Occupy Wall Street Movement Research Paper

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.

In a free society, people are given the opportunity to stand up for what they believe in. I believe that the act of civil disobedience, or peaceful resistance to laws, positively impacts a free society for a number of reasons. Civil disobedience can have a positive effect when the government is flawed or when the law being resisted is wrong or prejudiced. In these situations, civil disobedience and peaceful resistance can mend some of the injustices that were being inflicted. All governments, including democracies, are flawed.

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 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

I have to admit that even though the Occupy Wall Street Movement has been all over the news I did not truly understand the stance of it, nor did I really get involved with it. While doing research for this paper I was able to get a better understanding of the basis of the movement as well as the facts pertaining to it. The movement started on Wall Street but has spread across the US. The basis of the movement focuses on social & economic inequality, greed, corruption and the influence of corporations on the US government, primarily from the financial sectors of businesses. The main slogan of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is we are the

Occupy Wall Street is considered part of a larger protest movement against unequal financial systems, which includes the Arab Spring, the 15M Spanish Movement, and other European social movements. In May 2011, marches were initiated in a few Spanish cities to protest the Spanish democratic system. The protest movement quickly spread to other European countries and eventually reached North America, where Adbusters’ Micah White and Kalle Lasn called for a peaceful gathering on Wall Street. Consequently, a group of 200 people gathered in downtown Manhattan and stayed overnight at Zucotti Park. They held signs such as “Tax Wall Street

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 civil rights movement in America was one of the most significant social movements in the modern world. Even after 100 years after the emancipation proclamation, southern African Americans still faced segregation, different forms of oppression which included race inspired violence as well as disenfranchisement among other forms of discrimination. Through the "Jim crow" laws, African Americans were barred from theaters, classrooms, bathrooms and even train cars (Julie and Amy 2009). In 1954, the `separate but equal' doctrine was struck down by the supreme court in the nation. This was followed by a turbulent decade of non- violent protest by civil rights activists as well a series of civil disobedience that was aimed at bringing about changes

Occupy Wall Street is one of the top 10 US protest movements inspired by popular revolts against authority in Egypt and Tunisia which finally led to toppling of their respective presidents. It began on 17th September 2011 in liberty square in Manhattan’s

The Occupy Wall Street Movement that began in New York Sept. 17 and has since spread like wildfire across the world has made an undeniable impact on the social and political climate of the Upper Midwest.

Zuccotti Park, one of the many fairly unknown and generally unassuming parks in New York City, was quiet and peaceful on the morning of September 17th, 2011. This was not to remain, however, as it would soon become the center of a global movement, and with it gain the attention of the entire world. For it was in Zuccotti Park where Occupy Wall Street (OWS), a movement in which protestors “occupy” public spaces 24/7 to bring awareness to their cause, began. This movement started as a way to bring awareness to grievances the protestors had with the actions, and the government’s response to those actions, of Wall Street banks and financial institutions before, during, and after the financial crisis in America. Occupy Wall Street has since

The fact that media can influence politics is readily evident from the campaign trail, to the passing of laws, to grass roots campaigns such as Occupy Wall Street. The Occupy Wall Street campaign has been portrayed negatively by the mainstream media outlets. Newspapers, radio, television, and the internet have painted the movement with offensive undertones, reporting the lows of the movement rather than the revolutionary aspects of the movement. A possible reason that the media has consistently framed this movement in a negative manner is that the movement is operating against the forces of society. This opposing issue between the rich conservative mass media and the Occupy Wall Street movement has drawn the interest of the public

Occupy Wall Street is a movement that started in the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011 as an equal opportunity leaderless movement who are united in standing against the greed and corruption of the U.S. elite who control our country, but only represent 1% of the total U.S. population. “What was extraordinary about this movement was the speed with which it spread, passing rapidly between communities via social media and Twitter in particular (MIT Technology Review 2013.)” Currently, the Occupy Directory on the Occupy Wall Street official website states that there are over 1,500 Occupy movements worldwide (Occupy Directory 2015.) The idea that this movement has made such an impact worldwide from what amounts to what essentially started as a good idea between two friends and coworkers had about a way to spread their message and to raise awareness on the misdeeds of the powerful people who lead our

Occupy wall Street is a protest movement in the United States of America which began on September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's wall street financial district. This group was initiated by a Canadian activist and it has led to occupy protests and movements around the world. The Occupy Wall Street movement began as a collective expression due to the current economic conditions in the United States of America.

In my opinion, peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society, because if people want to change things to make the society better, they need to create the change. There is always going to be protest because society isn’t perfect, so people need to work together to make things better for everyone if they feel it is necessary. A peaceful protest is a good option because it creates awareness of the population and alerts the government that people on the whole are not satisfied. In a way, people are drawing attention to an issue or issues that the government may be ignoring, or changes without the input of the citizenship. Though there are concerns to consider on a large scale like traffic issues, or transportation problems, it organizes a large number people, marching together in the street to get their message across. It is much better, and more civil, than people carrying weapons around, or using other means of violence. The violent methods cause riots and fear, and the government sends in stronger uses of force.