Occupy Wall Street
By Jolie Peters
(All italicized quotes are from signs help by protestors)
As Roberto Anderson, twenty three from upstate New York, plugged his cell phone charger into one of the various Halal stands surrounding Zuchotti park he said, “The only thing I can possibly feel is hope. A month is nothing, just wait till we reach six.”
One month as indeed passed since people have been participating in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Even though these protests began a month ago, they were the result of emotional unrest that some Americans have been feeling towards large corporations, banks, and the government for a period of time that largely exceeds a month. During this one month period there has been a variety of marches and protests occurring in New York City and around the world. The marches have resulted in mass arrests, and legal interventions. Despite the hardships that the protestors have faced, they have made incredible headway since they began in September. The movement has not only spread to over a thousand cities, but it has gotten the attention of many politically important people, which was a main goal for many protesting.
The Creation of the 99%
“None are more Hopelessly Enslaved than those who believe they are free.”
Deregulation has been occurring since America regained their financial infrastructure after the Great Depression. The federal reserve pushed for deregulation, and congress passed bills legalizing it. Prior to the financial bubble, which burst in 2008 leading America into a severe recession, bankers were giving out large quantities of risky loans. Derivatives, which were created during this period of increased deregulation, are complex mathematical equations that allow for bankers to bet on the loans they are distributing. Banks were in turn making money off of the these bets. When the people who were issued these loans were unable to pay them back, foreclosures began to skyrocket, and major banks were left with unpaid loans as well as real estate that they were unable to sell. The banks began to collapse and the American Government was forced to bail them out. Unfortunately these bail out packages were not solely used to pay the banks debts. Many major CEO’s of the banks received large bonus’s with the bail out money they were given. When the smoke finally cleared from the financial crisis, many CEO’s walked away with the billions they had made from the derivative bets. This created large wage disparities between the 1% of people in the upper echelon and the other 99%.
“There is an incredible anger and disillusionment with watching those executives in the upper 1% that contributed to the financial crisis walk away with bonuses when unemployment and poverty are at levels not seen in decades,” said Mary Borrowman, an Economics expert and teacher and The New School.
These events are what sparked the feelings of disenfranchisement, which in turn sparked the protests on Wall Street.
How the Protest’s Began
“Lost my job, Found my occupation.”
Adbusters, a non-for-profit non-consumerist organization, put out a call to occupy Wall Street in order to protest the disparities between the 99 and 1%. A series of calls from Adbusters, as well as the New York General Assembly, followed the first call for the occupation. During this time, other non-for-profit activist groups joined those who were spearheading the occupation.
The organizations picked September 17th to be the day for the occupation to begin. In planning for the protests, the General Assembly made calls for food donations.
Similar to the events that occurred in Egypt last year, the occupation was gaining notoriety by online social media sources. On September 13th OccupyWallstreet.org released a variety of resources that would help protestors. They had a pamphlet including various events, phone numbers for legal organizations, as well as protestors legal rights.
On September 17th 5,000 protesters began marching through the Financial District. When the police began blocking the march, the protestors had an assembly to decide their next move. They decided to move to the privately owned Zuccotti Park, where they have stayed ever since.
There is a large spectrum of people that make up the protestors. The vast amounts of signs help passerby’s understand the many different reasons people have for protesting. There is a large variety in age, race, and socio-economic background. People have come from all over the world to participate in New York and all over the elsewhere. The protests have been quickly growing ever since they began.
Police and Legal Action
“We are not fish, put your nets away”
From the start of the protests their has police been a police presence. Many of the interactions the police have had with the protestors has not been peaceful. Video’s went viral on the internet after police were filmed macing, beating, and brutally arresting individuals protesting. Some of these mass arrests occurred during the march on the Brooklyn bridge where seven hundred were arrested, and the march to Times Square where 92 were arrested.
The police have been using a trap and detain tactic in which they use an orange net to surround the protestors and then they arrest those who have been surrounded.
“I think the police officers just got desperate, took out their orange nets, and blocked off the block,” Said Yotam Marom, a recent graduate student and activist who has been avidly participating in the occupation since the start. “That was a intentional move to scare these people from coming out today. Parents that have kids can’t risk being arrested, people that have to go to work the next day can’t risk being arrested. I can risk being arrested,” Marom included.
While some people may have been intimidated and scared by the police tactics, Jill Nelson, a writer and activist who has written books on police brutality, sheds light on the fact that the police’s actions have actually raised awareness for Occupy Wall Street.
“It's old news that the bad press is no press, and I think as sour, superficial, and mean-spirited as much of the coverage of OWS by the corporate owned media has been, in the end it has served as an effective organizing tool in getting the word out to a broad audience,” Nelson Said.
While some are incredibly outraged by the police’s actions thus far, the police stand by their job and tactics used.
During a press release Raymond Kelley, the police commissioner said, regarding the size of police contingent, “We think it is appropriate for the issue. We facilitate peaceful protests that’s what we do. We do it every day. I don’t know what you mean by indulging. That is our job. This is what we do and we do it everyday. Make sure certain people can demonstrate peacefully.”
Many of the protestors who have been arrested feel as though their rights have been violated. Because of this a large class action lawsuit has been filed by the Partnership for Civil Justice fund. This class action suit is related to the arrests made on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Political Response to Protests
“Obama is NOT a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare...you’re thinking of Jesus.”
The protests have not only gotten the attention of the media, but political officials have also geared their attention towards the protests.
Nancy Pelosi, a house minority leader said “God bless them for their spontaneity. It’s independent... it’s young, it’s spontaneous, and it’s focused. And it’s going to be effective.”
The Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson also agree’s with the protesting. “Everybody is outraged over the inequity and I hope it gets focused on the fact that government perhaps is at the root of all of this, politicians are at the root of this,” said Johnson during an interview with CNN.
Although some political candidates agree with the protesting and hope for change, many have problems with it.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t just disagree with the what the protestors have to say, but he believes the protestors are going to ruin jobs in New York. "If you focus for example on driving the banks out of New York City, you know those are our jobs. What they’re trying to do is take away the jobs of people working in the city, take away the tax base that we have,” the mayor said.
As the protest grows in size, more and more political people are commenting on the events taking place.
Growing in Size
“I won’t believe corporations are people until Texas executes one.”
The occupation has spread to over a thousand cities. October 15th, right before the month anniversary of the protest’s start, global action day was enacted. This called for people all over the country, and the world, to march for the cause. Prior to global action day the number of protestors had already gained volume. Many of the goals are the same as those in New York, other differ.
“I hope that this will help the government to see that the people are tired of electing officials just to have them pander to Wall Street. As far as our local movement, as I said previously, we are still discussing what our local goals are. Obviously, we support the movement in New York and everywhere else, but we haven't really chiseled out our individual group's goals yet,” Said Chrystal Zimmerman who is occupying in Amarillo, Texas.
The growth is thanks to the media, as well as social networking sites, and the internet.
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It is unclear whether or not the protests have yet to bring about change in the political sphere. The protests have however grown in size significantly in one month, and because of this there has been a lot of attention devoted to these protests. Only time will tell if changes will be made.
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