Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
tbh it's difficult to answer your first question, as although its initial growth was spectacular, it's not obvious whether its (british) growth has continued, or what the turnover of adherents is. are its numbers increasing or are they treading water? while it is astonishing that a movement could blossom out of nowhere, i am yet to be persuaded that this is a hardy perennial. what seems to me to have happened is that it has struck a chord as the 'make poverty history' campaign of 2005 struck a chord with so many people. however, looking at the people who make up the bulk of xr's street presence, they seem a) white and b) middle class. there also seems to be a streak of new age thinking running through the movement, with people pictured yesterday meditating on one of the bridges. i wonder whether xr as it is has reached its apogee and changes might have to be made if it is to grow and become resilient.
one thing which is a general feature of anarchist and socialist protests is movement. people march through the streets, whether from a to b on a route agreed with the police or as a wandering mob or mass. the advantages possessed by people out for one of the may days (after 2000) or for the later student protests was were their movement and their unpredictability. being static removes the ability of protesters to retain the initiative, and leaves control of events largely with the police: xr remain where they are at the pleasure of the police. this surrenders the great advantages people who were out at j18, on some of the maydays and on the student protests enjoyed. but xr have made two rods for their own backs. on the one hand their stated aim is to change government policy, while on the other they want to act in way which they think will retain public confidence. I don't think they can have it both ways, either they put on a serious and sustained campaign of civil disobedience which encompasses not only blocking streets and bridges but non-cooperation with the state and recognises that push may well come to shove, or they're an irritant to government and the police and of no real use in forcing change any more than the occasional one-day strike really furthers workers' interests.
as this is a constructed movement, as opposed to campaigns which have developed organically, i suspect it contains the seeds of its own destruction as it tries to be so many things to so many people. without a clear political direction or tendency i feel it is built on sand and will splinter fairly easily. xr is currently bright and shiny but unless they do something new soon they will soon be as lacklustre as other movements.
