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Chapter One

Why Occupy Religion?

We'll occupy the streets We'll occupy the courts We'll occupy the offices of you Till you do The bidding of the many, not the few Weare the many You are the few

-"We Are the Many," Makana

As the multitude filtered into lower Manhattan and eventually into Zuccotti Park in New York, excitement was in the air. They came from all walks of life to express their anger and disgust that American banks worked for the rich and the political system was broken. Some young protesters brought their sleeping bags, believing that they could spend the night on Wall Street. Marina Sitrin, an activist, recalled, "That was an incredible moment." I Sitrin and other activists in New York had worked tirelessly over the summer months to organize the protest. Just as the civil rights movement was a defining moment for the older generation, the Occupy Wall Street movement could well be a turning point for the young men and women gathered under the clear sky on this September night. The protest was inspired by a small Canadian-based magazine, Adbusters,

which issued a call in July for people to "flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months." Local organizers in New York met to plan for action and set up a website: occupywallst.org.? On September 17, 2011, some one thousand protesters streamed into Zuccotti Park, north of the New York Stock Ex-

2 Chapter 1

change, to denounce big banks, big corporations, and government bailouts. Images of the red, grey, and green tents in the Occupy Wall Street encamp- ment went viral across the globe. On October 15, 2011, protests, rallies, and demonstrations took place in more than 950 cities around the world, showing that Occupy Wall Street had touched a deep chord.

The Occupy movement was part of a much larger global protest and revolt in 2011. It began when a Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, drenched himself in paint thinner and then lit a match to protest against police harassment and government callousness. His death ignited large-scale rallies and demonstrations for democracy and economic justice across Arab cities in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria, and other countries. Some three hundred thousand protesters occupied Tahrir Square and the adjacent streets in Cairo for eighteen days from January to February and finally brought down the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Journalists and commentators used the term "Arab Spring" to describe the populist uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East, although not all the protesters were Arab. Encouraged by political populism in the Arab world, Adbusters issued a challenge for Americans: "Are you ready for a Tahrir moment?" Time magazine chose "The Protester" as its 2011 Person of the Year,

saying, "In 2011, protesters didn't just voice their complaints; they changed the world."3 The year 2011 was another year of economic crises across the globe, after the financial market plummeted in 2008. In early August, Stan- dard & Poor's downgraded the u.S. credit rating for the first time, dealing a symbolic blow to the world's economic superpower. The debt crises in Greece, Portugal, Italy, and Spain brought about the near collapse of the Euro. Many European governments had no other choice except to tighten their belts and adopt austerity measures. People responded with swift and fierce reactions. On May 15, 2011, twenty-thousand indignados, "the out- raged," poured into Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza, along with tens of thou- sands more in other Spanish cities. One of their slogans said, "We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers."

These mass protests sprang up without much encouragement from the established political parties. The protesters were predominantly young, edu- cated, and middle class. They were frustrated by welfare cuts, rising student debts, unemployment, and the dysfunctional political and economic systems. Instead of resigning themselves to hopelessness, they used social networks and the Internet to find other like-minded people and took to the street to

Why Occupy Religion? 3

denounce capitalism and demand radical changes. Occupy Wall Street de- clares, "2011 will be remembered as a year of revolution, the beginning of the end for an unsustainable global system based on poverty, oppression, and violence."!

Global movements for economic justice began as protests during the an- nual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in different European cities in the late 1980s. Anti-globalization efforts gath- ered momentum in 1999 in Seattle, when demonstrators blocked the dele- gates' entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings. Protest groups joined hands to bring the plight of farmers, fishing people, small businesses, and indigenous peoples to public attention during WTO, G7, and G20 gatherings. In addition to protesting economic inequity, global efforts to denounce the Iraq War culminated in massive demonstrations in numerous cities over the weekend of February 15, 2003. The protest in Rome involved 3 million people, while the rally in Madrid attracted 1.5million. The Occupy movement represents the latest expression of the movement of the multitude. Its slogan-"We are the 99 percent"-captures the imagination of people who believe that the status quo is unjust and unsustainable and that a new social contract is urgently necessary.

