Although pects of the Luddite rebellion against industrial tools. industrial against rebellion the Luddite of pects “dispositifs” about which Foucault speaks are somehow linked to this theological leg- linked to this speaks are somehow about which Foucault “dispositifs” a one realizes which, and through in which, designates that “apparatus” term The acy [...] 2009:11) (Agamben in being. of any foundation of governance devoid pure activity struggle with apparatuses” “everyday hand-to-hand are now engaged in an we Agamben, For To extend and radicalize Agamben’s concept of the everyday hand-to-hand struggle extend and radicalize To What might it mean to profane the unprofanable through the emancipation of time? Is this What might it mean to profane the unprofanable But an ethics of human dignity doubt (Butler 2004). no Precarious times for precarious life, 3. Revolution Revolution Clearly it is connected to occupying space by and for does it mean to occupy time precariously? divide that But even if occupying the commons profanes the religious/secular the commonweal. such a profanation cannot return us to a prior time captures and captivates us in the economy, before industrial capitalism or neoliberalism. If early Christian theology found in the concept of “apparatus” an account of the ontological of the ontological an account “apparatus” in the concept of theology found If early Christian division this Agamben argues, then, of his creation, of God from the administration separation is a in other words, Economy, “economy.” our contemporary concept of remains at the base of without losing its sub- term that has been subsequently secularized fundamentally theological we may have exchanged the Today governance.” “pure activity of based in the jectifying power, this shift has Agamben, according to But, the sovereignty of the market. sovereignty of God for and the subject of governmen- intensified the separation between being not abolished but only of apparatuses to the point It has resulted in a proliferation apparatus. tality produced by the by a capitalism that continuously being subjectified and desubjectified where we are perpetually This vio- Street Bull). Wall the as it sets up its own sacred cows (like profanes the sacred even in language Agamben argues, state, “larval” or “spectral” the subject in a lent oscillation leaves of the zombie (21). protean figure with the haunted, suggestive of an encounter struggles Occupation clearly counts as an intensification of such everyday hand-to-hand (15). and the act of naming, space, relief three aspects: time, and it throws into with governmentality, the con- Performance analysis helps unpack which all seem primed for performance analysis. the immanent tension between everydayness and strug- revealing “everyday struggle,” cept of (Deleuze 2006:74). “potentiality” and “resistance” between between stasis and movement, gle, additional theo- two and the act of naming, place, For such a performance analysis of the time, Known Virno. Antonio Negri and Paolo importance: rists from the autonomist tradition assume virtuosic perfor they are also theorists of the time and place of the as theorists of the multitude, mance of occupation. mance of occupation. I propose to use Negri’s writings on kairòs, against apparatuses, it is under capitalism that “all that is holy is profaned” (Marx and Engels “all that is holy is profaned” Communist Manifesto, it is under capitalism that “the occupation with a paradoxical political task; This capitalist profanation presents 1848). “is the political task of the coming gen- Agamben concludes, profanation of the unprofanable,” involves a precarious Negri’s analysis of time shows, task, Such a paradoxical (2007:92). eration” of eternity. emancipation of temporality from the binds perhaps, the familiar injunction of the generation of ’68: to live without dead time? Or is it, appara- a different engagement with the pervasive profanation of the life world by capitalist tuses Is it perhaps necessary to learn how to live with “life without dead time”? simulacrum of chaos? the zombie time of austerity and financial live in undead time, To time? that occupation dia- and mutual recognition are but a part of the complex of power-knowledge Paul’s undoubtedly drew upon the symbolism of the church as ref Pitching a tent at St. grams. uge

