That's how it worked for me (privacy advocacy protests in France). But now that I think about it, it makes sense that big protests are actually more of a recruiting tool for already established organization than a way to know each others. My example may be marginal in that it was on a small subject that did not bring a lot of big names.
You're missing the forest for the trees on Occupy. Loads of people and groups active today found each other through that or got their start there.
Re:The Real Class War
by Ericson2314 on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @11:34PM
(#21654602)
I want to believe it. Have any examples?
The biggest counter example I can think of was Occupy Wall Street. AFAIK nothing ever came out of it, not even a small organised group.
Most protests I've seen have actually been the other way around. They were organised by pressure groups or unions and the protesters were already members of those groups. They existed primarily as a chest-beating exercise to show politicians their power. A few protests are more spontaneous especially the sort when democracies get overthrown or established. But in the west protests don't ever seem to create new organised movements.