“ŁP: Does it mean then that the piazza serves to uphold the social order and confirm our opinions about it – we go out for a family walk, see other people doing exactly the same and thus trust everything is in order – whereas the global street challenges it – we go out for a stroll in the park, see people in tents sleeping in it and thus are forced to ask what is going on? In other words, does the transformation from the ritualized public space to the global street come about by defying the existing social rules?

SS: To some extent yes, but you need to remember that defying the rules is not the aim in itself and is not sufficient condition for the global street to emerge. Many social actors defy the rules – mafia, hooligans, juvenile delinquents etc. What matters are the aims for which the rules are unsettled and the means by which this is done. Both elements were extraordinary in the last year’s protests. Whether in Egypt, the U.S., or elsewhere, it is important to note that the aim of the occupiers was not to grab power. Rather, they have been engaged in exposing deep flaws and wrongs in the political and social lives of their countries. As to the means, instead of traditional demonstrations we saw a new technique of opposition being applied and developed – occupation. Tahrir Square, los indignados, Occupy Wall Street, and others – made legible the fact that occupying makes novel territory, and thereby a bit of history, using what was previously considered merely ground. To occupy is to remake, even if temporarily, territory’s embedded and often deeply undemocratic logics of power, and to redefine the role of citizens, mostly weakened and fatigued after decades of growing inequality and injustice. Occupy takes a hard work – hour after hour, day after day, week after week you have to keep the place safe, you have to keep people engaged, you have to communicate with each other. This temporal dimension is what makes occupation specific and different from traditional demonstration. During this long-lasting process people develop new skills and capabilities. Let’s take the Occupy Wall Street as an example. When those people first got to the Zuccotti Park they did not know exactly what they were going to do – they learned through the process. I argue that in this process we can see the making of the social and the political.”

rest @ http://kulturaliberalna.pl/2012/02/20/the-global-street-or-the-democracy-of-the-powerless/