Mainstream media in the United States at first ignored the Occupy move- ment, paying it little attention. Some journalists dismissed the occupiers as nothing more than a bunch of homeless people and privileged students. But when politicians, including President Barack Obama, started to take notice and weighed in, the media gave greater coverage to it. The occupiers learned from other movements in Tunisia, Egypt, and Iran to use social media and live video streaming to broadcast their message. The movement created its websites, anthems, songs, symbols, slogans, videos, and Iivestream broad- casts via the Internet. With 2012 being an election year in the United States and the unemployment rate hovering around 8 percent, the question of how to fix the economy has become a focal point of political debates. The slogan "We are the 99 percent" has entered into the cultural and political lexicon, with some using it as a rallying cry against economic disparity and others calling the concept divisive and un-American. 5

After the Occupy Wall Street movement created a tent-city in Zuccotti Park, protesters in other cities soon followed its example. Worldwide protests against corporate greed, economic injustice, and political disenfranchisement challenge communities of faith to respond, as the majority of religious people are members of the 99 percent. The Occupy movement rekindles our hope

4 Chapter I

that another world is possible and opens spaces for dialogues and direct actions against the status quo, which benefits a tiny minority. This hope is not the utopian hope of dreamers but finds its roots in grassroots organizing and actions. Young people across the globe have stood up and demanded their voices be heard. In the United States and elsewhere, promising young men and women risk arrest, imprisonment, and death by taking actions to change the world and to create a better future.

The Occupy movement calls for serious reflection on the social and eco- nomic teachings of the church, its images of God and other topics, and a public theology that speaks to the challenges of our time. In the 1960s and 1970s, Latin American liberation theology, feminist theology, black theolo- gy, and other liberation theologies emerged during the periods of mass social movements against colonialism, economic exploitation, and gender and ra- cial discrimination." Today, some scholars, particularly those residing in North America, argue that these various theological movements are passe and have lost their momentum. No doubt the world has changed, and move- ments and ways of analyzing the world are changing as well. But much of what liberation theology has to say is stilI very relevant. The world is in need of liberation more than ever before, and the insistence on the preferential option for the poor is at the heart of many of our most progressive Jewish and Christian traditions. Given the fact that the global economic system has changed dramatically since the 1970s, notions like "the poor," "the op- pressed," or "the marginalized" need to be expanded and refined, as econom- ic wealth is increasingly amassed and controlled by a tiny global elite, the so- called I percent. 7

This book is titled Occupy Religion because we want to challenge tradi- tional ways of thinking about religion and the space that religion is supposed to inhabit. Since the Enlightenment, many people in the West have espoused the notion that religion should be a private matter, separate from and having little to do with the public sphere. Max Weber has characterized modernity in Western Europe by rationalization and the "disenchantment of the world" at both the personal and societal levels. 8 But in many parts of the world, relig- ion has not stopped exerting enormous influences in public life. Religious fundamentalism has played increasingly important roles in various religions, including the Religious Right in the United States. At the same time, progres- sive forms of religion have also made a difference. Since September I I, 2001, religion has increasingly entered the public domain in the United States and in policy discussions, especially in the context of terrorism, inter-

Why Occupy Religion? 5

national relations, and global peace. There has been a notable change of attitude in the secular state and public domain regarding the enduring influ- ences of religion and religious communities.

The term "occupy" has many meanings within the Occupy movement, and there are people who are both for and against the use of this term, as we will discuss in chapter 3. It is not used in a military sense, such as to take hold or take possession of land and property through the use of force or violence. Rather, "occupy" connotes taking back what is supposed to belong to the public, so that power and wealth will be shared more equitably and not concentrated in the hands of a few. It also means creating physical and imaginary spaces so that an alternative world can be thought and experi- enced. As a verb, "occupy" is action-oriented and means "to employ, busy, or engage (oneself, one's attention, mind, etc.)," according to Webster's New World Dictionary. 9 For the occupiers, this means getting busy and engaging in taking action to change the status quo. In the process, the plight of working people, the poor, and the marginalized has received more attention, com- bined with a new awareness of the difference that common people can make when they organize.

