The Occupy Movement

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.

After the first GA, the movement was hoping to build momentum through a second GA the following week in Concord before its first occupation. Tr.:51. The occupiers intended to start an occupation on October 15 and, in the strongest sense of “occupy,” stay until their grievances were addressed. Tr.:33, 55. However, Occupy New Hampshire was unable to come to a consensus of their specific grievances before the police enforcement of the ordinance dispersed the occupation.

President Trump attempts to deport countless immigrants back to their native country regardless if they broke any other US laws. By President Trump claiming to do so, upsets numerous people because it will separate thousands of families and the immigrants will be criminalized when they done nothing wrong. This is what Didi-Huberman would describe as the “element” portion of a revolution . The fact that President Trumps wants to do this action, pushes people towards the idea of rebellion. Because President Trump request to move forward with his claim and threaten to pull federal funding to sponsor “sanctuary jurisdictions” , many city mayors are willing to rebel.

Protest movements have had a long standing within America, and have been recognized as a crucial part to political behavior. People have actively engaged in political protesting in order for their voices and controversial issues to be heard. However, what exactly is it that makes an individual more or less likely to engage in protesting? There are many different factors, whether it is on an individual-level or an institutional level, which drive a person to participate in such a political action.

Corporate greed is a much debated topic in today’s society. Oil company profits are soaring while people are having trouble paying for gasoline and home heating. Bank executives are collecting enormous bonuses after government bailout money, while hundreds of thousands still face mortgage foreclosures. Big business seems to be recovering from the 2008 recession, but does not seem to be taking the people with them as unemployment remains high. In response to these issues, “Occupy Wall Street” has risen up to complain both that corporations are greedy, and that governments in the United States and around the world have enabled them to be so. One problem with the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement is that it does not have any set

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

“A nonviolent revolution is a revolution using mostly campaigns of civil resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest , to bring about the departure of governments seen as entrenched and authoritarian.”- Jazerra. The United States has been plungered into human desperation, relating to war and placidity, events such as the American and French revolution change also came political instability, violence, and calls for radical social change in France that frightened many Americans. With the successive proclamations of independence by the American nations, this regime ceased to subsist in the New World. By expressing cultural concerns-new relations can be produced,strategies of the revolutionary groups in the U.S. against capital,

The media’s presentation of Donald Trump’s incoming presidency has created a negative portrayal of our government and economic systems. If protestors begin to riot, vandalize, and operate outside of the bounds of proper protest, this quickly erodes our fragile social contract with our government. But as long as we remain faithful to our institutions but seek for change in lawful ways when there is no evidence of governmental tyranny, we should not peacefully

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 Wall Street movement began in fall of 2011 in response to a call to arms originating from a digital publication by the name of Adbusters, wherein Americans were urged to “flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months” (Adbusters) in order to make themselves heard in what they perceived as their fight against injustice. The movement kicked off in Zuccotti Park (soon dubbed ‘Liberty Square’) in New York, spurring sympathy protests across the nation. The physical occupation of Zuccotti Park came to an end in mid-November of 2011 when the protestors were forcibly evicted by the New York police. Many assumed that this would be the end of the movement,

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 the past five years (2010 – present), there has been an increasing number of street protests around the globe. From the Arab Spring, in 2010 – 2012, to the protests that are more recent like Ferguson, Mexico and Venezuela in 2014. Just in the past five years, individuals worldwide orchestrated over 20 demonstrations, and used social media platforms, principally as Facebook or Twitter, to organize protests. The participants in these demonstrations are typically 18 – 35 year old individuals, demanding democratization, transparency, and/ or political representation. The settings of the protests are in large cities, universities, town squares, and major street avenues. Regardless of the size of the protests, cities and states have

One example of a recent political rally, or protest, is the one we are currently seeing across the United States by Senator Bernie Sanders’ supporters. In general, many of Bernie Sanders followers are citizens of the United States who feel the way our government is running should have a huge political revolution. Concepts of health care as a right to every citizen, free public education, and other liberal benefits are motivating thousands of people in joining rallies. Some of these rallies are hosted by Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign, and others by average citizens who are very involved in the selection of the next president of our country.