Occupy Wall Street movement has emerged from the call to occupy Wall St. launched by a Canadian anti-corporate magazine named Adbusters in July 2011 (http://www NULL.adbusters NULL.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet NULL.html?page=8#comments). Their idea was originated in the protests that shook the Middle East in the last year and also in the protests in Greece. They called for people to come and occupy Wall Street and to set up a peaceful barricade. The movement begun on September 17 and it still continues to grow on a global scale.
The main causes behind the protests are linked to the idea of the failure of democracy in USA. This failure can be seen in “the greatest corrupter of our democracy: Wall Street, the financial Gomorrah of America”. A simple, but powerful image of the evil that made American people pay for in the last three years, reaching a 9.1% rate of unemployment and other numerous financial issues – unaffordable health insurances or health insurances that don’t cover much of what is needed, retirement schemes that do not cover living expenses and many other financial issues related to recovering from the financial crisis (-http://mcgladrey NULL.com/Bank-Notes/Causes-and-effects-of-the-US-financial-crisis-of-2008-From-Wall-Street-to-Main-Street NULL.) that started in 2008.
Adbuster's call for Occupy Wall St
Demands
Although some suggest that the protesters have little to no idea on what they demand, this just shows their inability to first inform and then talk. On the Adbusters website, in the article from July 13, there are pinpointed several issues that this movement addresses.
The main idea is to take the power back from the 1% bankers and corporations and to give it to the rest of the 99%. How? By protesting until the President Obama “ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington”. This is the main goal this leaderless movement seeks to achieve. In other terms, giving back the power to the people who elect their government to work and protect them, because now the power is in the hands of those 1% that run the country from the shadow. Besides the main goal, there was also planned the expanding of the list of demands – this is currently going through a General Assembly which is “committed to making decisions based on collective agreement “. Everyone’s voice can be heard and can make proposals and contribute to the development of the agenda. The ultimate goal would be to build a new system, to bring into being “a new social dynamic in America”.
Are these plans realistic or merely idealistic? Is this movement simply the expression of the “frustrations the American people feel” as President Obama sees it? Or is it “anti-capitalist” as Herman Cain declares it and people should blame only themselves for not being rich? Ron Paul said that “the system has been biased against the middle class and the poor” and also that “the OWS was planned and orchestrated to distract people from the failed policies of the Obama administration”. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the protests lack productivity, although he was sympathetic to some of their complaints.
What is the truth? I will analyze some of these claims in further articles. The truth has many faces, indeed.
A short review of the events
Nobody knew how many would respond to this call, although Adbusters kept asking for around 20,000 people to show up on September 17 in the lower Manhattan. In the first day, September 17, 1000 people marched through streets and in the next 2 days seven people were arrested. By September 24, 80 people have already been arrested mostly for blocking traffic. There have been confrontations with the police and because of the police using unnecessary methods in order to quiet down the protesters – several women were pepper-sprayed by a police official, later identified as Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. This incident was considered to be a boost for the cause and the primary cause for the still growing movement (Clyde Haberman, NYT).
On October 1, during the march on Brooklyn Bridge 700 arrests were made as NYT reported. The arrests were made using buses to carry protesters off the bridge – and on the October 5, the bus drivers decided to support the movement by suing the NY Police Department for “commandeering their buses” and forcing them to cart detained protesters.
On October 5, union members, students and unemployed started marching through the Financial District – 15000 marchers protesting in a peaceful way, at least until nightfall when about 200 people tried to storm barricades that blocked their way to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. There were 28 people arrested that night.
In the last week, the example given by the Occupy Wall Street movement was inspiring for people all over the globe. There have been set up demonstrations in other American cities like Boston, Portland, Ashland, Seattle, San Jose, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and others.
On October 15 there have been set up global protests in more than 82 countries, using Facebook and Meetup to coordinate the events. A similar to OWS protest group has formed in the UK and was named OccupyLSX (London Stock Exchange). Other cities where demonstrations were held and their attendance (approximately): Rome (300,000), Madrid (500,000), Barcelona (400,000), Lisbon (100,000), Santiago, Zaragoza, Valencia (35,000-100,000), New York City (50,000). Other demonstrations with less than 10,000 attendances were: Berlin, Zagreb, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Ljubljana, Athens, Montreal, Paris, Miami. More information can be found here: http://15october.net/ (http://15october NULL.net/).
Links
Movement’s website
(http://occupywallst NULL.org/)
(http://www NULL.addtoany NULL.com/share_save)