"Occupy religion" does not mean using force or other means to take over religious institutions and structures, holy sites, worshipping spaces, or relig- ious goods, but rather indicates the conceptualization of a democratic and participatory space for religious life, broadly conceived, and active engage- ment to make this a reality. It challenges rigid boundaries between the sacred and the profane, as well as between the professional religious elites and the masses, and thus transforms narrow notions of religion as private or other- worldly. "Occupy religion" aims to demystify and debunk religious doctrines and social teachings that provide both religious sanction and justification for economic and social inequality. It critiques religious institutions and struc- tures that silence, discriminate, and marginalize people because of class, race, gender, and sexuality, and thus hand the power to the I percent. "Occu- py religion" calls religious communities to account and asks them to engage critically in transforming the world to make it just for all and sustainable for the environment.

The concept of "occupy religion" invites us to rethink the nature, purpose, and functions of theology, which means God-talk. For too long, theology has been conceived as a reflection of faith for the internal consumption of relig- ious communities, and as a highly specialized discipline with very abstruse language in the academy. We believe that theology should be done in the

6 Chapter 1

public square more intentionally, promoting conversations and stimulating debates for the welfare of the people. Today, we know that theology cannot be separated from life, and that all theology is political, even if it is not aware of this truth. 10 For this reason, theology needs to be more forthcoming in addressing important social and political issues that the public is concerned about and bringing out the public relevance of religious faiths and beliefs. It is interdisciplinary in nature because life cannot be divided up according to disciplines, and it engages the work of critical thinkers, whose ideas and thoughts shape public discourse.

We would like to call the kind of public theology we are proposing "theology of the multitude" inspired by the global mass protests we saw in 2011. The term "multitude" has been popularized by the political theorists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. In their influential volume titled Empire, they distinguish empire of our time from imperialism of an earlier period because empire "establishes no territorial center of power and does not rely on fixed boundaries and barriers."!' Imperialism relies on the ruling of foreign territories and peoples by force, by political collaboration, and by economic and cultural dependence. But with the changing role of nation- states and the globalization of capitalist production, the global reach of em- pire increasingly controls and influences all aspects of our lives. Resisting the forces of empire, a new political subject, which Hardt and Negri call "the multitude," is in the process of rising up. The multitude does not consist of one particular class or sector of society, but includes the working class, migrant and seasonal workers, unpaid domestic laborers, the unemployed and the underemployed, and the poor and the destitute, who also contribute to society. As Hardt and Negri write, "The multitude is thus composed poten- tially of all the diverse figures of social production."12 This is what the Occupy movement has called the 99 percent, and it has been joined even by some members of the I percent.

The concept of the multitude resonates with the Greek New Testament term ochlos, meaning a crowd or mass of people, and the term laos, meaning the common people. These terms appear in the Gospels and Acts many times. As we will discuss in more detail in chapter 4, the crowd followed Jesus from place to place as people gathered around him, listened to his parables and teachings, and witnessed his miracles and healing. In the Gospels, the crowd was portrayed as on the side of Jesus and contrasted with the ruling class from Jerusalem. Jesus had "compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd" (Mark 6:34). A new interpretation of ochlos in the

Why Occupy Religion? 7

Bible stimulated South Korean theologians to develop what is known as minjung theology in the 1970s during their struggles against the dictatorial Park Chung-Hee government. New theological appropriations of ochlos, laos, or "the multitude" for our time have particular relevance for the Occupy movement today.

Although this book focuses primarily on the Christian tradition, it will also include insights and contributions from other religious traditions. We hope it will stimulate people of other faith communities to think about the meaning of "occupy religion" in their own traditions. Written with general readers in mind, this book is organized along the following lines. Chapter 2 provides the social and economic contexts for the emergence of the Occupy movement and the rhetoric of the 1 percent and the 99 percent. It discusses the shift of geopolitics and implications of the dichotomy of the 1 percent and the 99 percent for religion and everything else in the United States and the world. While most commentators interpret the dichotomy of the I percent and the 99 percent strictly in economic terms, we seek to draw out the contrast in broader implications because economic issues can no longer be separated from other aspects of life.

