Progressive stack
Encyclopedia
A progressive stack is a technique used in some general assemblies in the Occupy movement
Occupy movement
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to be widely covered was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, taking place on September 17, 2011...

, designed to ensure that people from marginalized groups get a chance to speak.

The theory behind the progressive stack is that people who are part of the majority or dominant culture
Dominant culture
The dominant culture in a society refers to the established language, religion, behavior, values, rituals, and social customs. These traits are often the norm for the society as a whole...

 are generally encouraged to express themselves, while people from minority or non-dominant groups are mostly silenced or ignored. In practice, "majority culture" is typically interpreted by progressive stack practitioners to mean white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

 or male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...

 or young adult, while non-dominant groups include women, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
LGBT culture
LGBT culture, is the common culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It is sometimes also referred to as Queer culture. The term gay culture, though not synonymous, is sometimes also used though this may also apply specifically to the culture of homosexual men.LGBT...

, non-white people, and very young or older people.

The "stack" in the Occupy movement, is the list of speakers who are commenting on proposals or asking questions in public meetings. Anyone can request to be added to the stack. In meetings that don't use the progressive stack, people speak in the order they were added to the queue. In meetings that use the progressive stack, people from non-dominant groups are sometimes allowed to speak before people from dominant groups, by facilitator
Facilitator
A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in the discussion...

s, or stack-keepers, urging speakers to "step forward, or step back" based on which group they belong to.

The progressive stack concept is controversial inside the Occupy movement, and has been criticized outside the movement as "forced equality", "racist", "sexist", and "unfair." It has been adopted for Occupy Wall Street, but not for all Occupy locations.
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