Excerpt:
| Occupy Wall Street | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the protest, expressing the absence of a unified cause or demand | |
| Participants | Anonymous, Middle Class Youth, Anti-Capitalists, Socialists, Social Activists, AdBusters readers, Anarchists, former financial services workers, the IWW, Democracy Now! |
| Location | New York City, USA |
| Date | September 17, 2011 (Constitution Day) – ongoing |
| Website | occupywallst.org adbusters.org/campaigns/occupywallstreet |
Occupy Wall Street, or #occupywallstreet, is an ongoing nonviolent demonstration[1] opposing what participants view as negative corporate influence over U.S. politics and a lack of legal repercussions over the global financial crisis.[2] It was inspired by the Arab Spring movement, particularly the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square which resulted in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.[3] The aim of the demonstration is to begin a sustained occupation of Wall Street, the financial district of New York City. Organizers intend for the occupation to last "a few months."[4] The protests have come to encompass unrelated causes, and the activities and slogans of the protesters reflect a fragmented movement, including African American and Puerto Rican cultural issues, alleged political prisoners in Washington state, food-related movements, and Discordianism.[5][6]
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[edit] Background
The demonstration is leaderless,[7] although it was originally proposed by Adbusters, a Canadian anti-consumerist magazine. The hacktivist group Anonymous incited its followers to take part in the protest, which increased the attention it received.[3] Other groups followed, typically of anti-capitalist and radical leftist persuasions, including the NYC General Assembly and U.S. Day of Rage.[2] Organizers hoped to bring between 20,000-90,000 protesters to Wall Street, but only several hundred people have joined the demonstration so far.[3][8]Prior to the protest's beginning on September 17, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it."[2]
[edit] Chronology of Events
September 17 saw the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street gathering. An estimated 1,000 people [9] attended on the first day, far below the organizers' projections of 20,000-90,000 people. NYPD police officers prohibited protesters from erecting tents, citing loitering rules. This led to masses of people walking up and down Wall Street.On Monday, September 19, the stock market opened on Wall Street for regular business. Many major news sources began to publish articles on the occupation[10] and Occupy Wall Street caught some mainstream media attention across a wide variety of sources.[11]
[edit] Opposition and Support
Despite the organizers' insistence that the occupation would remain non-violent, some commentators in the media and financial sector raised fears of unrest in the run-up to the event. In an interview with The New American, Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise claimed that, "American radicals are planning hundreds of simultaneous violent uprisings to topple our system of capitalism...I'm talking about anti-capitalist terrorists in our own country."[12] The Blaze, a conservative news website, criticized U.S. Day of Rage's involvement in the demonstration and compared the event to the violent "Days of Rage" protests in 1969.[13] Buck Sexton, a reporter for The Blaze, claimed that one of the organizers told attendees that, "The system is going to collapse...we are here to make it collapse faster."[14]Support for the demonstration amongst mainstream liberal groups varied. Progressive blogger Zaid Jilani, writing for ThinkProgress, wrote that the protesters' anger against Wall Street banks was not unreasonable "because Wall Street’s actions made tens of millions of people dramatically poorer through no fault of their own"; however, Jilani also wrote that "debates about the tactics and strategy behind an anti-Wall Street campaign are warranted."[15] The left-wing blog Crooks and Liars offered more praise of the effort, which contributor Susie Madrak writing, "I have a feeling this might be a good one."[16]
Rap artist Lupe Fiasco donated tents and a mobile sound system for the occupation; he also wrote a poem to help inspire the protesters.[17] Comedienne Roseanne Barr spoke to protesters during the first day of the demonstration, describing Wall Street financiers as "the people who decimated our economy and caused all the problems in the world."[18]
Political commentator and writer Keith Olbermann criticized mainstream media for failing to cover Occupy Wall Street, saying, "Why isn't any major news outlet covering this? ... If that's a Tea Party protest in front of Wall Street ..., it's the lead story on every network newscast."[19]
[edit] Arrests and police interaction
The New York Police Department have made several arrests during the protests:- Four protesters were arrested for wearing masks.[20]
- One protester was arrested for crossing a police barricade and resisting arrest.[21]
- Two protesters were arrested for entering a building belonging to Bank of America.[21]
- One protester was arrested for disorderly conduct.[22]
[edit] Related protests
Other protests have been planned in association with Occupy Wall Street. These protests take place elsewhere in the world, but have the same purpose. They are:[4]- #TOMALABOLSA in Madrid, Spain
- #TOMALABOLSA in Valencia, Spain
- TOMALABOLSA - Barcelona (Spain)
- #OccupyChi in Chicago, USA
- #OCCUPYFDSF in San Francisco, USA
- #OWSLOSANGELES in Los Angeles, USA
- #TakeTheSquareWI in Madison, USA
- #OCCUPYBAYSTREET in Toronto, Canada
- #OccupySquareVic in Montreal, Canada
- #OCCUPYBANKOFENGLAND in London, UK
- #ANTIBANKS in Lisbon, Portugal
- #ANTIBANKS in Athens, Greece
- #OCCUPYMARTINPLACE in Sydney, Australia
- #OCCUPYBÖRSENSTRASSE in Stuttgart, Germany
- #OCCUPYMARUNOUCHI in Tokyo, Japan
- #OCCUPAZIONEPIAZZAAFFARI in Milan, Italy
- #ANTIBANKS in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- #ANTIBANKS in Algiers, Algeria
- #ANTIBANKS in Tel Aviv, Israel
- #OCCUPYSQUAREVIC in Montreal, Canada
These are the CURRENT route plans
Watch for changes.TODAY!!!!!!!!!
