This started out as a small gathering at a park in downtown Manhattan, NYC- Literally across the street from the World Trade Center.... as the days go by, it gets bigger and bigger. Is this news anywhere else in the world?? Is been going on now for about 3 weeks.. and only recently getting the attention of most media outlets...

 

what do you guys think?

 

 

taken from The New York Times:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/nyregion/major-unions-join-occupy-wall-street-protest.html?_r=1&sq=occupy%20wall%20street&st=cse&scp=4&pagewanted=print

 

 

 

Stuart Appelbaum, an influential union leader in New York City, was in Tunisia last month, advising the fledgling labor movement there, when he received a flurry of phone calls and e-mails alerting him to the rumblings of something back home. Protesters united under a provocative name, Occupy Wall Street, were gathering in a Lower Manhattan park and raising issues long dear to organized labor.

 

And gaining attention for it.

 

Mr. Appelbaum recalled asking a colleague over the phone to find out who was behind Occupy Wall Street — a bunch of hippies or perhaps troublemakers? — and whether the movement might quickly fade.

 

So far, at least, it has not, and on Wednesday, several prominent unions, struggling to gain traction on their own, made their first effort to join forces with Occupy Wall Street. Thousands of union members marched with the protesters from Foley Square to their encampment in nearby Zuccotti Park.

 

“The labor movement needs to tap into the energy and learn from them,” Mr. Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said. “They are reaching a lot of people and exciting a lot of people that the labor movement has been struggling to reach for years.”

 

In fact, the unexpected success of Occupy Wall Street in leveling criticism of corporate America has stirred some soul-searching among labor leaders. They have noted with envy that the new movement has done a far better job, not only of capturing interest, but also of attracting young people. Protests have spread to dozens of cities, including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.

 

Several union leaders complained that their own protests over the past two years had received little attention, though they had put far more people on the streets than Occupy Wall Street has. A labor rally in Washington last October drew more than 100,000 people, with little news media coverage.

 

Behind the scenes in recent days, union leaders have debated how to respond to Occupy Wall Street. In internal discussions, some voiced worries that if labor were perceived as trying to co-opt the movement, it might alienate the protesters and touch off a backlash.

 

Others said they were wary of being embarrassed by the far-left activists in the group who have repeatedly denounced the United States government.

 

Those concerns may be renewed after a disturbance about 8 p.m. Wednesday as the march was breaking up. The police said they arrested eight protesters around the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street, after people rushed barriers and began spilling into the street. While a couple of witnesses said that officers used pepper spray to clear the streets, Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said that one officer “possibly” used it. Several protesters were also arrested at State and Bridge Streets at 9:30 p.m.; the police said one protester was charged with assault after an officer was knocked off his scooter.

 

Despite questions about the protesters’ hostility to the authorities, many union leaders have decided to embrace Occupy Wall Street. On Wednesday, for example, members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s executive council had a conference call in which they expressed unanimous support for the protest. One A.F.L.-C.I.O. official said leaders had heard from local union members wondering why organized labor was absent.

 

The two movements may be markedly different, but union leaders maintain that they can help each other — the weakened labor movement can tap into Occupy Wall Street’s vitality, while the protesters can benefit from labor’s money, its millions of members and its stature.

 

The labor leaders said they hoped Occupy Wall Street would serve as a counterweight to the Tea Party and help pressure President Obama and Congress to focus on job creation and other concerns important to unions.

 

“This is very much a crystallizing moment,” said Denise Mitchell, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s communications director. “We have to look for sparks wherever they are. It could be an opportunity to talk about what’s wrong with the system and how to make it better.”

 

Still, it may not be easy for organized labor to mesh with this new movement. Labor unions generally represent older workers, while the Occupy Wall Street protesters are younger. Unions are hierarchical, while the Occupy Wall Street protesters are more loosely knit and like to see themselves as highly democratic.

 

Unions invariably have a long and specific list of demands, while Occupy Wall Street has not articulated formal ones. Union leaders often like the limelight, while Occupy Wall Street is largely leaderless.

 

“Labor’s needed a way to excite younger people with their message,” Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University, said. “And to the extent that Occupy Wall Street’s ‘99 percent versus 1 percent’ theme goes along with what labor has been saying for a while, it’s a natural fit.”

 

“But obviously,” said Professor Kazin, who has written several books on populist and progressive movements, “demographically, there may be some problems here. The protests haven’t gotten much institutional presence, and if labor can help give them institutional presence, that can really help them.”

 

Several major labor groups — including the Transport Workers Union, the Service Employees International Union, the United Federation of Teachers and the United Auto Workers — took part in the march on Wednesday. Some more traditionally conservative ones, like those in the construction trades, stayed away.

 

George White, 60, a retired union member who lives in Marine Park, Brooklyn, said it was up to the young protesters to champion bread-and-butter issues in the future. “Unions are on the way out,” he said. “These are the children of mothers and fathers who have worked hard all their lives and now can’t put food on the tables. These are the children who can’t pay off their loans, who have nowhere to go and no opportunities.”

 

Julie Fry, 32, a lawyer who is a member of the union at the Legal Aid Society, said labor’s backing of the protest was momentous, and born out of frustration.

 

“We’re so fed up and getting nowhere through the old political structures that there needs to be old-fashioned rage in the streets,” she said.

 

Before the march, protesters at the Occupy Wall Street encampment’s welcome table said that while the unions were welcome, they would be only one more base of support.

 

“The idea that the unions will take over the crowd, that’s not going to happen,” said Jeff Smith, 41, a freelancer in advertising who has been on the welcome committee since the protests began. “We are not a group looking for a leader.”

 

Others expressed frustration with the unions. Chris Cicala, 26, from Staten Island, said his father, a union painter, had been laid off, leaving his family without health insurance. “I don’t get where the unions have been for the past 10 years,” Mr. Cicala said.

 

Reporting was contributed by Al Baker, Joseph Goldstein, Rob Harris and Colin Moynihan.

They really need to articulate their goal(s) or long-term strategy. To this date, I still have no idea what Occupy Wall Street is attempting to achieve and that's a problem for the sustainability of these protests.

 

(From LA Times) The posters in Zuccotti Park speak to the lack of a narrow platform: "End financial aid to Israel"; "End greed, end poverty, end war"; "No death penalty"; "Tired of racism."

They really need to articulate their goal(s) or long-term strategy. To this date, I still have no idea what Occupy Wall Street is attempting to achieve and that's a problem for the sustainability of these protests.

 

(From LA Times) The posters in Zuccotti Park speak to the lack of a narrow platform: "End financial aid to Israel"; "End greed, end poverty, end war"; "No death penalty"; "Tired of racism."

 

I'm not too familiar either with what exactly they are 'standing for', but after visiting this tumblr account.. I kinda get the idea.

 

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

 

Could this be the start of a revolution? V for Vendetta in real life? :\

I'm not too familiar either with what exactly they are 'standing for', but after visiting this tumblr account.. I kinda get the idea.

 

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

 

Could this be the start of a revolution? V for Vendetta in real life? :\

 

I saw that Tumblr link too and although I sympathize with these people's situations, I'm still confused how Wall Street is at fault here. As one poster commented, "Nobody has ever held a gun to my head and said “here sign this student loan” nobody has ever told me I would ever be rich once I get my degree. We are responsible for our own actions and the decisions we make." (This is from an Oct 6 Tumblr post from your link)

 

Will this be the start of a revolution? This article does a nice job of explaining why the whole movement will probably not amount to anything substantial: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/5-reasons-why-occupy-wall-street-wont-work/246041/

 

(And I say all of this as part of the 99%)

a big bump

We get a lot of mostly very positive coverage in our German papers and also other European ones, such as the Brithish

'The Guardian' (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/oct/07/occupy-wall-street-protests-live), which even runs a live ticker.

Lesser educated people though think it's against Obama, but I guess and hope that won't have much influence inside the US. :)

Forza people! <3

Wall Street is in part at fault - the big firms are the big donors in political campaigns, result: the powerful deregulated the street into allowing dangerous variable rate sub-prime loan offers to be created and advertised and sold to unsuspecting home buyers, packaged those loans as bundled assets on the market pasted with the label "AAA rated bonds" and sold them to investors all over the globe. When the bubble burst, hedge funds tanked, the global economy came to the verge of collapse, and that led to a huge increase in unemployment from financial uncertainty and jittery consumers, as well as million loosing their homes.

Even Jeffrey Sachs 'sings the praises of Occupy Wall Street'!

Jeffrey Sachs Sings the Praises of Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet

United States housing bubble - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

And the wealth inequality has grown to epic proportions, to the point where the top 1% have profited enormously while workers in the U.S. work 20% more than they did in the 70's, while worker's wages adjusted for inflation have remained flat. Wall Street is just the most visible face of this wealth inequality, hence the location for protests fits the times. 5 Facts You Should Know About the Wealthiest One Percent of Americans | Economy | AlterNet

so there is said the movement started by itself?

here's been said that our protesters spread it there (who in the other hand just followed the Arab Spring (i think is the term they called it here)), currently they have accomplished their 2 months march arriving in Brussels, and wanted to camp but they weren't authorized to do so.

our started in mid May.

 

so protests there are only in wall street, aren't people protesting in other places of the country?

Wall Street is in part at fault - the big firms are the big donors in political campaigns, result: the powerful deregulated the street into allowing dangerous variable rate sub-prime loan offers to be created and advertised and sold to unsuspecting home buyers, packaged those loans as bundled assets on the market pasted with the label "AAA rated bonds" and sold them to investors all over the globe. When the bubble burst, hedge funds tanked, the global economy came to the verge of collapse, and that led to a huge increase in unemployment from financial uncertainty and jittery consumers, as well as million loosing their homes.

 

That's a fair point but is that what Occupy Wall Street is actually protesting? Since I live in the Tri-state area, I went down a couple of times to see what people were protesting. I heard chants of "Free Health Care for all" and "Legalize Marijuana" among other things. Very few people really seemed to understand the economy or worse, what investment banking actually is. The article I posted earlier also reflect the same sentiment: the majority of people remain in the dark about OWS's goals.

