Occupy Brisbane at Post Office Square is fascinating but will ultimately turn out to be futile. Unlike protestors against the Vietnam war or apartheid, the movement isn’t advancing a specific and potentially achievable policy position, but instead calling for some unrealistic anarchism. This is clear from their website blurb:

We will ALWAYS remain peaceful and respectful of all political persuasions, working with Police & the people of Brisbane. We simply propose a directly democratic and non-hierarchical social situation where neither capital nor the state determine the way we live or how society functions – that is what would be ideal. In other words, a real democracy in which we consciously and collectively determine social life. This is incompatible with both capitalism and state socialism – both of which produce economic and political monopolies.

Given their clearly anarchistic leanings, it’s probably unsurprising that, after nearly two weeks of occupation, they still can’t agree on a mission statement. Clicking on the Mission Statement button on the website produces:

The mission statement is currently being drafted and voted on in the General Assembly each day. Once this document is finalised it will be posted here.