140 Tavia Nyong’o that tensionbetweenchronosand kairòs. rapacious capitalism. They capture argues, zombiesarepotent symbolsbecausetheyworksimultaneouslyasagentsandvictims of icon forHalloween, for capitalism, andfortheprotestofcapitalism. As DavidMcNallyusefully the themeof2011, andthe zeitgeistwasapparentlycross-Atlantic. The zombie isacomplex tivity. InNew York, apopularHalloweensupplystore, Ricky’s, haddecidedtomake “zombies” tion. The sceneinOctober of theeveryday;andkairòs, was wovenintothefabricofanothercontest:thatbetweenchronos, ical, andcommercialpower. Butthiscontestoveraccesstospaceandtherightscity of quotidianconflictswiththeordinaryfunctionsSt. Paul’sasavortexofecclesial, polit- Puar 2010). rights ordignities, butasthenexusforanondeterministic rangeofcapacitiesanddebilities(see self torisk, aninfiniteabandontotheimprecisecontext ofbeinghuman, notasthebearerof of policebrutality. Absolute dangerrather involves astrategicandensemblicgivingoverofone- than theabsolute cases, theconcrete danger propelsus. Suchabsolutedangerisnotnecessarilygreater: inperhapsthemajorityof obverse, toabsolute(orgeneralized)danger, andtheformsofanguishdreadintowhichsuch this doubleddialectic, asaconcreteremedytorealdisaster, OccupyLondonisaresponsetoits of ourexistence” (2003:32–33). Ifsquattingachurchtopreventdeportationsitsononesideof lead ustoadirectandcontinuousrelationwiththeworldassuch, withtheimprecisecontext (Photo by Tavia Nyong’o) Figure 4. Occupy London encampment at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Occupying theabsolutedangerofbeinghumanbroughtOccupy Londonintoarange danger tooccupiers, evenwhenitisvisibilizedintheform ofthedirectforce danger tothelivesofthoseseekingconcreteasylumismuchmoreimmediate — the intensified, suspendedtimethatNegriseesaskey to revolu- with animpendingFeastof All Saints — in theircorporealintensities, appetites, movements, and Halloween isasecular, attimesevenirreligiousfes- unchecked uncertaintyoflife, ing neededforconfrontingthe the formsoflife, andthetrain- The permanentmutabilityof tion from...theworlditself[...] danger, instead, requiresprotec- edies,” Virnowrites. “Absolute disaster, thereareconcreterem- of risk”: “In thepresenceofreal of protection” and “two forms doubled, between “two forms multitude. This dialecticisitself and refugeinthecontemporary Paolo Virno’s dialecticofdread tion toconnectoccupation profitably employthisassocia- and Zurich(2008). We might Barcelona (2001), Dublin(2006) in churchescitiessuchas occupying, andhunger-­ Europe —squatting, Fortress of ing theunjustimmigrationlaws years, ofasylumseekersprotest- here totheprecedent, inrecent Jesus do?” We mightpoint hanging intheair: “What would there, abannerleftthequestion or predatoryforces. When Iwas seeking protectionfromdreaded the mundane, clocktime — disclosed somethingof striking The Scene of Occupation 141 - - - - icon of To adopt the To 4 intensive, revolutionary, revolutionary, intensive, — hence its decay, its bleeding, its stumbling, and its its stumbling, its bleeding, hence its decay, — and the eternity for which the church takes responsibility through its yearly and the eternity for which the church takes within a materialist conception of history and struggle. Negri wrote the essay and struggle. within a materialist conception of history the otherwise naturalized “risks to bodily integrity that inhere in a society in that inhere in a society to bodily integrity “risks naturalized the otherwise — for competing temporalities of chronos and kairòs. The video to “Thriller” remains remains “Thriller” The video to chronos and kairòs. temporalities of for competing — — , i.e., of i.e., in time, subject that lives of any is the predicate for the body characteristics, on corporeal takes A devout Jehovah’s Witness, Jackson himself denied that his video indicated any personal belief in what he called called he what in belief personal any indicated video his that denied himself Jackson Witness, Jehovah’s devout A occult.” “the eternity, but, following Deleuze, following Deleuze, but, from eternity, Not different is different time. Negri insists, Kairòs, , are helpful for placing the affinity of eter , Revolution for in Time Negri’s speculations, Here, 4. guise of the zombie and go stumbling through the streets is a breaching of “the here and now breaching of go stumbling through the streets is a guise of the zombie and - a hand-to-hand com it (2009:155), as José Esteban Muñoz terms time,” of a stultifying straight and for traditionally shepherded, that the church “soul” power of the bat with the subjectifying That such a combat could ground now takes responsibility. which neoliberal governmentality speaks to secular to sacred time, to the management of the passage from itself at a place devoted revolutionary profana- of the rigorous demands of a contemporary an at least tacit recognition tion of the unprofanable.

