The Occupy Wall Street Movement Essay

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

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.

However, one of the several strategies activists used were speeches, marches, boycotts, protests, riots, and court cases. Speeches is the interpretation of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by acruiculate sounds. Marches is the meaning to walk or proceed quickly and with determination. Boycott is the take away from commercial or social relations with a country, organization, or person as disciplinary

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.

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

To begin with, peaceful and violent protests can spark the change, or get the attention of more supporters until something is resolved for the equality. The article, “Making a Visual Argument:Inequality and the Occupy Movement” shows one of the most influential movement, the occupy movement. Occupy Miami showed a man with a dollar taped to his mouth reading “occupy.” Then, during the occupy Portland demonstration a young college girl Elizabeth Nichols is pepper sprayed at point blank. These acts caught the eyes of the American people, and rose in popularity. The occupy movement also showed American’s that there is a problem of economic equality through the occupy at Miami and Portland

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

Leaderless, in need of clear-cut goals, and without any evident direction, Occupy struggled to create an organized and structurally sound movement that protestors could expand and develop. The original struggle against political disenfranchisement and corporate greed muddied over time with each new cause (Brock1313). No projected outcomes, no issue development, and no distinct path set out for Occupy began corroding the initial passion for economic and social justice. On November 15, 2011, the New York City Police Department gave protesters notice to leave Zuccotti Park due to “unsanitary and hazardous conditions”. Police cloaked in riot gear began clearing away protesters from the Manhattan park around an hour later, arresting around 200 activists in total, including journalists (Dean). Since the removal of the Occupy protestors, many meet-ups, think tanks, events, and smaller protests have occurred around the country, but have failed to live up to the initial enthusiasm and attention that occurred in September of 2011

Peaceful protest is integral to American democracy. In the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched for civil rights. From the eighties into the early twenty first century, gay rights activists marched for equality. Now there are once again marches for civil rights and even for refugees, people an ocean away. However, one must look further than the superficial aims of a protest to its motives to truly discover the root of the issue, that is, the protest’s impact.

Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” is compared to the article “Occupy Wall Street in perspective” by Craig Calhoun. Both writings share a common idea of protest by “preferring not to”. The purpose of “Bartleby the Scrivener” is to give insight on the life of ordinary people on Wall Street. While the purpose of “OWS” is to give insight on ordinary peoples lives during the protest. The article “OWS” shows why Bartleby in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” prefers not to and makes him a protestor through four main relations being setting, the 99% vs. 1% contrast, passive resistance, and how both were encouraged through police interference.

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

Jackie DiSalvo (2015) wrote a paper called “Occupy Wall Street: Creating a Strategy for a Spontaneous Movement”. Her central claim is that Occupy Wall Street movement had the potential to grow and create military, national, class-planned, multi-issue movement that never been planned in our time before, but it was misuse by the anarchist’s influence so the social movement was a failed. She uses Mark Bray’s research and some of her own research to explain why the movement was a failed and how anarchists influence this failed movement. In her article, DiSalvo (2015) splits up her work into four sub topics which was: “Occupy Wall Street Anarchism, Occupy Wall Street Strengths, Sources of Occupy Wall Street Contradictions, and Problems with Anarchism”. She explained in each sub-topic the data that she collected and a conclusion based on this information (DiSalvo, 2015).

The impact of the occupy movement leads to a police state team being formed . Authority around the world actively shares information about control tactics perceived to be effective against the innovative tactical repertoire of a “new breed” protester ( Gillham 98). After the 9/11 incident, the police became more strict with the risen of the movement; police had to come up with different techniques to handle the movement. These tactics lead to the concession of the movement. The Occupy Movement also lead to a revised image of the public class and public space ( Brown 410). While that fight against neoliberalism power has not been diminish the resurface of the public voice and opinions have prevailed and now more movement can progress to keep

Before the new digital/technology age, protests were generally started in someone’s house or garage to meet up and discuss what they wanted to do. The process took much longer to gain energy and get people hyped up. Social media played a vital role in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Different kinds of videos of police and protesters clashing inflamed all kinds of passions for the protesters and their cause, enraging the general public, and generally raising awareness of the movement. Smartphones that allow video recording permitted for instantaneous reactions.