I decided to start watching the films produced by Citizen United Films and the first one that I decided to watch, given the connection to my research on CastroChavismo, was Occupy Unmasked.
A project of Steve Bannon and Andrew Breitbart’s – I found the film to be compelling in its depiction of the covert goals of the Occupiers; the disingenuous methods used to try to obtain positive media coverage and the generally intellectually bankrupt character of the personalities involved despite whatever “good intentions” they claimed. This was, in fact, why I paid so little attention to what was going on after the first encampment was created in Zuccotti Park.
While I was living in Barcelona, Spain at the time that the occupation started, the supposedly “spontaneous” event was being planned when I was living in New York City and attending New York University. In fact in my Contemporary Marxist Theory class, taught by Vivek Chibber, there were several students from the New School for Social Research – the educational institution associated with the Frankfurt School that sought people to become involved in this “spontaneous” uprising against the 1%.
Before that, even, at an academic conference at SUNY Binghamton, I debated with Micah White (one of the “founders” of the movements) over the merits of the actions to come. My experience at this conference of self-proclaimed radicals was so cringy I even wrote a poem about it.
Occupy Unmasked: A Critical Appraisal
My one criticism of the film, which is half-heartedly given the closeness of the film’s release to the events described, is that it doesn’t delve deep enough into the details on the personalities driving occupy.
The section on Brandon Darby and Common Grounds Collective, for instance, covers a very significant point – the infiltration by communists and anarchists into “solidarity” and assistance organizations in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina for the purpose of base-building for the purpose of creating Dual Power.
The various organizations and their connections to international organizations, international political parties, and the intelligence services operations of foreign states – however – are not explored in the film. Furthermore the connection of various domestic educational institutions – such as NYU’s Hemispheric Institute and the New School for Social Research, who in their own literature describes themselves as the heirs of the Frankfurt School – is not covered.
Given that the focus of the film is on showing the anti-Consitutional, anti-capitalist, illegalist, and insurrectionary nature of OWS political activists as well as it’s connections to unions – this is just additional erudition related to points made in the film.
Occupy Wall Street, Rape and “Alternative Justice” 
One of the most compelling moments of Occupy Unmasked is when Andrew Breitbart yells repeatedly into the Zuccoti Park encampment: “Stop raping people.” after rapes were reported to the police and news media. While this film focuses on New York, it’s important to note that there were a number of other sexual assaults at Occupy Wall Street camps – including that of minors.
Breitbart, immediately thereafter records someone on film stating that they have their own set of “means” for dealing with such crimes.
As someone that has read the accounts of sexual assaults by now-former members of various American Socialist Parties, it’s worth noting that there are a number of instances described by members criminal charges are not brought against anyone (as it would damage the prestige of the organization and thus the likelihood of revolution) and instead, like the practices of the Catholic Church and pedophile priests, organizers are instead sent to other cities and those that bring it up publicly are ostracized.
Occupy Unmasked and CastroChavismo
Watching Steve Bannon’s film I noticed a number of indicators that are connected to my own documentary/data science project.
The below photo collection further provides further evidence to my own Movement of Movements Thesis, as well as reinforces the claims made by Bannon and Breitbart in Occupy Unmasked.