cycle of feast days and fast days, its providential administration of a worldly economy of souls its providential administration of a worldly economy cycle of feast days and fast days, between secular and sacred governmentality (par for which no rigid distinction is maintained The love or affinity of eternity for the productions of in itself (Deleuze 2010:36–89). difference commoning cycle of efforts and defeats of the desiring, for the time is a love for this difference, comments: Negri production that we call revolution. something that exists in the moment in which it names” (Negri 2003:150; emphasis added). something that exists in the moment in which it names” occupied time Certainly, “the big society”). and “faith-based initiatives” ticularly not in the neoliberal era of revolutionary desires of occupation (however much there are many of the cloth in love with the entombed The church itself has, of resignation). that love finds expression primarily in acts the economy a messianic time that holds open an elsewhere to within its most formal rituals, how do we make sense of this affinity between two modes So, over which it ordinarily presides. How can we think about the productive perfor of time that are in such agonistic contention? mance of commoning within kairòs? nity and kairòs Kairòs is caught up with standing that all three levels are interlocking and interdependent). the act of naming “a thing called into existence in insofar as and embodiment, turning, time, [...] “Kairòs, Alma Venus, Multitudo” on the way to prison, the Epicurean materialist Lucretius’s On the Epicurean materialist the way to prison, on Multitudo” Venus, Alma “Kairòs, In this duration [Negri 2003:139]). Things in hand (“my book during this period” of the Nature His to paraphrase my epigram. he occupied himself with a little materialism, of imprisonment, out of ordinary to name the event that throws us need, the essay is concerned with the ability, The three terms in its title draw desiring-production. chronology and into the intensiveness of (his figure for Lucretius’s love of Venus” “Alma kairòs, an arc between the revolutionary time of capacity to decide whose the contemporary multitude, and at the heart of things), “the swerve” The first stage of this tri-­ is Negri’s preoccupation. against the apparatuses of governmentality to do with both performance and precarity (under partite analysis appears to have the most “Eternity is in love with the productions of time,” wrote William Blake, antinomian poet of rad- Blake, William wrote the productions of time,” “Eternity is in love with we can understand his proverb In the current context, (Blake 1988:37). ical British romanticism of kairòs as pointing to the affinity between the desiring-production Kairòs as Precarious Time Kairòs as Precarious crossover black pop indirectly evokes the Afro-Caribbean roots of zombie lore. roots of zombie Afro-Caribbean evokes the pop indirectly crossover black undeadness which individual survival requires selling out life-energies to people on the market” (McNally (McNally the market” to people on selling out life-energies survival requires which individual itself a nexus Zombie flesh is thus 2011:3). an urtext for a global pop culture of the zombie, even as Michael Jackson’s status as the even as Michael Jackson’s of the zombie, a global pop culture an urtext for viral bite 142 Tavia Nyong’o part, meantinitiallytohighlight. That itwastheCityofLondonCorporation thatultimately and thusparticipateinpartypolitics, theinefficacyofwhichoccupationshad, atleastin legal charter. As inNew York, thecontentioncenteredonwhetherandhowtoissuedemands, and attributedtoOccupyLondon, demandingsomespecific revisionstotheCityofLondon’s denunciations andcounter-denunciations, over astatementthathadbeenreleasedtothepress, General Assembly (thegoverningbodyoftheoccupation), aferventstrugglebrokeout, with Halloween istraditionallyknowninthechurch’scycleofyearly feasts). At thatevening’s corporate city. of affectivedread, movingbeyondthesceneofoccupation andintothepedestriancrushof ples forthenavigation as as precarioustimedoesnotrestrictitselftofeltemotionsbut rather takesuptheideaofaffect coverage hasalwaysremainedfixatedonconsideringitseffects). This affectiveaccountofkairòs one thatweneedtoattendanddescribeinallitsvarietycomplexity(wherejournalistic (2003:152).‘the archerloosesthearrow’” Kairòs, of precarioustime: “being onthebrink,” “being onarazor’sedge,” and “the instantinwhich ment) politicsofspace. Negriassociateskairòswithaseriesofimageswecanthinkas tant tothinkthesepoliticsalongsidethemoreexpected(whenitcomesoccupymove-