Chapter 3 discusses the Occupy movement within the context of interna- tional anti-globalization movements and other grassroots efforts against the exploitation of global capital. It elucidates the concepts of globalization from below and direct democracy, and it shows how they provide important per- spectives for looking at the Occupy movement. The Occupy movement has attracted a fair share of criticism as well as support from a wide range of people. The chapter discusses the critics and the cultural brokers and offers examples of how the faith communities have responded to the movement.

In chapter 4, we begin our reflections on a new theology of the multitude. When we bring together the concerns of the 99 percent with concerns raised by various liberative theologies in the recent past, new theological sensitiv- ities emerge. Deep solidarity transforms both the transcendent and the imma- nent. As a result, the focus shifts from distribution to production. This means that the question is no longer merely whether there is enough to go around (i.e., distribution); the question is also what difference the multitude makes in both church and world (i.e., production).

Fresh visions of the divine are presented in chapter 5. Atheists have a point, we note, because many of the most common images of God resemble the powers that be rather than the liberative manifestations of God that are so deeply embedded in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and many other religious

8 Chapter 1

traditions. Not surprisingly, Christians were considered atheists by the theo- logians of the Roman Empire. Engaging the divine from the perspective of the 99 percent, we reclaim radical images of God in our traditions that present us with an alternative understanding of power and inspire new rela- tions among people and communities.

Chapter 6 considers the church of the multitude by first discussing how economics and class have affected the development of the structure and life of the church. The Occupy movement stimulates us to think of the ecclesia (assembly) ofthe people of God in new ways, especially in the understanding of sacred space and time. The chapter argues that the church needs to allow the people of God to have a foretaste of God's reign. Through embodying diversity and adopting participatory structures, the church of the multitude can unleash the potential of the people to bear witness to God's shalom.

We believe that a theology of the multitude must be done in consultation with the multitude so that many voices can be heard. In the process of writing this book, we interviewed and spoke to protesters in the Occupy movement and theologians associated with them in New York, Boston, Chicago, Minne- apolis, Tucson, Dallas, Lincoln (Nebraska), Oakland, and Los Angeles. We also gathered information from people in other cities when we attended aca- demic and church gatherings in the spring of 2012. In addition, we used a "crowdsourcing" method, soliciting information and comments through Facebook and Twitter, much as the occupiers have done.

As theologians, we have participated in social movements in Asia, Eu- rope, and the United States and have written in various genres related to liberation theology for decades. Kwok Pui-Ian grew up in the former British colony of Hong Kong and is involved in the Asian feminist movement. Joerg Rieger grew up in southern Germany and is active in worker justice and other social movements. The collaboration of two persons with different social and cultural backgrounds and worldviews brings novel and complementary per- spectives to bear on the subject matter. Kwok, the 2011 president of the American Academy of Religion, is a pioneer of postcolonial theory and cultural studies in religion and theology. Rieger has pioneered a fresh under- standing of economics and class in religion and theology as well as empire, and is also conversant with various critical theories. They have worked to- gether before, collaborating with Don H. Compier in editing Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians, 13 which was selected as one of the ten best books in 2008 and won the Best Reference Book of the Year Award in 2008 from the Academy of Parish Clergy.

Why Occupy Religion? 9

At a time when many people are puzzled by the Occupy movement and wonder what its future will be, this book provides a helpful guide for Chris- tians and the general public. We hope that these reflections on theology of the multitude will stimulate new theological reflections and perhaps even the emergence of a new theological movement as a response to our time. We offer this book to soulful searchers for justice and to imaginative visionaries whose hearts are prompted by the Spirit. We invite all those who believe in the subversive and transforming power of the God incarnate into the conver- sation of "occupy religion."