Occupy Wall Street Movement

Craig Calhoun’s article “Occupy Wall Street in perspective” comes into great comparison with Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street". They are both written works about protest and conflict. There is not a various amount of movement in either section, but there does tend to be the statement of “I would prefer not to” (Melville, 55). In “Bartleby the Scrivener” the readers have to try and understand for themselves why Bartleby would prefer not to since the answer is never given in the text. The article, "OWS" clarifies why Bartleby would prefer not to, in “Bartleby the Scrivener", through the setting, the 99% vs. the 1% contrast, and passive resistance.

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.

Protests are a way that many citizens have historically exercised their right to freedom of speech and as to voice their opinions on current matters in the U.S. as well as other nations. Protests help the uninformed get informed on specific issues, and try to persuade fellow citizens. What were some of the effective aspects of the protests that were portrayed in “The Matrix”, “Battle in Seattle” as well as those in “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”? What were the downfalls? An effective protest is one where an advocated idea gets across to the intended audience. Peaceful protests tend to have a better outcome than those that lead to violence.

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.

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the “American Dream,” where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension

Some major changes and advancements in society wouldn't have occurred without disobedience. When the British taxed the colonies, rebels responded with the Boston Tea Party. This led to the American Revolution. In the end, the United States gained it's independence. When women wanted political power, they responded through the Women's Suffrage movement. In the end, the 19th amendment was passed. When we disagree with unjust actions, we respond by

The Occupy New Hampshire movement stemmed from Occupy Wall Street, which began in September 2011. Tr.:16. The occupy movement generally consisted of staying in one place until the grievances of the participants are addressed. Tr.:33. Occupy Wall Street sought to address problems such as economic disparity, the growing gap between the classes, and the influence of money on politics. Tr.:13. Every Occupy movement focused on different issues and grievances, usually determined at the first general assembly. Tr.:111.

Wealth in america is only reserved for the top 1%. Even out of those who live in the

However, one of the most popular forms to share and demonstrate our opinions as citizens are marches and protests. Parades and marches were indeed a from the Progressives used to publicize and convince many about their efforts. Despite that, many of these parades, especially in Washington D.C. on March 3, 1913 faced violent responses that included in the assault of many women. This was not always the case. For example, a nonviolent mass direction action is the March on Washington on August of 1963. This march was part of the Civil Rights act movement. This march led from Washington monumental to the Lincoln Memorial and consisted of songs, chants and speeches of civil right leaders that fought for jobs and freedom. Some of the most notable speeches that came out of this march was Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream speech”, which is known to promote racial justice and equality. The previous examples, demonstrated marches and protests for social reforms, but not all marches are related social reforms. Some marches like the Anti- War march in 2003 that voices the opposition of the invasion of Iraq. More than 10 million people in over 600 cities joined these efforts to voice their discontent with the Bush Administration, but many felt and still feel ignored by the administration. In this case, no agreement or compromise could be reached. In our current society, the rise of racial unrest led to various marches such as the Anti- Trump and May Day marches. Marches and protests are a very popular way Americans and citizens from all over the country still use to voice their opinions. They are planned with the goal to lead to social reform or social change. However not all marches end up being nonviolent such as the March on Washington. In fact, many end up violently leading to the involvement of the police. Marches have always existed and will

Protests riots in the United States has proven to an issue for both the country’s financial strength and the unity of the nation. With the presence of social injustices, combined with the increased impact of social media propaganda, protests riots are beginning to reach an all time high. Protest riots destroy individual communities and businesses, jeopardizes the safety of others and taints the protest’s cause by resorting to civil disobedience. Action must be done in order to prevent these random acts of violence from continuing after every social hot topic. The goal is not to prevent citizens from protesting; in fact, this should be encouraged. The goal is to change the way the protests are handled from both the citizens and authority perspectives, in order to prevent these protests from escalating into something dangerous.

In response to the growing inequality between rich and poor Canadians, and the growing wealth of the top 1%, the Occupy Movement took to the streets in order to protest against the accumulation of the majority of wealth by the minority of people. On October 15th, 2011, in 900 cities across the world, thousands of average citizens protested for their rights to wealth equality

Occupy Wall Street’s opposing expression of the disparity between the wealthy and the poor may have begun in good faith by utilizing the Freedom of Speech and General Assembly amendment rights, but the strategies some of the protestors have demonstrated are resulting in adverse reactions against themselves. The Occupy Wall Street movement will assuredly cost affected cities in the double digits of millions of dollars. Increases in payroll, overtime, and business expenses will inadvertently backfire and increase layoffs. The burden the protestors physically place on a city is weighing down an already financially stressed situation. The mass of people and their tent lifestyle is causing a drain on city finances, and alas, the money is coming

The Occupy Wall Street Movement came about in September of 2011. This was a movement about corporate money ant the influences it has on the politics. Many supported this movement because they felt that politics” supported corporate greed, as well as financial and social inequality.” (Haidt, 2012). One moral view of this was focused on democracy, which must were lead to believe was controlled mostly money and not the people which is what a democracy is supposed to be focused on. Those who supported (OWS) Occupy Wall Street believed

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square commenced against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments leading 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 was named Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed to “[revolt] against the corrosive power