Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City[6] based in Zuccotti Park on Wall Street. Instigated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters,[7][8] the protests were inspired by the Arab Spring movement, especially Cairo's Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants.[9][10]
The participants are mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly financial ones, and lobbyists over government.
[11][12][13] By October 9, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S.[14] Internationally other "Occupy" protests have modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street.[15][16]
Background
A chart showing the disparity in income distribution in the United States.
In mid-2011, the Canadian-based group Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine called Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, address a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.[7] According to the senior editor of the magazine, “[they] basically floated the idea in mid-July into our [email list] and it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world, it just kind of snowballed from there.”[7] They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull.[17][18] Also in July, they stated that, "Beginning from one simple demand – a presidential commission to separate money from politics – we start setting the agenda for a new America."[19] Activists from Anonymous also encouraged its followers to take part in the protest which increased the attention it received calling protesters to "flood lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street".[9][20][21][22] Adbusters' Kalle Lasn, when asked why it took three years after Lehman Brothers' implosion for people to storm the streets said:
"when the financial meltdown happened, there was a feeling that, 'Wow, things are going to change. Obama is going to pass all kinds of laws, and we are going to have a different kind of banking system, and we are going to take these financial fraudsters and bring them to justice.' There was a feeling like, 'Hey, we just elected a guy who may actually do this.' In a way, there wasn't this desperate edge. Among the young people there was a very positive feeling. And then slowly this feeling that he's a bit of a gutless wonder slowly crept in, and now we're despondent again."[23]
Although it was originally proposed by Adbusters magazine, the demonstration is leaderless.[24] Other groups began to join the protest, including the NYC General Assembly and U.S. Day of Rage.[25] The protests have brought together people of many political positions. A report in CNN suggested that protesters "got really lucky" when gathering at Zuccotti Park since it was private property and police could not legally force them to move off of it; in contrast, police have authority to remove protesters without permits from city parks.[26]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
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