to be thefinaleffectorconsequenceofoccupations?Suchquestionsprematurelyyokekairòs of kairòsisoftenwronglyconflatedwiththeimmediatequestionaskedbyjournalists: Whatwill tionary sequenceofthe Arab Spring. Butthequestionofrevolutionarynaturethistime consciously inheritedasequenceofprioropenings, beginningmostobviouslywiththerevolu- fall 2011occupationsincitiesacrosstheUS, theUK, andbeyond. Itwasarupturethatself-­ It ispossibletopointsucharupture, suchanopeningoftemporality, inauguratedbythe through thevoid. out intothestreetsdancing. The zombiemarchenactsthesuddenswerveofmatterasitfalls shock, andsurprise. Itis, paradoxically, aformofdezombification, particularlywhenitgetsyou bified (2011). Andyet, toperform reproducing sociallifeundercapital, moving “laterally” asLaurentBerlantputsit, wefeel both phenomena innovations areaccomplished, and the voiditopensoutonto. Itisinthefaceofthisvoidthatgreatanguishexperienced, great useful roleininterpretingtheaestheticpoliticsofdezombification. sought toreadMarxismpolitically, andnotaseitherethicsoreconomics, itservesaparticularly mist Marxismhavesoughttoidentifywiththepolitical. Insofarastheautonomisttraditionhas swerves, andstumblesalongastaggeredlinethatNegriothersassociatedwithautono- models of “precarious life” associatedwithmoralphilosophy(Butler2004). The zombiedances, carity (suchasincreasinglyfamiliartheoriesoftheprecariat), butwithoutfallingbackonthe sidering asanaestheticmodethatcouldexpanduponmoreeconomisticunderstandingsofpre- 5. extensible telos, Occupy Londoncertainlyfelt “on thebrink” that weekendbefore All Hallow’sEve(as opens upon. (2003:152) singular andopenpresent. Singularinthedecisionitexpresseswithregardtovoid of theinstant, themomentofruptureandopeningtemporality. Itisthepresent, buta In theclassicalconceptionoftime, kairòs rain” (2007:42). “Unless inclined to swerve,” Lucretius writes, “all things would fall right through the deep abyss like drops of There issomethingofthemundaneaboutzombie. Crushedbytheeverydayweightof Again, theparticularpoliticsweareaddressinghereoftime, anditisimpor to destiny, andremaininattentivetothelivedimmediacyofpresentmoment, and in timeandspace, ofaffectaspossessingamovement vocabularyandasetofprinci - — 5 The marchispartof, butnonidenticalto, occupation. Itseemsworthcon- the zombiewalksbreaksout. of aterrain. The politicizedzombiesuppliesone imageofthisextension the zombieistoexperimentwithpleasuresofterror, — in aperformativeenactmentoftheswerveatheart is theinstant, thatistosay, thequalityoftime we couldsay, possessesitsdistinctiveaffect, zom- - The Scene of Occupation 143 Negri writes: 6 into the void of the to-come. Negri distinguishes between the “to-come” pointed to by kairòs and the “future” of chronological, homoge- chronological, of “future” the and kairòs by to pointed “to-come” the between distinguishes Negri future the necessary colonized is distinction time. This nous already has capitalism finance instance, for because, assess- risk markets, futures insurance, of apparatuses its with it occupying time, homogenous chronological, of stages of early the in declared, prophetically rock mortgage-backedplans, Punk etc. securities, four-year ments, My to-come. the of time alternative the with themselves aligning future,” “no was there that era, neoliberal the yet” “not of the concept Bloch’s of Ernst reading Muñoz’s José with dovetails clearly here argument Negri’s of use 2009:3). (Muñoz Rather than conclude this story (which is in any case ongoing, even in the wake of evic- even in the wake in any case ongoing, Rather than conclude this story (which is 6.

