Occupy Protests’ Seismic Effect This past weekend, in 900 cities across the world, tens of thousands demonstrated against unregulated capitalism. Something fascinating is growing, and by the time it ends, I suspect, politics will be different in the United States and a lot of other places as well. In a great many countries, especially in the West, the political grass is dry. To understand this movement’s potential, it’s worth comparing it with the other spasms of global leftist activism in the past half-century. The protests of the late 1960s helped end the Vietnam War and usher in the era of reduced superpower tension known as détente. One reason is that the existence of a powerful, global, communist adversary made it difficult for New Left activists to criticize American foreign policy and American capitalism without being branded communists themselves. Finally, the protests of the late 1960s came after several decades in which government had grown bigger. Barack Obama
Liveblogging the Occupy Wall Street Times Square March Liveblog of the New York Occupy Wall Street protest march on Times Square. Scroll to bottom for Livestream run by the protesters. 12:05 a.m. The cops are currently closing down Washington Square Park. According to the Livestream and Twitter, most protesters left the premises, but there are rumors of arrests. twitter.com/nathwice 10:59 p.m. 10:53 p.m. Twitter picture from @the_log_lady 10:24 p.m. 10:05 p.m. 10:00 p.m. 8:34 p.m. 8:29 p.m. 8:07 p.m. (twitter.com/adamgabbatt) 8:02 p.m. 8 p.m. 7:55 p.m. 7:46 p.m. (twitter.com/docr0cket) Meanwhile: 7:38 p.m. (twitter.com/mmflint) 7:24 p.m. 7:21 p.m. 7:16 p.m. 7:13 p.m. (twitter.com/thinkprogress) 7:11 p.m. 7:08 p.m. 7:03 p.m. 6:52 p.m. 6:47 p.m. (twitter.com/manbartlett) 6:41 p.m. 6:36 p.m. 6:33 p.m. 6:30 p.m. (twitter.com/occupywallstnyc) 6:27 p.m. 6:23 p.m. 6:20 p.m. 6:15 p.m. 6:11 p.m. 6:07 p.m. 6:04 p.m. 5:59 p.m. 5:57 p.m. 5:53 p.m. 5:49 p.m.
Global protests: Occupy the London Stock Exchange takes over the City Occupy London follows occupation movements from across the worldPolice ask Julian Assange 'to remove mask' he was wearingProtesters had wanted to 'take' Paternoster Square - but it has been closedTents now being put up in the Square MileProtests contained within City area and currently not spreadingTwo arrests made for 'assaults on police officers' By Lee Moran Updated: 18:04 GMT, 15 October 2011 Protesters inspired by the growing 'Occupy Wall Street' movement in the U.S have today taken over the City of London. Thousands have descended on the area known as the Square Mile - under the banner 'Occupy the Stock Exchange' - for a 'peaceful protest' against the global financial system. They had planned to take Paternoster Square, where the Stock Exchange is located, but police cordoned off the area prior to the protest. A notice was put up stating the square is private property and access would be restricted. Scroll down for video... Unite! Pitched battle? Anger has also spread to Hong Kong
Occupy Times Square: It’s a Party! Marches inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protest have been parading all day around the world–at Fordham Plaza in the Bronx, with tear gas and billy clubs in Rome–but the parades are heading to Midtown for the main event, an occupation of Times Square. The Occupation Party! No, it’s not a political affiliation. It’s a party. “In New York City, dozens of community groups, unions, student organizations and lots and lots of regular folk are taking to the streets in a mass protest that will culminate in Times Square at 5 p.m., then moving (by train party!) Participants are directed to wear white, bring music and noisemakers and donations for the occupiers, and prepare for “a moment that will light the night (safe/legal and participatory)” at sunset. “Think: white suits, dresses, face-paint, glitter, balloons, banners, be inspired,” the site says. Participants were given further instruction by email. + At 5:59pm horns will signal a moment to quiet down.
Bartlebyâs Occupation of Wall Street 1. After a couple days of hemming and hawing, I decided to join the protesters of Occupy Wall Street. I was hesitant to go because until very recently, I worked as an administrative assistant at a prominent Wall Street law firm. I didn’t know how, in good conscience, I could rail against The Man when my primary responsibility had once been to keep track of incoming phone calls from Goldman Sachs. But then I heard one of the protest’s organizers on the radio saying that the Occupy movement wasn’t against capitalism, corporations, or even big banking. He was for income equality. “Why do they have to be more specific?” I was getting annoyed at the way Occupy Wall Street was being covered — as if it was insane to gather in a public space and protest. 2. One day, the narrator decides that he needs to hire a third scrivener. Bartleby’s job is to copy legal documents by hand, like a human Xerox machine. At this point, the plot of Bartleby escalates rapidly and absurdly, like a comedy sketch.
Occupy Times Square: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Swarm Midtown NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York's Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their monthlong campaign against corporate greed. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests on Saturday started in Asia and rippled through Europe back to the United States and Canada. Protesters fed up with economic inequality took to the streets in cities from Washington, Boston and Chicago to Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto. After weeks of intense media coverage, the size of the U.S. protests on Saturday have been smaller than G20 meetings or political conventions yielded in recent years. In New York, where the movement began when protesters set up camp in a Lower Manhattan park on Sept. 17, organizers said the protest grew to at least 5,000 people as they marched to Times Square from their makeshift outdoor headquarters. Some were disappointed the New York crowd was not larger. Share + Via HuffPost Miami:
Instant succes Een cake is tegenwoordig zo gebakken: pakje kant-en-klaar-mix, beetje melk, afbakken maar. Klaar is cake. Met meningen gaat het anno 2011 net zo. Occupy is het jongste slachtoffer van deze betekenis-à-la-minute. De Volkskrant trommelde op haar beurt haar chagrijnigste columnist op, die een stuk schreef met als eerste zin: ‘Frank Kalshoven zou graag de loftrompet over de Occupy-beweging steken.’ Heel veel dank, dr. Verder doken er vooral veel babyboomers op die, het Maagdenhuis indachtig, vonden dat Occupy juist te weinig om het lijf had: geen leiders, geen eisen, geen revolutie. „Ja, ik ben hier dus al twintig minuten, maar het kapitalisme staat nog als een huis. Het zijn het soort kritieken waarmee je altijd gelijk hebt. Wat mijn mening is? #nognietgaar
OCCUPY WALL STREET: 6,000 Protest in Times Square [PICS] The Occupy Wall Street movement, which seeks to highlight growing economic inequality, marched to New York's Times Square on Saturday. The crowds were estimated to consist of thousands of people — Bloomberg claims that 6,000 were present. Occupy Wall Street has effectively utilized social media to spread its message — the #occupywallst hashtag on Twitter helps to coordinate activities, while photos and videos of the protests are posted to YouTube, yfrog, Twitpic and other services. Some have compared the movement to the Arab Spring, in which the role of social media in organized demonstrations first became evident.
Nation Waiting For Protesters To Clearly Articulate Demands Before Ignoring Them NEW YORK—As the Occupy Wall Street protest expands and grows into a nationwide movement, Americans are eagerly awaiting a list of demands from the group so they can then systematically disregard them and continue going about their business, polls showed this week. "The protesters need to unify around a shared agenda with precise policy goals so I can begin paying no attention to them whatsoever," said Tulsa, OK poll respondent Kaye Petrachonis, echoing the thoughts of millions across the country. "If they don’t have a clear power structure organized around specific demands first, then I'll never be able to completely tune them out due to a political conflict of interest or an inability to comprehend complex, detailed economic concepts. These people really need to get their act together."