FRIDAY the 23rd, Rally - 9am Sears Tower (Willis Tower)
March 12pm - West Adams to Michigan, Michigan to Monroe, south on LaSalle
Rally - outside of Federal Reserve Bank on Jackson/Lasalle
General Assembly 3pm
- the purpose of the General Assembly to the OccupyWallStreet movement is one of discussion. Assemblies are held to learn about each other’s views and talk about what our demands should be for our country.
March - 7 pm LaSalle to Monroe to Michigan
Millennium Park 9 pm - Candlelight vigil for Troy Davis
Daily after that:
March - 12pm Federal Reserve Bank
3pm assembly and a 7pm assembly
March back to Millennium park at 9pm
http://occupywallstreet.tumblr.com/
Excerpt:
occupywallstreet
OCCUPYTOGETHER.org — new site launched to coordinate occupations of different cities. Check to see if yours is on the list!
Keith Olbermann and Michael Moore discuss what’s behind the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET protests on last night’s Countdown (23 September 2011)
Several activists are reporting that internet signals and access are being blocked at the “Occupy Wall Street” protest in New York. This same tactic has recently been employed at Bay Area Rapid Transit protests on the opposite side of the continent in San Francisco to shut down cell phone service. See a trend?To be clear: I’ve seen a few reports of some people having difficulty getting online at times, but there has been no reported “internet shut off” at the protest site. I’m not sure where this person received their information but it is unconfirmed as people have been updating from the site continuously since the occupation began.
Update: neither the link above, nor the site it links to inside, have any information or reports of an internet outage. This is likely a hoax.
#OWS Daily Roundup: September 22
Quite a busy night at Wall Street! Several marches occurred this evening, and more will be taking place later tonight, according to certain Twitter feeds.
(via jcook818)
- Perhaps the most active point occurred when a large group of Troy Davis marchers joined up with occupiers at Liberty Plaza, and the two groups made an impromptu march on Wall Street.
- Attendance for tonight’s marches and assemblies was in the 1,000 to 2,000 range.
- Six people were arrested by NYPD after the above action, prompting another march toward the first precinct jail to demand information on those being held. Police presence was heavy throughout the evening along the march routes, as well as at Liberty Plaza. The Media Centre is requesting that people call the NYPD and request the occupiers be released.
- More groups of occupiers arrived in Liberty Plaza this morning, and the feeds were flooded with reports of people making their way towards New York to participate in the occupation.
- Comedian Lee Camp came to Liberty Plaza and performed to entertain the occupiers.
- At this evening’s General Assembly, members of the PSC city university professors union arrived to show solidarity with the occupiers, and the President of the union made a speech to the assembly.
- A communiqué was released this afternoon by the General Assembly.
(via jcook818)
prettyontheinside420 reblogged your post: #OWS Daily Roundup: September 21THIS IS ABOUT ME. I was arrested at 10am on the 20th this month. I was at a protest called Occupy Wall Street, and was arrested for interfering with someone else’s arrest and resisting arrest. I will talk more about this later. Look up my name on Google and you will find my story. I LOVE YOU ALL!Thanks for representing us all, and we’re all glad you are out and safe now!
jcook818:
Caught this beauty as I was leaving school today! :)Any fellow Montréalers heading to this tomorrow?
occupychicago:
Full-res JPEG
Full-res PDF
Occupy Chicago Facebook
Occupy Chicago Twitter
use tags on here and twitter:
#occupychi
#occupywallstreet
#OWS Daily Roundup: September 21
Here’s a digest of today’s news from Liberty Plaza:
- Details of brutal police treatment of occupier Mariel Moshiri were published this evening. The occupier was released this afternoon after being arrested during Tuesday’s police action. She was let go “after 28 harrowing hours in police custody. Her detainment included being moved to 3 different jails and a trip to Belleview Hospital.” She was repeatedly denied her medication, food and water, and kept in painful conditions by NYPD.
- In all, four people were arrested today by the NYPD for various offences during a march on Wall Street, including refusing an order to change direction on a protest march and refusing a police order when told not to stand on a public sidewalk.
- One communiqué was released this morning by the camp.
- Two general assemblies were held over the course of the day today. During the 1pm assembly, an occupier reported receiving support for the movement from Noam Chomsky, who is currently on a speaking tour in Europe.
- Members of the IWW’s New York General Membership Branch visited the protest this afternoon to express solidarity.
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