brought suit over the occupiers (leading to their forcible eviction, in February 2012, from the in February 2012, their forcible eviction, brought suit over the occupiers (leading to the diagram they were adjudged to have obstructed) would only underscore “public highways” that the occupation had already activated by October. and political power capitalist, of ecclesial, themselves repercussions from that summer’s urban rebellions, however, All Hallow’s Eve, At were children earlier in November of 2010, following upon the infamous kettling of school context made a potential face-off with the Metropolitan This foremost on everyone’s minds. The encampment had been there only days it Police that much more anxiety provoking. tents before it the occupation fold up its Would and its time was already running out. seemed, force it into it let the threat of violence Would had a chance to live up to its historical mission? felt like it was and Occupy London The archer had loosed the arrow, a premature reformism? on the brink. can possibly and ask what we of the occupation, tion) I want to dwell in this particular stage At least to if we do not ask after its ultimate result. ask of it regarding revolutionary innovation, innovation two possible alternative questions suggest themselves: How does revolutionary me, the produc- And what does it mean to say that eternity is in love with emerge out of kairòs? “the dimension of temporality answer must incorporate a materialist tions of time? For Negri, a materialist concep- That is to say, (Negri 2003:157). as the ontological fabric of materialism” of time that tion of time is one in which eternity becomes the name for that prior accumulation the arrow of kairòs so to speak, launches, Figure 5. Halloween zombie march. London, 31 October 2011. (Courtesy of Tavia Nyong’o) Tavia (Courtesy2011. of 31 October London, march. zombie Halloween 5. Figure 144 Tavia Nyong’o second wasthesmallgatewayoftimethroughwhichMessiahmightenter” (2003:97). Benjamin argued, attheconclusionofhisownaccounthistoricalmaterialism, that “every Negri, ineachmomentisinstalleditsownarrowingarcofrevolutionaryaffect, muchas Walter ing opentheswerveor, inthezombie’scase, theshamble, ofmattermovingintothevoid. lar figurationofzombificationasamodedelayingthebecoming-objectevent, ofhold- account ofeventilizationtogetherwithNegri’skairòs, Iwanttoexploretheparticu- cal ofoccupation, orevenofthecontemporaryprecariouscondition. Rather, thinkingBerlant’s I returntoananalysisofthezombie. Iagainwishtoavoidnominatingthezombieastypi- It isinthissenseofasensualepistemologyparticularmomentsuspendedtimethat for it, thatcanprovesojarring, spurringitsretroactivecodificationintogenre. Berlantnotes: at all(2011). tion Berlant hasargued, onethingthatcanbesounsettlingaboutaneventisthearrestingrealiza- How doweknowwhenaneventfilledwithkairòsisuponus?nameit? AsLauren How toLive withDead Time uploaded totheinternet. InJ. LorenzoPerillo’slucidanalysis oftheseperformances, the of theCebuProvincialDetention andRehabilitationCenter(CPDRC)inthePhilippines were became thesubjectofaviralvideoin2007, whencoerced performancesofthedancebyinmates dance movesofMichaelJackson’sThriller. cloaking ofthezombiemarchonBankLondonin globally recognizablesoundsand cality servedareactionary, cloakingfunction, butwecanalsonoteitsambiguity. Considerthe bie effigiesdead, congealedlabor. InMarx’sEighteenthBrumaire([1852]1996), suchtheatri- through dispossession” thatIanBaucomanatomizesin Spectres ofthe zom- (2005).The Atlantic ing revolution. Herethezombieinherits Atlantic cycleofspeculationand “accumulation figures andgenresdrapedinhistoricalfamiliarityatthevery momentofrapidandaccelerat- kairòs andeternity. Kairòsisinstalled etition ofthepresent. Heevenrejectsthenotionofpositinganytemporaldistancebetween destiny withinhistory, asiftheto-comewereeitherpredeterminedorelseamonotonousrep- Revolutionary time, inNegri’sexpositionofithere, doesnotoccupyaseparatespaceoftelosor 7. ticular momentnow(aesthetically)suspendedintime. (2011:64) a waytothinkaboutthehistoryofsensualizedepistemologiesinatmospherepar felt thingwhosedemandsonsurvivalskillsmapnotthewholeworldinonemomentbut itionisms enablesustothinkaboutbeinginhistoryasadenselycorporeal, experientially In thesenarrativehistoriesofthepresent, ashiftbetweenknowinganduncertainintu- Every