Thursday, February 16, 2012

More on Occupy Wall Street

          On September 17, 2011, “Occupy Wall Street” began in the financial district of New York City.  The generalized goal was to protest the corporate greed and political corruption of the banks and corporations symbolized by Wall Street, also referred to as the “1 percent”.  Utilizing social media for global publicity, it is a leaderless movement, with no current list of demands, and no projected ending, other than making the world a better place for the 99 percent.  The Occupy Wall Street website contains the following call to action:  Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.  This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don't need Wall Street and we don't need politicians to build a better society.”
            Across the nation, the movement brought out a wide demographic of supporters, from the old hippie baby boomers to the young idealisitic college students to the truly poor and homeless victims of the current economy.  Celebrities, including some who participated in the protests of the 1960s-70s, are pitching in to promote the cause.  Ice cream moguls Ben and Jerry treated everyone in the Washington, D.C. camp to free ice cream.  According to the New York Daily News, on November 7, 2011, the 99% crowd occupying Zuccotti Park at Wall Street were treated to a concert by two legendary rock performers from Woodstock, David Crosby and Graham Nash, singing “Teach Your Children” and “Military Madness”.  Crosby may have experienced a Woodstock flashback as he shouted “No more war!” to the delighted crowd during the concert, but afterwards he told a Daily News reporter that he understood the crowd:  “People are pissed off and they have a reason to be pissed off.  They just want jobs.  They want to be a part of society.  I’m here to help.  The system is against them.”  Other celebrities lending their support to the movement include Yoko Ono, Deepak Chopra, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Nancy Pelosi, and of course, Michael Moore.    Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson appeared on NBC’s Today Show on 12/1/11 expressing his understanding of the cause and the need for more jobs.  
            The impact of the Occupy Wall Street movement is impossible to measure at this time, but with better weather around the corner, many are ready to spring back into action.  In early December, 2011, the governors of New York and California both proposed tax hikes on the rich to save their states’ budgets.  Whether the Occupy movements had any influence on these proposals is debatable, as both governors are Democrats and tax hikes were inevitable.  Occupy Wall Street’s “fifteen minutes of fame” may be up, giving way at least temporarily to the media’s obsession with the Republican presidential candidates and other looming global issues, but for a few months, the protesters captured the world’s attention, with their resonating message that greed and corruption will no longer be tolerated by the 99% on the low end of the income inequality injustice.  History has proven time and again that movements such as this can produce positive change.  As the Occupy Wall Street movement endures some speed bumps, they vow to re-energize their supporters with a new game plan and a firm belief that a better world for everyone is possible.
###written by annie

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