When I first heard about it early this month, it passed in one ear and out the other. I didn’t want to be bothered with having to care about something new.
But then I kept hearing about it. A lot of people I work with, many of whom I respect very much, became advocates for the cause, posting many articles and photos on Facebook, sending out information about and encouraging others to participate in Austin’s local manifestation of Occupy Wall Street. I decided I needed to form an opinion of some kind about the matter, so I set about to learn more about the Occupy Wall Street protests. At first there weren’t very many articles to read. But in the next week or two, the media began to recognize the protests more, and now I’ve read dozens of articles: articles by critics, supporters and many who are simply confounded by the whole thing. (Just a note to those who presently feel confounded: it’s too late to loudly proclaim your confoundedness regarding Occupy Wall Street. Do a little research and you will learn a lot.)
I am not a die-hard supporter of Occupy Wall Street, but I’m certainly not opposed. First of all, freedom of expression is one of the most basic luxuries we enjoy in this country, and if people are upset about something, they have every right to make their voices heard. Second, if you think the protests are stupid, consider the fact that they are attracting thousands of people and they are spreading across the country and across the world. It seems that they strike a chord with a lot of people, and you would be remiss to not even stop for a moment and entertain the idea that there might be something to it.
The protests have been heavily criticized for lack of cohesiveness, and the protesters have been criticized for not knowing what they want, but I think this criticism may be a bit short-sighted. Occupy Wall Street may peter out. But it might turn into a full-blown movement. It’s not entirely different from the beginning stages of movements of the past. It begins with widespread discontent, then a list of grievances. This is where Occupy Wall Street is right now. After recognizing and defining that discontent, there is a power struggle with the offending entity and only after that are changes are made, solutions found.
The criticisms I’ve heard that are widespread and particularly annoy me (and are a big reason I felt compelled to write and post this) are that the protesters don’t know what they want and that the protesters are pushing for redistribution of wealth.
I’ll start with the former. Cynical journalists have painted a picture of the protesters as lazy, unemployed hippie wannabes who just want to protest something and don’t have any idea what they’re talking about. To be fair, I’m sure that there are plenty of protesters who exhibit some or all of those qualities. But I actually know personally some people who are gung-ho Occupy Wall Street and are actively participating in Occupy Austin. They may be hippies, I’ll give you that, and they may not know the ins and outs of the financial world, but they are not stupid, lazy or unemployed. A few of them are some of the hardest working people I know and go to join the crowds down by City Hall in the little free time that they have because they really believe in the cause.
What the cause “is” is not obvious at first glance; complaints range from corporate greed to war in Afghanistan to environmental causes. But diversity in complaints represents a disconnect that protesters feel between themselves and the government. What the protesters want is for their voices to be heard, and they don’t hear it in their elected representatives.
The second criticism of the Occupy Wall Street protests that annoys me is the rumor that protesters are pushing for redistribution of wealth. The mantra “We are the 99%” can make this confusing, and while I’m sure that some protestors are in favor of that, it’s really not an idea that the majority of them are advocating. In reality, what “the 99%” and “the 1%” represent is power. Protestors are not angry that the wealthiest 1% of people in our nation are so rich, they are angry that those rich people have such a disproportionate amount of power in our political system, a system that was specifically designed to represent all citizens as equally as possible. If you don’t think that all citizens should be represented equally, that’s a different conversation.
It’s only natural that the people who have the most resources also have the most power in society, and those who have the most power have the potential to impact those who are less powerful, for better of for worse. Protesters are not protesting the money and possessions of the wealthiest 1%, they are protesting the corruption and greed within those most powerful entities, which have adverse effects on the less powerful 99%. They are protesting a perceived tolerance for greed and corruption that the United States government has exhibited in the last several years.
I think some good things could come out of Occupy Wall Street. It may cause more people to participate in the political process, or even pursue non-profit work in order to make our country a better place to live. If nothing else, it may cause some people to think for a moment about how their everyday choices contribute to the very things they’re against. Who knows?
If you don't know much about Occupy Wall Street, here are some articles I've found to be helpful:
*timeline of the protests: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/20/141530025/occupy-wall-street-from-a-blog-post-to-a-movement
*written by protestors proclaiming their “7 Core Demands”: http://www.goldstockbull.com/articles/7-demands-from-occupy-wall-street/
*opinion piece regarding the lack of cohesion in the movement: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html
*this is my favorite article from a critic of the protests (but I will admit my bias; I probably like this one because he concedes that they’re not entirely wrong), but as I said, I disagree that re-distribution of wealth is a primary goal of Occupy Wall Street protestors: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dear-occupy-wall-street/lifeandmoney_economy/?ectid=bitlyified101920111325
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