#A99DirectDemo

We are proposing a workshop on a practice that was named democracy of direct action. It’s a practice that evolved in the Slovenian 15o movement in the process of occupying the stock exchange, and the ensuing encampment, which lasted from 15.10.2011 until 15.3.2012. Democracy of direct action (DDA) is a methodology of organizing that enabled the functioning of the camp as well as development of initiatives and campaigns around different topics. In contrast with other similar movements the daily assemblies took only the role of forum in which practical questions of camp (for example logistics) were discussed and workshops were announced and reported. Content based discussions and political actions were developed inside workshops, which were to a great extent autonomous in relation to the assembly. We would like to share the experiences gathered during last year’s occupation since we are convinced that the outcomes could be interesting for future organizing. Namely, in case of the Slovenian movement DDA revealed itself as a practical political tool for facilitation of the process but even more importantly it kept the space open for the growth of different initiatives on the level of content and methodology. In this way it enabled the engagement of minoritarian voices, which are frequently hushed in the process of searching of consensus. Our workshop will emphasize these emancipatory and minoritarian aspects of DDA as an opening of discussion around the centrality of methodology in building the political struggle, enabling all levels of experience to find ways into the movement and to build participation around need and desire.We are looking for other to share their methodologies in this space also.