what is occupy wall street movement?

from occupy portlands fb page

Adam Simmons

Someone asked me why they should get behind Occupy Portland. Here is my response "Here's what I see as the bottom line: We have always been taught as children, that this country is a land of freedom, for the people, by the people. It's a sad fact that growing up into adulthood includes accepting that money rules the land. This is not the truth and not what founded the country. This country, even world, cannot be run by those with the largest bank accounts unchecked. The oligarchs are the target. This is not a battle against individual religions, opposing political views or tightly held beliefs.

it's about the purging of tyranny (in this case, of the aforementioned oligarchs), that our country wrote into its DNA at its onset.

But, ultimately it's a personal choice. You either feel like this systemic problem is at it's breaking point, or you don't. Has the level of corruption and reduction of quality of life reached a level that is no longer acceptable? It has reached that point for me and I will exhaust myself with the tools I have, in the effort to correct the wrong."

Heather Lightcap

Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life that spreads through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken.

and my own comments on an online debate about the OWS movement:

•  "Those demands pissed me off. I feel like they completely discredit the whole thing."

  Yesterday at 3:51pm ·  ·  1 person
• 

  Lali Be I tried to explain not to take that specific site as representative of what every person involved in the movement feels....I personally had nothing to do with that list of demands, but I am still passionate about the cause of uniting disenfranchised and hurting people to come together and discuss what the best specific avenues to address the injustices will be...I'm sure there will be laws and more particular topics addressed, for example I have heard many people addressing the issue of corporate spending in elections as one of the main problems....thats just one website, try to explore more information about the movement and maybe you will feel better, feel free to post your thoughts on any of the discussion boards or fb sites....constructive criticism is helpful
  

do you realize people are participating in this movement in: DC (McPherson Square which is near the white house and the capitol building, the security is intense so hard to get any closer) in Boston, San Franciscio, New Orleans, Houston, Seattle, Maine, Miami, Santa Fe, Albequerque, Portland, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Tucson, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Charlotte, Toronto, Vancouver, Manchester UK, and more that I don't feel like typing out. at the OWS site there are professors, former bankers, Ph.D students, lawyers, activists who participated in the civil rights movement, teachers, and more that I don't feel like typing, so it is NOT in fact, a bunch of "unemployed hipsters" protesting at the wrong place. It is a uniting of people who are fed up with the corruption and misplaced priorities of the government, the misallocation of finances to causes which do not benefit the general public, yes there have been many people who don't turn out to vote, but it is precisely a movement like this which is needed to kick them in the ass and get them involved because they actually feel like there are people out there like them who care and believe they can make change. So before you shit all over people who have the passion to camp out because they believe that there is potential for change, why don't you do some more research than whats on the mainstream media, talk to people all over the country who are involved, and since you work for similar ideals, why not be supportive rather than condescending.

is it possible that this could be the beginning of something larger? that maybe the movement could evolve into more than just the occupations and sign waving? that its inspiring people to feel empowered, so maybe they will go out and get together and form more focused coalitions which will play by the systems rules? and ok, maybe the people going to work on K street as a whole don't care, but 1-some individuals could be moved to reconsider their profession, I met several social workers who were former wall street workers and did not feel morally right doing certain work and switched careers, seeing all of the people that their industry is hurting out there sleeping on the street could make them think, also their presence is reaching others, the government certainly knows that the movement is going on, city councilman in NYC were present at OWS, and local government is being involved, for example the mayor is in contact with the occupy portland movement, and it has a voice, maybe not a cohesive soundbyte of a message, but government knows that its happening and that this is another voter base they may want to consider appealing to, because the people are upset and organizing together and it is growing.

I see this stage as the beginning of the movement, the awakening of people, the recruitment of many dejected, hopeless, struggling people and bringing them together to instill the conviction that they can create change, by uniting so many thousands, they begin to have a voice, maybe the next stage will be addressing each movements local government and leading up to the federal level, but laughing it off and dismissing it as misdirected and futile certainly does not help bring it to that next level.