Occupy Wall Street Movement - Essay Example

Occupy Movement Occupy Wall Street movement started in September 17th to protest against inequality, involvement of the banks in fraud in the US, multinational corporations influence over democratic processes. The first group was held their protests at Zuccotti Park, a privately owned park within the financial district of New York. The slogan of the group was; “we are the 99 percent”. The reason for the slogan was to show the inequality between the haves, considered to be 1% and the have not at 99%. The main purpose was to camp out for days or even months to instigate change in the management of corporations and multinationals. The major question of the protest is whether it led to better management or held some organization responsible for the financial crisis witnessed in the country. The evaluation of activities that created the financial crisis can be done through the evaluation of the ethical values and consideration of the various organizations that led to the crisis. The General assembly listed the crime that corporation power was doing on the 99%n of the people and tried to tell more interested citizens to join the protesters. Hochschild uses some examples that show the people fighting the war for a long period until they succeed, to encourage individuals not give up with protecting human rights. Hass states that students in the UC Berkeley will never give up and keep on their way because the university belongs to all people who pay taxes. The problem of the Occupy Movement is that people understand they are injustices, but they could not realize the best way to solve the injustice problem. The use on non-violent approach such as a peaceful demonstration is integral. However, protesters should not agree to do anything that they think it is unfair, and prepared for be punished. On the other hand, they should have political knowledge, and understand the nature of governments which will lead to success in the process. According to Hass, police department handling of the protesters shows the unfairness in the society. In spite of the challenge, Occupy Movement spreads quickly and interests many people to join including some students of UC Berkeley protesters in front of the Sprout Hall. Thus, the police need to maintain safety of the campus. Hass (35) states; “If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines.” The police department was trying to hurt the students who joined the movement without caring what the students did. Police seems so odious and think the Occupy Movement is not the good thing and against them. Therefore, overreaction on the protesters is evident. “It must be a general reaction-was that they assaulted both the young men and young women with the same indiscriminate force.”(Hass 35) When the deputies heard that the professor’s wife suggested them to be nonviolent, one deputy beat her seriously showing that Deputies are crazy about the protesters. Police behavior shows how much they are afraid of the Occupy Movement. Some of them tried to use less violence to let the students move and dismiss. However, after getting some signals, they started beating the students. They carefully beat the students and professors because they do not want to let other people know how violence they are. Hass stated that university belongs to the people in California who paid taxes to support excellent education system. However, the stress of the high indebtedness makes the people who are in the university feel that they have to take part in the Occupy Movement because the situation in the university is extremely bad that they cannot ignore. Although two students were arrested, others were not afraid of being arrested and still occupied the campus. The unfairness of the social benefits encourages people to be protesters. The initiators of the movement state that most of society is by the economic power, and the movement is a war between the 1% rich and other 99% people. So, they want to engage people who are part of 99% and fight for their right. “A democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth. Manifesto illustrates how the big companies control too much power of the society. The problem that the protesters declared in the manifesto is “Corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice and oppression over equality, run the governments” (manifesto 8). The list of the assembled facts in the article shows that what the corporation did to hurt the right of the other 99 percent people. They tried to appeal more people join the Occupy Movement. More people come and join the Occupy Movement, the easier to solve the problem of the movement. They speak out the facts in order to gain the increasing protesters. “Our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights” (Manifesto, 7). It is important for them to announce people around the world get together so that they gain more strength. “Stone, a cancer survivor who does not have health insurance, directs her disaffection at corporations. She said he thinks the first step toward solving the problem is campaign-finance reform” (Donna). This is one of the protesters who experienced the inequality of the society indicating that in the protests, more people are in the movement and exercise their rights to force the government for their rights. “We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known” (Manifesto, 8). The declaration of the Occupation encourages more people join the Occupy Movement and take actions for fighting against inequality, the protesters are the supporters who can fight for our rights. Corporation power does not agree to offer us the same right and seek all the opportunities to get benefits from the other 99 percent people. They suggested that rooted can gather and become a big group to peacefully surprise the corporation power for showing to the government that how many people have suffered in as a result of the unfair policies nowadays. In Hochschild’s opinion, Occupy movement is not as easy as compared to the history of the people who opposed the American’s war in Vietnam and destroyed the Berlin Wall. “We are up against a system of deeply rooted, widening inequality that is essentially the Berlin Wall of corporate power.”(Hochschild 32). Hochschild declared that Occupy Movement has protested for a few years and still have not got the rights that they want from the government yet. The occupy movement lasts for a long time, and they need more people to protest the movement. It is the brilliant choice that more grassroots found the followers to support them. “My fellow occupiers have all had a taste of freedom, a taste of respect, and we have seen what can still be accomplished by such a small group of people. We held the attention of the world for months, and we will continue to educate and mobilize people, and the people themselves will continue to build communities. We have a power that refuses to quit.” (Breanna). British Empire Slavery came to an end- a full quarter century before that happened in the United States. In the antislavery war, “by 1972at least 400,000 people in the British Isles were refusing to eat slave-grown sugar.”(33) This is a firm behavior that surprised the giant corporation and many more boycott than before. “Yet this was an era when the French and American Revolutions put new ideas about human equality into the air.”(33) Inequality should be pointed out and keep insisting on asking people to stand out. “In combating entrenched power of a different sort of system with obscene profits for the 1% and hardship and a downward slide for many of the rest” (Hoschchild 33). Hoschchild tends to put everybody together break down the economics power and make something changed after those demonstrations. People know that the gathering power is a strong supporter when we want to break down the unfair laws that they do not agree with. As it is, we still have a long way to go in fighting for human rights. The big corporations do not fear when we want to do violence with them, however, they would be fear if a lot of people do not follow their rules and do not get scared when they are . If many people are and being beat by the police, the media from other religions and other countries would start to pay more attention on caring the Occupy Movement and also realize how evil the big corporations are. Sometimes we need to sacrifice ourselves in order to obtain fair laws. We may need to learn more about the political and economic knowledge, and offer more evidence to argue with government to make our Occupy Movement succeed, Keep away from troubles, take actions of direct democracy and gather people together to ask the government to reduce their power. Work Cited Eggers, Dave, ed. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. Donna Leinwand, Leger, and TODAY USA. "Protesting 'occupiers' spread message beyond Wall St." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. Lembitz, Breanna. "A Taste Of Freedom: What I Got At Occupy Wall Street." Progressive 76.2 (2012): 26-29. Academic Search Premier. Online. 21 Nov. 2013. Read More