Perception of the Fair Society to Reach the American Dream - Term Paper Example

America has always been characterized by movement in the 1960s and 1970s as well as today. The public have been agitating for more fair society where people would get opportunities and not only the 1 percent, but also the 99 percent should contribute to the nation building. According to Todd Gitlin the movement reshaped the American way of life. Social, economic and political movement are long term collective rendezvous that guide in bringing change. People in the sixties embrace social movement as a personal endeavor and participated fully in all that they wanted to bring a difference in their lives. Today the term movement is used to mean all kind of mobilizations that have a long term manifestations in the lives of the citizens. However, all this has changed in the recent time, and the sixties and seventies movement have been replaced by the Occupy Wall Street[Tod12]. The societies are always changing and so do movement that influence social change. The American society is characterized by mass production and institutionalized financial sectors that are capable of influencing the economy in a great deal through financial regulations. Todd Gitlin argued that it was the industries and financial institution that have taken over the job that the masses used to do in driving the movement for change. There has been increased shared responsibility among sectors in the economy such as the labor market, financial regulations, energy policies and issue of inequalities in the country. These issues though currently pursued separately, but has a renewed connections in the future. Calhoun agrees with Gitlin in quite a number of his views, but suggest it would be important in discussing renewing of the Occupy Wall Street[Cra13]. Occupy Wall Street was an international mobilization, but Gitlin discusses it in term of American society alone and thus presenting a one sided narrative of a story. However, the root cause of the Occupy Wall Street, its significance and its tactics are an international and domestic view of the need for steering change in a different manner than the traditional mass mobilization of people in towns and cities to agitate for individual and collective gains. The recent financial crisis brought to halt the housing sector with people losing their jobs and investments. However, the financial institution reaped substantial profit and also paid their executive enormous bonuses[Cra13]. To avoid the sector from collapsing the government used public fund to bailout the bank who continued to their treacherous spending on bonuses rather than practice stringent measures to safeguard a future financial turmoil. The financial crisis brought grief to the public due to lose of income and threat of layoffs and foreclosures. The public occupied the street where bank were affected in Europe, America, Africa and in China spackling a worldwide movement of Occupy Wall Street. People shared images of urban occupation not only in financial stricken countries, but also in the Arab world where there was a wave of Arab spring from Tunisia, the Egypt and Libya. The Occupy Wall Street did not just happen as a result of the financial crisis, but the result of a prehistory campaign by the World Social Forum and support from U.S domestic campaigns by intellectuals. Therefore, the Occupy Wall Street is not an American making, but an international combined effort in issues that have similarities or are parallel to many nations in the world. The shared visual images connect people in this era of globalization. The Occupy Wall Street has helped limit the movement as it was in the 1960. The movement has been taken over by occupation of public parks and city squares. The gathering thus represents ‘the people’ as a symbolic tactic. Strangers become friends and start socializing and organizing themselves to challenges and upset the owners of public spaces[Cra13]. Through this the public ensures that they force order in the mainstream of financial sector or even in the compositions of government. According to Gitlin, occupation has become a medium through which the public take action against abuses of any kind. It manifests the power of ‘the people’ occupying public squares. This was demonstrated in Egypt when the public occupied city squares to overthrow President Mubarak out of power. However, realizing the ultimate danger Mubarak had prohibited any occupation of public places to control the glare demand of the people for change in political representation[Cra13]. The innovation of technology as enable government in the West, as well as the East, to install a surveillance camera in all public places. This has been done in London, New York, and other cities watch over and prevent people the right to demonstrate or restrict the public from the use of the public place for any kind of demonstrations[Cra13]. This has been the case in corporate globalization meeting and in political conventions in the United States. Therefore, there has been an architectural change of public spaces in major cities like New York, but for a reason of reducing crime. However, there is well knowledge that such places threaten the existence of the status quo in government, corporates and the society as a whole. The Occupy Wall Street has made a claim of the public places. They argued that public places should not be identified with the state, but should be recognized with the people. Occupy Wall Street claimed legitimacy because it acts and represent the people in gathering in all its assembly[Cra13]. Gitlin discusses of the Occupy Wall Street movement against president Obama administrations. He says that the protest arose after the glare of increases inequality. The OWS differ from the sixties movement because they lack a leader who guide in the constitution of the agenda and issue direction of the movement. In the first, Obama acted as the champion of the Occupy Wall Street in his first campaign for the U.S president, but as soon as he assumed office the demonstrators would be heard saying, ‘‘this is the Obama generation declaring its independence from his administration. We thought his voice was ours, but now we know we have to speak for ourselves’’[Chu12]. Occupy Wall Street engage in the long discussion of national issues in economic, social and political inequality for month through online article and blogging while at the same time engaging the police in parks and Empty Street. Gitlin says that Occupy Wall Street is characterized by an inclusive decision making processes and nonviolent protests in all its operations. The Occupy Wall Street do not engage or involve in the political system like the civil rights movement’s that were led by Malcolm X, Martin L. King and the Black Panthers[Chu12]. Gitlins says that Occupy is not interested in