It is now out in the open that for the past 3 weeks, there has been a movement in downtown New York City called "OccupyWallStreet." The first two weeks, the media did not give the movement much coverage, but now, that the demonstrators haven't left their designated park, the media is all over the movement. And this is good. It will get the Occupy Wall Street's name out and may even draw in more supporters. The official website is not too technically savvy, but it gets the message across that the only way to change the current politico-socio-economic system is through activism and rational conversation. (The movement does not condone violence, though who knows if it will lead to that?). The interesting thing is that there is no real list of demands, except for accountability, respect, equality, and well, jobs for qualified individuals. Though to get a better understanding, I encourage you to read this CNN article, which was not written by a mainstream CNN reporter. My take is what I said earlier about the Egyptian demonstrators - many do not have jobs and want to express their disappointment with the system. Many demonstrating do have jobs, however. But most just do not feel important enough in the system, even if they are employed. Maybe they are looking for a purpose, or maybe they are looking to for something to do.
Here are some pictures from the demonstrations, though there are so many out there now:
A friend wrote this piece to American students (please note that it is edited):
"For the students, if you're getting [a college/master's] degree because of a concern with what is wrong with the world and wish to do something about it, I suggest you join the movement. The general assembly process offers you and the your communities more potential for impacting the lives you want to live then [a] degree does.
This is not to denigrate [a] degree but as a [degree holder] I have seen the brightest and most talented of my peers struggle to find work or find work beneath their abilities. Sadly the non-profit and government labor markets favor those who buy in to the current systems, settle for reform, imagined or real, while it punishes the creative among us who would change or replace the system for lasting solutions. If, for example, you are the kind of person who is getting a degree to get a nice UN salary, do some shopping, then you should go to liberty plaza and see how much more potential collective action has than consumption.
As you guys learn about states, global governance (UN, IMF, WTO, WB, Basel, etc) and even civil society, keep mind that these may not just be necessary evils but not necessary at all. There are horizontal alternatives that my coursework never taught me that I had to find out for myself.
In short, everyone go to the marches, go to liberty plaza as much as possible and participate and help out and converse. "
And just like Al Jazeera had a live stream of the Egyptian revolution and Libyan revolution, you can watch a live stream of the OccupyWallStreet movement here:
Or you can read about it and watch it here:
Again, there are numerous media outlets now covering this development.
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