Occupy Movement and Comparable Groups - Essay Example

Occupy Movement The Palestine vs. Israel animosity and the Arab Spring was part of cause of the Occupy movement in the United States. The Palestine vs. Israel animosity led to a deficiency of substantial choices for a consumer which is the fuel that drives the Occupy movement. The occupy movement realize that the central market problem in the United States is not due to its financial standing and rather by its political standing. The Occupy movement is growing exponentially with the number of its followers increasing. This growth has continued even with wide-scale repression of this movement. In the recent years this movement has seen arrests, police raids and police brutality during their activities. This movement is seen as an organization that is voicing out the overwhelming grievances of the working class majority (Fleming 54). The Occupy Movement begun by targeting Wall Street due to its role in the 2008 economic meltdown that led to the commencing of the great recession. This great recession saw thousands of Americans lose their jobs and even their homes due to foreclosures. Occupy movement are of the view that Wall Street’s perilous loaning services that involve mortgage-backed securities which in the long-run do not bring in any returns, was the major cause of the meltdown. They are also of the view that the government bailout ruptured a sense of propriety. According to followers of this movement Wall Street recklessly and without insight violated the credit default swap market. and the volatility of the market ought to have been realized earlier. They demand that action be taken against the people in Wall Street who were directly linked to this. The movement has been mostly criticized due to the fact that most of its followers have different messages and goals concerning the movement. However, I believe that although this is true whereby different followers have different viewpoints regarding the movement, the fundamental message of the Occupy Movement is quite coherent. Douglas Rushkoff who is a CNN reporter stipulated that although the followers of the movement have not yet reached the point of outlining an exact list of grievances or the best way to solve them anybody of the opinion that they do not understand what this people are protesting about is being a blatant liar (Times 27). Whether or not we are of their opinion, it is clear what they are distraught about and that they are fighting for a just cause. It is well known that investment bankers who carry out their activities in Wall Street are continuously accumulating wealth as other Americans struggle to make a dollar (Beesto 67). The aspect of this movement that angers politicians and bank lawyers alike is the fact that the movement has not stipulated its terms or even set any objectives or goals which is the old-fashioned language of campaign. They strive to bring out the fact that there is an unnecessary and modifiable detachment between the excess America manufactures and the shortage its markets produces The followers of this movement remain unmoved in their aim to ensure adequate jobs for everyone, high quality jobs for qualified citizens, equality in wealth distribution, lessening in corporation interference with politics and reformation of bank policies Kalle Lasn who is who is Adbusters co-founder associated this movement to protests of the 1968 movements and the Situationists protests. He went on to state that while no single person could come up and speak on behalf of the Occupy Movement it is vivid that their aim is to acquire economic justice more specifically the reestablishment of the Glas-Stegall Act, transitory tax on global financial assumption and annulment of corporate personhood Occupy Movement has an administration which is referred to as the General Assembly. This general assembly has adopted a “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City,” which consists of a list of their demands concerning the behavior of large corporations. Nevertheless, stipulating, "‘Power concedes nothing without a demand " some of the Occupy movement followers have decided to take up fairly steadfast set of state policy suggestions. One group has drafted an unofficial article "The 99 Percent Declaration”, that stipulates that there ought to be a parliamentary sitting of representatives from all districts of the congress to meet on the 4th of July 2012, to put down and present a list of demands, grievances and ways to solve them Occupy Movement however has those followers that prefer a more simpler and lesser defined set of goals. These followers have come up with a document known as the Liberty Square Blueprint. This document has been put down as a wiki page (Adbuster 34). This document has been edited by over two hundred and fifty occupiers whereby it is revised from time to time. Due to the fact that it has been put down as a wiki page the wording has changed, nevertheless an initial version reads: "Demands cannot reflect inevitable success. Demands imply condition, and we will never stop. Demands cannot reflect the time scale that we are working with." The expression "The 99%" is very popular with the Occupy movement whereby it is a political motto which refers to the huge accumulation of wealth among a few individuals who are only 1 % of the working class while the other 99% earn very little and earn meager earnings. In addition this 99% are forced to pay for the mistakes of the 1% Everyday at 7 o clock in the evening The New York City General Assembly (NYCGA) is held. The New York City General Assembly (NYCGA) is the main Occupy Movement’s major decision making body and also oversees administration, leadership and organization of most of the movement’s other activities. During these gathering the Occupy movement committees bring forward their suggestions and grievances. The gatherings are also open to debate discussions and suggestions from those in attendance and the general public. These gatherings lack an established leader and hence some members volunteer to act as moderators. People in attendance bring in their thoughts on the committee proposals on how to improve on them. They do this though a procedure called stack which involves a line of speakers whereby anybody in attendance can join. New York apply a procedure called progressive stack whereby people in attendance from marginalized groups are given the chance to talk first before those from the dorminant groups., with moderators or stack keepers requesting the speakers to step forward or back grounded on the group they fall in (Schneider 12). For example a stack-keeper would let women or people from minority groups such as the black to speak first while white men would most of the time wait for everyone else to speak. Volunteers take minutes of the gatherings in order for them to keep organizers who were unable to attend the meeting up to date on the proceedings and on what was discussed during the meeting (Saba 23). The organizational structure of occupy movement comprises of a Spokes Council whereby every working group can take part in. The occupy movement is made up of over 70 working groups that are concerned with organizing and implementing the day to day activities of the movement. It is the opinion of Paul Levinson a Fordham University communications professor, that Occupy Movement and comparable groups represent another upsurge of direct democracy which has been unheard of from ancient times. Heather Gautney, a Sociologist from Fordham University, has stipulated that whereas the organization has no pronounced leader, the demonstration in Zuccotti Park has obvious "coordinators". Even with the discernment of a movement lacking in frontrunners, frontrunners have appeared. Profound leaders deliberated whether to leave (Guardian 4). They idealize on the inhabitance of other towns and districts, with an arrangement to preserve the movement further than just the park. An organizer of some of the movements additionally combative deliberations, Nicole Carty, says “Usually when we think of leadership, we think of authority, but nobody has authority here,” - “People lead by example, stepping up when they need to and stepping back when they need to.” Conferring with TheStreet.com, some coordinators are more serious in ensuring the activities of the movement carry on well and hence are more visible. Works Cited "Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested". BBC News. October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2011. "700 Arrested After Wall Street Protest on N.Y.s Brooklyn Bridge". Fox News Channel. October 1, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2011. Guardian (London). Retrieved October 7, 2011. "From a single hashtag, a protest circled the world". Brisbanetimes.com.au. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-11-24. Fleming, Andrew. "Adbusters sparks Wall Street protest Vancouver-based activists behind street actions in the U.S". The Vancouver Courier. Retrieved September 30, 2011. Sira Lazar “Occupy Wall Street: Interview With Micah White From Adbusters”, Huffington Post, October 7, 2011, at 3:40 in interview Adbusters, Adbusters,; accesse September 30, 2011 Beesto Laura. "The Ballerina and the Bull: Adbusters Micah White on The Last Great Social Movement". The Link. Retrieved October 12, 2011. Schneider, Nathan. "Occupy Wall Street: FAQ". The Nation. Retrieved October 12, 2011. Saba, Michael. "Twitter #occupywallstreet movement aims to mimic Iran". CNN tech. Retrieved September 17, 2011. Adbusters. "Anonymous Joins #OCCUPYWALLSTREET "Wall Street, Expect Us!" says video communique.". Adbusters. Retrieved October 9, 2011. Occupy Wall Street to Turn Manhattan into Tahrir Square". IBTimes New York. September 17, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011. "From a single hashtag, a protest circled the world". Brisbanetimes.com.au. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2011-11-28. Read More