kairòs irreversible andindestructibletemporality;itisthecommonnameofbeingthatis. Eternity isthetimethatcomes “before.” Itisindeedthepowerofaccumulatedlife, ofan On the distinction between the typical and the particular, see Baucom (2005:39–46). Marx’s politicalwritingspointtooneaspectofthisphenomenon: thefrequentrecourseto consisting intheplaceofkairòs, possible tothinkasortofcontemporaneitykairòsandtheeternal:foreternalis eternal; thereisnoorderbywhichitstemporaldistancecanbemeasured;neitherit ent tothepresentofkairòs. The“here”of “before” comes — What wearesaying amidst theordinaryongoingnessofeverydayoccurrence It istheeventitself, muchmorethanthepresenceorabsenceofourexpectations is installedinthiseternity. os o push not —does — i.e., thatkairòs a simultaneousconsisting. (2003:165) kairòs within eternity, orinournewparlance, itoccupies into thepast, butratheritrenderstheeternalpres- The infectiousandenduringrhythmofhisiconichit is installedintheeternal, thatisintime kairòs isnotdetachedfromthe “here” ofthe — that somethingishappening it. For 7 - The Scene of Occupation 145 - of energy, as itself of energy, its asocial sociality, its decomposing its asocial sociality, — Figures 6 & 7. Dancing on the Grave of Capitalism protest. London, 31 October October 31 London, protest. Capitalism of Grave the on Dancing 7. & 6 Figures Nyong’o) Tavia courtesy of grab screen 2011; (Divi58 2011. - bakla zombie is a release from boredom and anxiety, as interviews with occupiers attest as interviews with occupiers attest zombie is a release from boredom and anxiety, choreographs a relation to the tense, dreadful time of precarity. In a literal way, In a literal way, time of precarity. dreadful choreographs a relation to the tense, — I now see to be key to any Shaka McGlotten’s work on zombification and queer (a)sociality is especially productive for Shaka McGlotten’s work on zombification are alive not to take an obvious example, Zombies, no matter is considered dead. That is, but because their decomposing bodies participate just because they have been reanimated, and because their contagiousness imputes an immanent in ecologies of energy transfer, Desire the obstinate movement of desire’s passing. Their hunger performs continuity. This hunger transcends the constraints of life as we know and it returns. induces changes, (190) or sparks at its edges. it, atypical shamble of the zombie The particular, transgender performer — danced was part I myself (Perillo 2011). the of a group that screened video as part of an impromptu the wake tribute to Jackson in enthusias- of his death in 2009, the infec- tically participating in music tious joy his dance and and cor until sharply, brought, approach to current uses of the rec- zombie (or for that matter, “occupa- lamations of the name which is equally weighted tion,” with the history of ongoing set- It tler and apartheid regimes). seems to be that rather than the innocent or newborn subject, the dead time,” “to live without that might have sought rather than the ecstatically joyous figure of of history, strategy: an accumulation of genre, zombie performs the body as an accumulation time. The zombie dance is a survival skill for living with dead and of race. gesture, straightfor Demurring before zombie aesthetics. developing this insight into contemporary nonetheless McGlotten avatar of the posthuman, ward celebrations of the zombie as the latest (McGlotten “our collective zombification as still possessing an openness” wants to construe our he detects for new materialist conceptions of 2011:183) Particularly useful are the possibilities “emphasis on the openness of matter”: the zombie in what he describes as the new CPDRC video intersected with intersected with CPDRC video the as of containment, a strategy looked on via internet viewer position of a cam- the panoptic high above the era stationed in which the orange- courtyard jumpsuited men — and one rectly, upbraided by a colleague upbraided rectly, who pointed out the video’s enactment of carceral power and This epi- imperial enjoyment. sode brings forward the ambiva- lence ecology becoming-­ The scene of occupation, of this: a surplus of time. if it is not too paradoxical to speak evincing, and has found in his historical research into workers occupations of factories, Scott William as transfer But release of