mainstream and they view it as a corrupted and contaminated by huge wealth and individual interests. Occupy is a different organization committed to diverge from the past political norms. The movement anti-hierarchy and anti-establishment have deep roots in the movement[Chu12]. The Occupy Wall Street gained a wide coverage by the media in its inception in 17th September 2012. As soon as the public witnessed the movement in the media they joined the Occupy not in Zuccotti Park, but in many major city, in the U.S and other nations. The use of the term ‘Occupy’ and the use of the phrase ‘the 99 percent’ bonded people who viewed as part of the people being represented by the Occupy Wall Street[Har12]. The earlier movement in the 1960s and 1970s was mostly concerned with wage bargaining, equal treatment between blacks and white workers and the abolition of the white only institutions and places of entertainment including hotels and public parks. However, Occupy Wall Street has taken a dramatic turnaround agitating for the removal of and replacement of non-functioning regulations and individuals that have brought the economics conditions to a halt. They the control of plutocrats that have corrupted the economy and who continue to broker political power to continue in their habit of exercising tax evasions and enjoying bailout out of their own failure[Har12]. Gitlins was an earlier activities and through his experiences says the new movement that is characterized by occupation id more effective that the former. However, other scholar differs with him and says that is doomed to fail because Occupy Wall Street lacks any organization prerequisite for a successful accomplishment of their motives. They say that the movement run the risk of missing out on its mission. However, Gitlin discredit this notion and argue that the labor movement had many flaws which were characterized by election, house meeting, shop stewards, and hard goals. Moreover, the labor movement steeped into politics and betrayed the goals of a unified union[Tod12]. According to Gitlin, participating in strikes was not enough to get a hike in wages. It required persistence bargaining around the table until the demand was met. Through this, the earlier movement in the sixties and seventies was effective in a modest way. The Occupy lacks this goal of ensuring that they meet their goals. The act of Occupying or showing up in Zucotti Park is only a petition and this matter a human petition declaring loyalty to the majority in the country that are deprived their right a few wealthy individuals. Therefore, Occupy lack immediate result of their own action. Occupy movement involves it attendant in short sentence orators that get repeated over and over again. This is what they do in New York, Los Angeles and other cities in the world. One of the Boston Occupier wrote in his Facebook Wall that the process of Occupying is the message of the movement while the chanting and conversation are the goals of the Occupy Wall Streets. Though Gitlin would not accept, the Occupy protest in Brooklyn Bridge had no impact, and it is hard for the resident to remember whether such an Occupation existed because shopper continued with their activities and workers were on their duty. It did not achieve it intended impact let alone it goals of the call for a strike in May 2012. Calhoun says that Occupy Wall Street flourish just like earlier movement as a result of interruption of police in the presence of the media. The image of confrontation between demonstrators and the police create an image that capture the whole nation and the world. It is viewed that police do this knowing that they will amplify the protest. It is common that when supporters are left uninterrupted there will be no drama worthy space and time in the media. However, with this knowledge the police has always disrupted, mismanaged and hurt Occupiers begging the question whether they are also part of the Occupy movement[Cra13]. Gitlin stressed the on the role and conducts of New York Police. He says that, in New York, the uniformed police are always absent in controlling the crowd and are represented by officers in white shirt[Cra13]. However, the presence of these officers reinforce the government power of protecting corporate world against protest and movement of the citizens. Therefore, the power of the police brutality shows a desire by the state to stop public assembly or occupation of parks and city squares. According to Gitlin, the Occupy Wall Street pressed on itself sustaining campaign. They viewed the media as part of their movement because it played a big role in passing the message no matter how small the Occupiers are. However, Gitlin, say that this is untrue, and the dramatic performance before the camera was a mere coincidence like what happened in Tahrir Square. When this is done it thus become difficult for the Occupy movement to regulate or control its presentation and messages[Cra13]. The mainstream media always drive their own agenda and when they do not own any advocacy campaign they ignore and concentrate on other issues. This was a phenomenon in the 1960s movement. However, the Occupy movement has been amplified by social media. Pictures and video are shared online by participant and their sympathizers. The influence of social media attracts the mainstream media and the OWS have survived the public images as a result of this[Cra13]. One of the achievements of the Occupy Wall Street is in the raising the awareness of financial malpractices in Wall Street and other banks in foreign countries. The movement started in Europe when government decided to caution financial sector rather than compensate the citizens for their loss. Through this campaign, the OWS became a populist mobilization that championed the interest of the 99% of the population. Moreover, the OWS brought the enlightenment of the sixties about the freedom of assembly[Cra13]. However, this was not their main focus, but address on the issue that affected the human nature. It thus fall into the prehistoric fight of the American Revolution in the 21st Century. The majority of American has no doubt that OWS has serious issues that it is advocating, but there are other people who do not agree with the way they do go about their movement. Rupert Murdoch’s media organs I bet would dispute this and argue that the OWS are a bunch of troublemakers, violent people who are out there to disrupt the peace and distracts people from the real issues. Nevertheless, Occupy Wall Street have done a great deal in informing the public of the ill that are in the Wall Street and other mainstream organizations. Works Cited Tod12: , (Gitlin), Cra13: , (Calhoun 2), Cra13: , (Calhoun), Cra13: , (Calhoun 4), Cra13: , (Calhoun 5), Chu12: , (Leddy), Har12: , (Collins), Cra13: , (Calhoun 8), Cra13: , (Calhoun 12), Read More