# Popular assembly > A popular assembly (or people's assembly) is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Assemblies tend to be freely open to participation and operate by [[direct democracy]]. Some assemblies are of people from a location, some from a given workplace, industry or educational establishment others are called to address a specific issue. > > – [Popular assembly - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_assembly) > From the quartiers of the [[Paris Commune]] to the general assemblies of [[Occupy Wall Street]] and elsewhere, these self-organized democratic councils run like a red thread through history up to the present. > > – [[The Next Revolution]] > which [[Hannah Arendt]] called the “lost treasure” of the revolutionary tradition > > – [[The Next Revolution]]