energy should be seen as a transfer 2011). (see NYDN.com 146 Tavia Nyong’o vodun. Disavowing formance seemsoverdetermined, givenitsburlesquedrootsincinematicfantasiesofHaitian mance asasceneofresistancebytheobject(Moten2003). That thezombiedanceisblackper Moten readsbothwithandagainsttheMarxiangraintoprofferaconceptionofblackperfor Fred Moten’spowerfulreinterpretationofMarx’stropethe “commodity thatspeaks,” which (Schneider 2011:42–45;seealsoSchneider2012). Iamverymuchdrawntothisidea, asIamto as wellinthedramaturgicalpossibilitiesinherenttheoreticalfigureof “deadlabor” has pointedtothetheatricalityofMarx’shistoricalmaterialism, bothintheEighteenthBrumaire ing andracializedhistoriesofthe “many-headed hydra” (Linebaugh2000). RebeccaSchneider tarial pools, thehighest paid workmyliberalartsdegreecouldsecuremeeveninthe middle of Manhattan, American Express, SwissBank. Iwasapermatempin aseriesofpostmodernsecre- Island City, Queens, orStamford, CT, whereIworkedthegraveyard shift). Citibank, Chase to onebankoranotherinthefinancial district(or, occasionally, tooneofitsoutpostsinLong But, foradifficultyearin myearly20s, Ididdonasuitatthecrackofdawnand schlepdown district. Iwas, inaformerlife, a Wall Streetzombie. Technically, Ineverworkedon Wall Street. October, Ihadbeen initially reluctanttotakemyownfirsttripdownNew York’s financial figures todothesameculturalworkofrepresentingbad sentiments ofprecarity? the trick?Oristheretoomuchofeitheragentiallyevilor thesimplybestialtopermitsuch young. Would crowdsofyouthfulwizardsandvampires, orwerewolvesanddemonshavedone an overdeveloped, ravenouseconomythatfeedsonthe bodies, desires, andaspirationsofthe ical tactic:itisathrowingofthedeadaffectaggrievedand aggressive youthintothefaceof across. There isanarrested “adolescence” atplayintheadoptionofzombiemarchesasapolit- pedestrians, traffic, police, orbuildings, theyallbecomesurfacesthezombieshamblesintoand ening thesociallydeadenedmatteritcomesintocontactwith. Whether thatmatterisother characterized byslownessandshambles, andthedepressivecontagionofzombiebite, enliv- and leaving, forerrorandimprovisation, theyenactboththeaffectivetonalityofzombie, (Browning 1998). Instead, intheiramateurish, simplifiedgesturesthataffordroomforjoining his dancershaveavirtuosicspeedand “infectious rhythm” thattheoccupiersdonotattempt and theoneperformedinThriller cized, anarchicdances. Comparedsidebyside, thedancebeingrehearsedatOccupyLondon Dead has enjoyedapopularandcriticalresurgenceinthe2000s(mostrecentlyon TV inTheWalking porary zombiemarchessuchastheonethatwasorganizedatOccupyLondon. this reasonthatit, ratherthantheB-moviesitostensiblycites, providestheurtextforcontem- capitalism, andoflateralagencywithinit, Thrillercouldnotworkbetter. Itseemsatleastfor ity thatturnsouttobeamovie, withinatelevisionshow, withinadream. As anallegoryofracial escape thehorrorsofoccult, themanyjumpscutsvideomakesbetweenlayersofareal- tuosity stepsaroundthemanypotentialdeadendshischaracterconfrontsinattemptsto encrypted withsuchanaccumulationof African meanings. Suchmusicalandchoreographicvir of ablackartist associated withawhite, juvenile, malefanbaseforB-movies, onlyredoublesthemusical­ it contagious. bie, shamblingacrosstheperimeterofoccupationinrovinghunger, transfersthistime, makes smooth (haptic, felttime)(DeleuzeandGuattari1987:523–51). Time takes longer .zom- The days feltlikemonths. Time becameelongatedorstretched out, asstriated(clocktime)became intensification oftime(Scott2012a, 2012b). Within kairòs, Scottnotes, hoursfeltlikedaysand also hisownserviceasanOccupy Wall Streetlibrarian, producedasurplus, anelongationand Let meanswerthatwithonelastnarrativefromthemonthbefore myvisittoLondon. In To thinkthezombienotasagenericfigureofB-movieclichéthen, noreventhezombieasit Another waytoputthisisaddresstheblacknessofzombie, attachedequallytolabor ), istothinkthezombiethroughJackson’sbodyasanaccumulationstrategyforpoliti- ­“crossing-over” intotheblack-derivedmusicallandscapeofrockviaafigure — as Jacksondid — video resembleeachotheronlyinidea. Jacksonand the zombieasageneralizedfigureof “occult,” one ironies - - - - The Scene of Occupation 147 - kairòs. When, about a decade later, I returned to New York City a newly minted Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, a newly minted City York to New I returned a decade later, about