Analysis Of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is a political movement that was created in 2011 to address income inequality in the United States. Protesters involved in this movement hoped to bring attention to the unfair distribution of power and influence that the wealthiest 1% of

Occupy Wall Street has been called many things including: unfocused, ungrounded, and silly. Others coin it as “America’s first internet-era movement” (Rushkoff). In quintessence, Occupy Wall Street is a series of protests and demonstrations that oppose the influence that corporate greed has on American Democracy. The protestors manipulate marches and nonviolent demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with the state of American Politics and economy. This relates to the political science concepts of power, performance democracy, and protective democracy.

On September 17, 2011 hundreds of people began to gather in Zuccotti Park, New York which is Wall Street’s financial district under the banner “Occupy Wall Street”: these three simple words are causing an uproar in America (Engler). Additionally, these three words happen to be protesting the current status of America’s financial condition. With the economy in America being as terrible as it is, and the unemployment rate skyrocketing, it is absolutely necessary for some sort of change to occur. The Occupy Wall Street protesting is most positively a progressive step for the economic state in America and it is a step in the right direction.

September 17, 2011 is the day the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City. The main issues include social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the undue influence of corporations on government according to The New York Times. The mix of moral foundations based on ideas from the anthropologist Richard Shweder, outline six clusters of moral concern - care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority, or sanctity. OWS main moral issues include: fairness, care, and liberty. Fairness – the rich (the “1” percent) got rich by taking without giving. OWS protesters viewed the

The activists feel like this disruptive protest is needed in order to disturb not only the public but to disturb politicians and people in high places. They feel like in this way they will grab the attention, sympathy, and support of citizens and will force politicians to face these issues and propose solutions to them like police reform and will also remind the police force and all other authorities that they are aware of these injustices and that they are never ignored (Mather).

One of the most renowned social movements since the civil rights movement was the “Occupy Movement”. This movement helped people see how big of a fraud the financial system was, at the the time. These occupiers demanded that there be a change towards the lack of real democracy and social inequality that was displayed within the economy during this time. Occupiers wanted economical justice, and through their protests they earned the economical rights they deserved. For example, “The occupy movement started as result of the great recession from 2007-2011. Due to the Subprime mortgage crisis, the stock market crashed and people on wall street began to rage with protest which led to this movement. Occupiers were resolute to make a change towards

On September 17, 2011 an unorganized, rudimentary, and diffuse group of activists set up camp in New York’s Zuccotti Park, a privately owned green space in New York’s financial district. The group set out to battle social inequality, corporate greed, and the super power that financial institutions and multinational companies hold over the democratic process. What started out as a grass roots movement has since become a major hot button in media and politics alike. Newt Gingrich has called the “concept of the ninety-nine and the one” both divisive and “un-American.” (Stolarik) When asked about the OWS movement, former President Jimmy Carter has said “Helping the less fortunate should be viewed as a moral obligation and not an act

Some may disregard the protests to be pointless and worthless, but this type of activism initially created the country over two hundred years ago and continues to be a core idea that Americans should value. Past demonstrations such as the March on Washington or protests for women’s suffrage show success both socially as they spread awareness but politically as well. Making that distinction is essential in order to show people the importance of why protests should be respected. If protests currently make a social change, it is difficult to see at the moment until people reflect on the era in history. On the other hand, political change represents the thoughts of the people in a more substantial manner that causes others to consider the issue

As a result of the 2008 US financial crisis, the OWS was formed within the period of the US’ recovery process to fight the oppression of the current economic powers. From various sources, OWS seemed to have gained inspiration from Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is a wave of protests for political change. The Americans realized that they desired a change of economic system because the capitalist system was creating social inequality.8 Still, the movement of OWS is an ‘occupy movement’ that needs to be defined and understand the shift

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square began against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments that led to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement would be called Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed “to fight back against the corrosive

The concerns of the majority Americans have no immediate solution as the answer lies in the separated divisions in government. Political stances of Democrat, Republican and Liberal views about Occupy Wall Street have separate and distinct ideals. But, one unified front from all three is that the movement has gotten out-of-hand; caught between the freedom of speech act, and the health and safety of the public from themselves. Michael Kirby Smith, of The New York Times, commented in an article that because of the anti-Semitism displays during Occupy Wall Street, President Barak Obama and House Representative Nancy Pelosi recanted their support for the Wall Street protests. Yet, recently in an article by Mark Whittington of Yahoo News, writes that even though President Obama

The Occupy Wall Street began in fall of 2011 in response to an email which was sent by online publication Adbusters. In this call-to-arms, those without jobs or other such responsibilities were urged to make their way to Manhattan for a long-term civil protest. The purpose of this gathering would be to decry the prevalence of corruption in the United States government, specifically as it related to Wall Street. (Economic Sociology and Political Economy)The physical movement began in a private New York City Park which was soon dubbed ‘Liberty Square ', and continued to grow until mid-November of 2011 when the protesters were forcibly evicted by the New York police. While many assumed that this would be the end of the organization, they simply moved their protest online, where they still manage to maintain a presence on the political activism scene, and have expanded to include a plethora of other socio-political causes. One of the riskiest methods utilized by the Occupy Wall Street campaign was their use of protestor-created signs and photos, rather than professional advertisements. This personalized approach often proves to be far more productive than a mere print ad. Using the classic method of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, they succeeded in manipulating the tendency of humanity to believe anything with a statistic attached to it, as well as their emotions and desire to believe in their fellow man, which in turn created an explosive cocktail of a movement and made Occupy

Since the beginning of the 1900’s the world has seen more and more social movements being led by young people, who protest against the worlds inequalities. These movements range from the civil rights movement, to the hippie movement in the late 60’s to more “modern” movements. One of those movements is the Occupy Wall Street movement or OWS for short. From October 2011 onward, OWS was not only the largest protest movement in North America but also sparked worldwide protest that either used the Occupy name or embodied the OWS ideology in some way. This essay will first talk about the origin of OWS, its ideology, goals and controversies surrounding protest and police involvement. It will then move on to talk about the ripple

The Occupy Movement is an international activist movement that fosters social and economic change and originated from the actions of the Occupy Wall Street movement (source #7). The focus is on the Occupy Wall Street movement that was launched on September 17th 2011 and was catalysed by Adbusters activist Micah White. White created a web page about the corruption that was happening surrounding the financial crisis in the United States leading to the most recent recession. Large corporations based in the area of Wall Street have a great deal of wealth and in turn considerable influence on the democratic process. This particular occupy movement is motivated by the revolutionary protests in Egypt and Tunisia. The American protestors were convinced they could have an effect on the government through their protests. What this means is 1 percent of the population holds 35 percent of all stock and the other 99% marginally less (Source #3). Holding this much wealth this 1% has a great influence on democratic decision making. The official website for the occupy Wall Street movement puts it best saying: “aims to fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the rules of an unfair global economy” (source #2). The procedure of the Occupy Wall Street movement is quite simple. White outlines on her web page how she wanted 20,000 people to occupy Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. The protestor’s occupied the square, made signs and chanted messages like “We are the 99%”

In 2008, the financial crisis that occurred left the poor and middle classes to suffer, with high unemployment rates and homes foreclosed. The financial district that was the cause of the crisis received trillions of dollars in bailouts, which sparked extreme discontent in the citizens. (“Occupy Movement”). Proponents argue that the protesters are doing the right thing in standing up for what they think is right for their country, the people, and the Earth. They argue that greed needs to go and that everyone should work together in peace and harmony.