ESSAYS ON THE FUTURE OF ACTIVISM, WHY PROTESTS FAIL AND HOW TO CREATE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Micah Bornfree’s essays have appeared in The Guardian, the LA Review of Books, and other publications. His writing argues that contemporary protest is broken and proposes new frameworks — constructive failure, social movement warfare, mental environmentalism — for reinventing activism in the 21st century.

Essays

I Started Occupy Wall Street. Russia Tried to Co-opt Me
The Guardian, November 2, 2017
Micah Bornfree reveals how Russian intelligence operatives created fake activist front organizations to co-opt the Occupy movement, introducing the concept of social movement warfare.

Clicktivism Is Ruining Leftist Activism
The Guardian, August 12, 2010
Micah Bornfree coined the critique of clicktivism, arguing that digital activism has adopted the logic of marketing and degraded political engagement into a series of meaningless clicks.

Occupy and Black Lives Matter Failed. We Can Either Win Wars or Win Elections
The Guardian, August 29, 2017
Micah Bornfree argues that Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter failed to achieve lasting change because contemporary protest is based on the false assumption that governments derive authority from popular consent.

Without a Path from Protest to Power, the Women’s March Will End Up Like Occupy
The Guardian, January 21, 2017
Micah Bornfree warned that the Women’s March risked the same fate as Occupy Wall Street unless it created a concrete path from symbolic protest to political power through elections.

Protests Won’t Stop Trump. We Need a Movement That Transforms into a Party
The Guardian, 2017
Micah Bornfree traces Trump’s rise to the defeat of Occupy Wall Street and proposes that protest movements must transform into political parties to achieve lasting power.

Why Aren’t the Streets Full of Protest About the Paradise Papers?
The Guardian, November 10, 2017
Micah Bornfree argues that the absence of protest over the Paradise Papers is a positive sign — an indication that activists are reimagining revolutionary tactics beyond predictable street demonstrations.

Real Americans Have Always Been Rebels: A Guide for Revolutionary Patriotism
The Guardian, 2017
Micah Bornfree reclaims patriotism for the activist left, arguing that revolutionary rebellion is the authentic American tradition.

The LA Review of Books Chats with Micah White
LA Review of Books
An extended conversation about the crisis of sovereignty, the failure of DeRay Mckesson’s concept of protest, and the inspiring enigma of Dr. Lenora Fulani.