Activism without Articulation: The Occupy Wall Street Movement
What is Occupy Wall Street?
Occupy Wallstreet as an initiave itself, began as a revolt against the United State government’s hand in the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, the largest recession since The Great Depression. The movement used the 2008 crisis as a jumping-off point for what would be its primary claim to fame, “We are the 99 Percent”. This phrase refers to the larger American population, the “99 percent”, being held consistently impoverished by the wealthiest, the “1 percent”. The movement harped that the wealthiest “one percenters” can directly control the inequality of wealth distribution, income growth, and political power within the United States.
On September 17th, 2011 The Occupy Wall Street movement began. It was borne out of a social media campaign by a Canadian anti-consumerist publication, Adbusters. A type of digital flyer and hashtag took over ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter. Instantly, #OccupyWallstreet was responsible for the movement’s viral following, and the takeover of online and traditional media organizations.
Followers of the Occupy Movement initially set to gather at the iconic Charging Bull statue located just steps away from The New York Stock Exchange. However, New York Police were proactive in securing the area, forcing protestors to venture a couple blocks north on Broadway, towards Zarcotti Park. The Park was privately owned by Brookfield properties, however, the venue was designated for public use. The park also connected most of Wallstreet, and was uniquely equipped with electrical outlets and ample dead space. This created a perfect landscape for protestors to peacefully assemble, pitch tents, and make ‘camp’ without losing electrical capabilities or being vacated from the premises.
In the weeks following, protestors grew and Zarcotti Park turned into a makeshift “city”. Interviews of the time highlight provisional libraries and kitchens being created and serviced by Occupy protestors. Arguably the most impressive addition was the cultivation of a weekly newspaper dubbed the “OCCUPY Wall Street Journal “, serving as both a dig to the financial times heavyweight and providing the media and a growing amount of protestors with up-to-date information on The Movement.
The Pivot Point for Occupy
Regretfully, peaceful protest only lasted for so long. On September 24th, 2011 Occupy Wall Street protestors mobilized. Protestors marched from Zarcotti Park to Union Square, clogging up essential routes of traffic and endangering disengaged civilians as well as fellow protestors. Over 80 protestors were arrested by NYPD upon the termination of this march.
More marches sprung up in New York throughout the following month. By the end of October, over 700 protestors were apprehended as the Occupy Movement took to the Brooklyn Bridge. However, this did not deter protestors from assembling. The more that were arrested, the more that seemed to flood back into Zarcotti Park.
Police Involvement only exacerbated the desire for a more violent and obvious approach. Following the September 24th march on Union Square, Occupy Movements began to develop in major cities across the United States. Occupy Wall Street was no longer localized to New York. Unofficial chapters in Los Angeles, Boston, and D.C. sprouted up with the same intention- to stop the overreach of the “1 percent” on the other “99" percent”.
Unfortunately, this became the beginning of the end for Occupy. Soon after violence erupted from mobilization, reports of poor living conditions, sexual assault, and threats to public health began to trickle in from the City of New York. Placing Brookfield properties in the position to shut down Zarcotti Park to public use, and evict all protestors who did not flee the premises. After many forceful arrests and evictions from the park by NYPD, the movement never found a new home base, and slowly reduced its presence “occupying Wall Street”.
Activism without Articulation Shatters A Movement
Overall, while shows of violence kept Occupy in the news for its 59-day run, the movement did not produce any tangible change regarding financial reform on Wall Street, or its impact on federal and state-level elections.
Similarly to how democracy is said to degenerate into mob rule, so too did the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
Taken from the original online posting at the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street Movement;
On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.
Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand?
The most exciting candidate that we’ve heard so far is one that gets at the core of why the American political establishment is currently unworthy of being called a democracy: we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington. It’s time for DEMOCRACY NOT CORPORATOCRACY, we’re doomed without it.
This demand seems to capture the current national mood because cleaning up corruption in Washington is something all Americans, right and left, yearn for and can stand behind. If we hang in there, 20,000-strong, week after week against every police and National Guard effort to expel us from Wall Street, it would be impossible for Obama to ignore us. Our government would be forced to choose publicly between the will of the people and the lucre of the corporations.
This demonstrates that what began as simple, listed demands, no matter how “lofty” they may have seemed, were quickly thrown by the wayside as more people clouded the initiative and began introducing a more aggressive approach. One cannot help but wonder if the Occupy movement would have achieved more substantive success had the message not strayed from peaceful protest, or branched out into different U.S. cities where new leadership could easily re-route demands. The Occupy protestors were Activists, but they did not remain articulate, which may have prevented them from achieving the most success.
The Positive Impact of Occupy Wall Street
While no new policy or policy amendments were the direct result of the Occupy movement, it did bring awareness to substantial socio-economic disparities and inconsistencies perpetuated by the “1 percent”. For the first time, Americans recognized this issue, and how great of an effect the elite class has on the economic and democratic health of the nation.
The Occupy movement also ushered in a new type of politician, such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Of whose primary presidential campaign tactics hinged on the topic of instating equity and making sure the elite “1 percent” pay their fair share. Even in recent months, Senator Warren has exemplified the importance of Democrats supporting President Biden in implementing higher taxation for the ultra-wealthy. Senator Warren was quoted; “If Democrats take the coward’s way out and sign our names to a half-baked (tax) deal that lets the wealthy off the hook, it will be a huge failure—and one the American people cannot afford.”
The Occupy movement was the first of its kind in modern-day America to mobilize large groups of people nationwide via social media campaigns, and unintentionally crafted a blueprint for future social and economic protests. All while establishing the “1 percent” as a pillar of political discourse for generations to come.
Resources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3489365/
https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-in-speech-warren-sets-agenda-and-redlines-for-2025-tax-fight-urges-democrats-back-popular-biden-policy-to-tax-the-rich
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/great-recession.asp#:~:text=The%20root%20cause%20was%20excessive,the%20risk%20on%20to%20investors.
https://economicsociology.org/2014/12/27/the-original-email-that-started-occupy-wall-street/