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The Occupy Movement

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The emergence of the Occupy movement set about to dismantle, address, and change various grievances and the various factors that led its development are integral to understanding the structure, methods, challenges, and impacts took place as a result. For one, protest movements can be inspired by what is occurring globally. For example, the Arab Spring with its demonstrations and waves of protest served as inspiration in the movement’s emergence. (Brown 1) Additionally, the rise of the movement was also due to the disillusionment in Obama. The campaign trail leading to Obama’s election had come to many as the answer to their problems, but the failure of his presidency to even direct issue with neoliberal policies and/or install a separation …show more content…

(Brown 1) The political system was a source of frustration, and that the system’s economic profit was endowed via creating and perpetuating social crisis provided reason as to why people set about addressing discontent with the emergence of Occupy.(King 4) In addition, and in relation to these aforementioned factors, neoliberalization cannot be stressed enough in the emergence of the Occupy movement. As neoliberalization exists as a platform of private property rights, free markets and free trade it also exists to exploit the labor of others, and dispossess them of their assets. This makes it easy to see that the people are pitted against the “Party of Wall Street,” and Wall Street is benefiting at the cost of the people.(Harvey 311) The neoliberal policies that that are in place and in motion in the same way that they set out about to individualize the person sets about the reasons for democratic uprising as relevantly seen with the emergence of the Occupy Movement. (Butler 349) …show more content…

Overall, the demographic was largely populated with young college educated individuals. The issue was systemic so everyone involved was at a position of distress, no matter if it was dealing with foreclosure, unemployment, etc. The way the occupiers moved forward and proceeded was under the structure of direct democracy. Through generally assemblies people discussed what was going to be done and based on consensus not majority rule, did the people proceed. Going off that, the movement existed and was structured under anarchist principles. What this meant, did not imply the stigmatized understanding of upright disorder and chaos. The principles that were adhered to, for one involved the notion to exist as a free society. The movement would not acknowledge political institutions or legitimize the existing legal order. Furthermore, the movement would proceed with prefigurative ideals, it would create new institutions in the “shell of the old.” (Graeber 3) Additionally, the movement believed in loose networks being the most efficient way to collectively proceed with the

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