I love this so so much.

http://occupywallst.org/

 

 

Something I will join in Berlin next Saturday.

It's all over the world, so you could find something near you.

Please check it out, and take part, if you endorse the worldwide pro-democracy- movements.

No ideologies!

http://15october.net/where/

The protestors are already irritating locals in NYC, the very 99% they claim to represent: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/08/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-begins-to-chafe-its-neighbors.html

 

Mike Keane, who owns O’Hara’s Restaurant and Pub, said that the theft of soap and toilet paper had soared and that one protester had used the bathroom but had failed to properly use the toilet. Both Ms. Tzortzatos, owner of the Panini and Company Cafe, and Mr. Keane said the protesters rarely bought anything, yet hurled curses when they were told that only paying customers could use their bathrooms.

 

I'm ashamed to be part of the Entitlement Generation.

Like most people protesting they don't actually know about what they're protesting for. '

I too think there doesn't seem to be anything really direct being aimed at, but I suppose that's how this whole thing's gotten such massive popularity. There's even going to be one starting here this week.

The whole world is going to join the revoulation !

Like most people protesting they don't actually know about what they're protesting for. '

 

:nod: And it's a shame because the protestors do have some valid points. But it gets lost in all the nonsense - I guess that's what happens when you form drum circles.

I'm suspicious of this protest and the "Adbusters" organization that started it. I believe it is an elite-driven outlet for peoples' frustrations to vent without getting too close to the real source of the problems: the Federal Reserve.

Congrats Occupy Wall Street, way to hurt the 99% with your protests: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220475

 

"People used to come down for their lunch, now the people aren't coming down," says Zhi Wang, a smoothie cart owner stationed at the edge of the park.

 

Nearby vendor Abdel Hafeez says his sales of breakfast items like muffins and coffee have fallen by half since the protest began Sept. 17. "Instead of coming through [the park] to get to their buildings, all of my customers go around," says Hafeez. "I wish this is done soon…Business is very bad.”

So the protests have reached a month now! :stunned: Insane... yet impressive.

I think it's pretty clear what the root of the problems is - it all boils down to the buying off of our elected representatives.

We need to build firewalls between Wall Street and Washington, between elected officials and lobbyists, between those who want to funnel money into political races and those running for office.

Open up the public square, let candidates debate freely, speak freely and easily to the citizens, remove the presence of the back room deals, the behind-the-curtain check signings at the conventions.

The frequency spectrum is a public space, it is a commons, just as water is and air is. For the privilege broadcasters get to use that space, they must freely return a fair share of it to the public for candidate messages, for debates, for educational content about government's proper functions. The buying of the frequency spectrum is a mistake, just like the attempt Bechtel made to buy Bolivia's water rights - you can't own what is in the commons, and to attempt to do so is a crime against humanity and an affront to nature. It is for all to enjoy, provided it is shared fairly, and for those who use the most, they must return something of equal value to the citizens, something which gives back the use of that commons to the citizenry.

Ring the Liberty Bell, it chimes well and clear when the air of big money isn't dampening it's tones! Let Freedom Ring, Let Freedom Ring, Let Freedom Ring!!!

I felt like saying "Amen". Another epic post. :thumbsup:

I think it's pretty clear what the root of the problems is - it all boils down to the buying off of our elected representatives.

 

If it's campaign finance they have a problem with, I'm on board.

 

But I'm still failing to see how Occupy Wall Street accomplishes this... Moreover, shame on those protestors trying to make this a Democrat vs Republican issue.

If it's campaign finance they have a problem with, I'm on board.

 

But I'm still failing to see how Occupy Wall Street accomplishes this... Moreover, shame on those protestors trying to make this a Democrat vs Republican issue.

>>That's what I think is the root problem, but many of the protesters want trials and sentences for the bankers responsible for the misdeeds done that led to the crash, some want a return to not-for-profit hospitals, some want markets corrected to respect the earth's ecological health, many other things as well.

I haven't sensed much partisanship really, it seemed to be more general and about reform, and yes, shame on any who drag partisan politics into it, I agree! These are central issues of justice and fairness that need addressing apart from partisanship.

Interesting how the hunger strikers at the Occupy Oakland gathering, the freed hikers from Iran, are calling for an end to solitary confinement in our prison systems: Freed U.S. Hikers Speak at Occupy Oakland, Express Support for California Prisoners on Hunger Strike

>because it's all tied together - we are guaranteed a right in the Bill of Rights, that Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

So the use of solitary confinement is quite clearly a form of cruel punishment, for the sensory deprivation alone is enough to lead to madness. It is barbaric for a modern democracy respectful of human rights to permit such things.

The very fact that this goes on indicates the level to which our government is not responsive to our will, nor respectful of our rights, and is very much in need of bringing around to we citizens, for it is our rights that are being lost and trampled upon.

I think it's pretty clear what the root of the problems is - it all boils down to the buying off of our elected representatives.

 

Nope, it's central banking.

Double post

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/candidates-occupy-wall-street-14766322?tab=9482931&section=2808950&playlist=2808979