When, out of was the refrain as the zombies broke “Make a hole and let the zombies through!” as per What can the precarious time of kairòs, And what about the name of occupation? formed through the zombie, tell us about that name? Others have mentioned the numerous tell us about formed through the zombie, here too Negri’s discussion of kairòs comes to our assis- But pitfalls associated with that name. is not a concept in the we might argue along the lines of Negri’s analysis, Occupation, tance. immanent to the event which it names. but a name, not a transhistorical category, strict sense, “cannot be given by anything other than its insistence in he asserts, “the truth of a name,” And because it has already asked it of ­ “does not ask language for its truth, Occupation kairòs.” I have sought in this essay to find a ‘inhabit’” (2003:155). But in language it finds a place to place in the language of performance for such an occupation. my annual salary, when converted to an hourly rate, barely exceeded what Wall Street had Street Wall what barely exceeded rate, to an hourly when converted salary, my annual - belied the transforma however, conversion, That simple it. it did exceed If indeed, paid me. my spirit back in What chilled career. work to a stable salaried insecure hourly waged tion from the workforce into the impov- filled me with dread and drove me from what those early days, state I felt myself enter into was the zombified graduate education, erished ranks of humanities Like the march- into the night. that persisted all day and lingered long a state each morning, I felt that doing precarious Street and the Bank of England, Wall on ers in the zombie march away my dream of being young taking was slowly draining my life blood, labor for high capital Ever since escap- nightmare. and slowly transforming it into a gray York and alive in New reenter lower Manhattan. I had been reluctant to ever voluntarily ing the corporate hellhole, witness and participate in Occupy when I began taking trips in October to So I was surprised, snapping pictures of financial district, number of tourists milling around the at the Street, Wall street vendors, brokers, of police, threading their way amidst the crush happily the Exchange, of lower Manhattan from the Stock Exchange and the geography Considering and occupiers. these shutterbugs Were was an arresting thought. the point of view of a postmodern flâneur zombies were coming? to hear that the or excited, appalled, their I immediately understood Stock Exchange. Zuccotti Park and shambled towards the makeovers,” “corporate zombie externalize them into impulse to take their bad sentiments and at hunger of dead labor over live labor while, effigying the accumulated power and rapacious monstrous affect and roving tactics, identifying with the swarming movements, the same time, of only are a phenomenon somewhat surprised to learn, I was Zombie marches, of the zombies. (costumed “cosplay” designated as a form of They are officially 2010). Vale this past decade (do doc- conventions, now have their own websites, along with everything else it seems, play) and, reason- Their rise is attributed, subculture. umentaries: the whole apparatus of contemporary But it 2000s. to the resurgence of the zombie film as a Hollywood genre in the ably enough, phenomenon against the backdrop of awful carnage hardly strains credulity to understand the US President in Iraq conducted by former War and in particular the of the post-9/11 world, York and New Boston, Occupations in London, Blair. Bush and former British Prime Minister drawing on performance genre of our times, have adopted the zombie walk as a recognizable an accumu- kitsch as a commodified cultural unconscious, and zombie music videos, B-movies, reanimated through the theatricality of makeup and lation of dead and congealed labor that is everyday appa- Occupying the zombie march is a hand-to-hand combat with the make believe. a politi­ not a pious refusal of popular culture but ratuses of entertainment and distraction, for the purposes of its possible rerouting; not a cized immersion in its commodified affect an ensemblic desiring-­ but subject, “spectral” or “larval” ­recusal from the desires that result in a production of precarious time. the ’90s dot-com boom. 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