Occupy the future

A remarkable feature of the Occupy movement has been the widespread calls for protesters to ‘Occupy the Future’, reclaiming time as a form of commons: something that is collectively practised, shared, and distributed. In one striking poster (Figure 7.1), a faceless businessman, coloured in red and with an angel’s halo and a devil’s tail, walks towards a little girl holding a large banner saying ‘Occupy your future’. The girl stands in front of a crowd of protesters, and stands firm on the bottom edge of the image. The businessman, by contrast, despite his size, is lost in the middle of the image, anchorless in a sea of grey. The little girl, through her age and gender, embodies conventions of purity and reproductive futurity; the crowd behind her offer the strength to overcome the satanic corporate world. The image articulates a theological temporality of innocence, salvation, and fulfilment.