There’s been a lot of talk lately about participatory and direct democracy. Renewed
interest in alternative forms of organising society has arisen from increasing
dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and the domination of the economy by a few
corporations. This dissatisfaction has found its expression in the Arab spring, the May
15th movement in Spain and the Occupy movement in the English-speaking world. Where the
anti-capitalist movement of the last decade focussed almost exclusively on the power of
the corporations and finance capital, this current tendency is to also focus on politics
and the state. ---- The movement in the English speaking world has exhibited many
difficulties: The rejection of previous organisational forms and aversion to traditional
politics, while understandable given the history of the authoritarian left, has led to any
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