If the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, with its paraphernalia of flags and vestments , reminded some people of the liberal revoluti...
If the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, with its paraphernalia of flags and vestments, reminded some people of the liberal revolutions of more than two centuries ago, it made me think of a more recent event. My mind went to the episode in the early pages of David Graeber’s The Democracy Project, which recounts his reaction from the spring of 2012 when a comrade of the Occupy Wall Street movement offered him a megaphone to address the assembled video cameras and a few dozen activists. The setting was nothing less than the steps of the Federal Hall Memorial in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
The brilliant professor and political activist gave an impromptu speech that was strongly inspired by the place he was at: the marble steps leading up to the memorial where the statue of George Washington presides over and protects the site of the signing of the US Bill of Rights. It is the birthplace of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, the one on freedom of speech, press and peaceful assembly, without which US could hardly claim the mantle of democracy, much less the label of being the oldest democracy.
From that place, Graeber, who died recently, told...
