Occupy Wallstreet
Essay Preview: Occupy Wallstreet
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What are the reasons for “Occupy Wall Street” protest? What gave the inspration for these demonstrations? How did it all start?
*Reasons for protest
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park of New York Citys Wall Street financial district. The protests are against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the undue influence of corporations–particularly that of the financial services sector–on government.
The protesters slogan “”We are the 99% refers to the growing difference in wealth in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population””
The phrase “The 99%” is a political slogan of “Occupy” protesters It was originally launched as a Tumblr blog page in late August of 2011. It refers to the vast concentration of wealth among the top 1% of income earners compared to the other 99 percent.
A chart showing the disparity in income distribution in the United States.
The top 1 percent of income earners have more than doubled their income over the last thirty years according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. The report was released just as concerns of the Occupy Wall Street movement were beginning to enter the national political debate. According to the CBO, between 1979 and 2007 the incomes of the top 1% of
Americans grew by an average of 275%. During the same time period, the 60% of Americans in the middle of the income scale saw their income rise by 40%. Since 1979 the average pre-tax income for the bottom 90% of households has decreased by $900, while that of the top 1% increased by over $700,000, as federal taxation became less progressive. From 1992-2007 the top 400 income earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%.In 2009, the average income of the top 1% was $960,000 with a minimum income of $343,927.
In a July 13, 2011 blog post, the Canadian-based Adbusters Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.
Adbusters website said that from their “one simple demand, a presidential commission to separate money from politics,” they would “start setting the agenda for a new America .”They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Streets iconic Charging Bull.
Adbusters Kalle Lasn, when asked why it took three years after the implosion of Lehman Brothers for people to begin protesting, said that after the election of President Obama there was a feeling among the young that he would pass laws to regulate the banking system and “take these financial fraudsters and bring them to justice.” However, as time passed, “the feeling that hes a bit of a gutless wonder slowly crept in” and they lost their hope that his election would result in change.
*What gave the inspiration
The rhetoric, imagery and tactics of OWS are partially inspired by the Egyptian Tahrir Square uprising and the Spanish acampadas,
*How started
July 13 Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters calls for an occupation starting September 17 (Constitution Day in the United States) where “20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.” In a September 27 Vancouver Courier article, Adbusters senior editor Micah White is quoted as saying that after floating the original concept on their website and to their E-mail list, the idea of the occupation was spontaneously taken up by independent activists.
July 26 A group calling itself “New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts” announces a meeting on Wall Street on August 2 to protest potential austerity measures as a result of the debt-ceiling crisis. That day, another set of protesters planning for an upcoming “occupation” protest joins them, and, according to occupywallst.org, after the assembly
the two groups “gather into working groups to plan for the September 17 occupation of Wall Street.”
August 23 A blog entitled “We Are the 99%” launches, encouraging contributors to post complaints about how “the 99 percent have been set against each other, fighting over the crumbs the 1 percent leaves behind.”
September 17 An estimated 1,000 protesters gather in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan and march on Wall Street. In San Francisco, protesters demonstrate in front of the Federal Reserve Bank on Market Street, beginning their own occupation.
What are the demands of the protesters?
According to the list of demands posted on the Occupy Wall Street website , the demands of protestors are as following;
Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending “Freetrade” by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.
Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.
Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.
Demand four: Free college education.
Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.
Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water,