What Was Occupy Wall Street All About?

The Canadian activist group, Adbusters instigated Occupy Wall Street, a major protest movement against economic inequality and corporate influence that began on September 17, 2011, in New York City’s Zuccotti Park on Wall Street. The protests drew inspiration from the Arab Spring movement, especially Cairo’s Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants.

People of many colors, genders, and political persuasions formed a leaderless resistance movement in Occupy Wall Street, using revolutionary tactics to achieve ends and encouraging the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants. The Occupy Wall Street movement did not pass immediate legislation or reform specific financial laws, but it fundamentally changed the American political conversation around economic inequality.

The participants mainly protested social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government. By October 9, similar demonstrations either continued or took place in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S. Other Occupy protests internationally modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street.

The Occupy Wall Street occupation became a national phenomenon. The movement popularized the slogan “We are the 99%,” highlighting the vast wealth gap between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

The president expressed interest, celebrities popped by, and pizza shops added the OccuPie to their menus. Developers are even creating an Occupy video game. The movement spawned hundreds of Occupy locales in a national Occupy Together network. And now, people are talking about going global: Occupy the World.

Content for this question contributed by Doug Hatcher, resident of Bedford Heights, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA