Matt Johnson is a writer, educator, facilitator, and social justice activist in Washington, D.C. He currently volunteers for the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, a small nonprofit that provides mediation, facilitation, and community conferencing, and Transformative D.C., a grassroots initiative that works to address interpersonal violence and harassment within the activist community.
Articles by Matt Johnson
Occupy Justice
As an activist for over seven years, I have witnessed numerous progressive organizations—even entire movements—fall apart due to internal conflict. Many blame this phenomenon on government infiltrators, which undoubtedly have played a role in sowing discontent and provoking violence within our ranks, but the presence of infiltrators alone cannot account for the general divisiveness that even the thoroughly inclusive Occupy movement has fallen prey to in its weaker moments.
Those in need of an example can look no further than what occurred in Oakland during the epic port shutdown last month. Conflict between Black Bloc anarchists and nonviolent activists propagated an easily exploitable rift in the movement during what should have been its finest hour.
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