Print

News >> Browse Articles >> Controversies & Scandals

+12

Occupy Wall Street – Coming to a City Near You?

Occupy Wall Street – Coming to a City Near You?

Occupy Tampa. Photo credit to Shanna Gillette of Sasha Rae Photo via Flickr under the Creative Commons license.

By Kathryn Knight Randolph

Occupy Wall Street is currently in its fourth week of sit-in protests. Since the inaugural protests on September 17 in New York City, Occupy Wall Street has spread to at least 1,470 cities worldwide, according to occupytogether.org. At the Occupy sites, protestors are camping out and literally occupying that physical zone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Occupy Wall Street activists are working against the “greed and corruption” of the wealthiest 1% of the country and asking for more economic equality for the 99% of the population that is working through student debt, credit card debt and mortgage problems, according to occupywallst.org.

And while the movement initially received criticism for being unorganized and lacking in any real demands, it has now caught the attention of all national and worldwide media outlets, lawmakers and President Obama. In fact, Representative Keith Ellison, who has been serving as a House representative from Minnesota since 2007, noted that as the movement has grown momentum in recent weeks, their demands are being realized loud and clear.

Ellison wrote in an article for The Huffington Post, “The Occupy movement is attracting ordinary Americans through concrete action that conveys a clear message. The message is that working Americans want Wall Street to be accountable. The message is that working Americans want a fair tax system. Americans want the Congress to pass legislation that produces jobs.”

Though Occupy Wall Street began as a peaceful protest, violence has increased recently. There have been instances of alleged police brutality, especially in New York; however, whether or not this brutality was provoked on the part of the protestors is unclear. Additionally, arrests have been made in New York as well as several other cities, like Boston, Des Moines and Portland.

Now, protestors in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, the central hub for Occupy Wall Street, are being told by Mayor Bloomberg that they must temporarily vacate the premises for cleaning purposes by Friday, October 14 at 7 a.m., according to occupywallstreet.org. Though protestors think this as an effort on Mayor Bloomberg’s part to break up the occupation, Bloomberg insists that this is at the request of the park’s owners, Brookfield Properties, according to New York Daily News.

In a letter to the city of New York, as reported by the New York Daily News, Brookfield Properties has openly complained of the Wall Street occupation, stating “that the protesters are breaking numerous laws, including “lewdness, groping, drinking and drug use” and creating “offensive odors.”"

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Deputy Mayor, Cas Halloway, said, “The last three weeks have created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park…The cleaning will be done in stages, and the protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned.”

As protestors in New York return to Zoccatti Park in the next few days, it can only be assumed that even more Occupy Wall Street sites will crop up both nationally and worldwide.

Do you plan on participating in any Occupy Wall Street protests? Share with us why or why not!


+12
  • Photo_user_blank_big

    SMILEANYWAY

    5 months ago

    8 comments

    that's what these greedy mongrels get for stealing and concealing our money.

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    jvfran2

    6 months ago

    2 comments

    I fail to see how a collectivist/socialist/communist group which bemoans the greatness of capitalism belongs on a site which provides entrance into such a system. Monster.com, wtf?

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    garyray32

    6 months ago

    2 comments

    Time to move on. They made their statement so its time to move onto more important areas, like poverty, homelessness

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    nrsangie66

    6 months ago

    2 comments

    This is ridiculous. This "movement" needs to MOVE. They are so concerned about costs, money, and corruption so I would like to know why they have all these "movements" around the country, yet NOTHING is pointed to the government. WHY??? The government is the one who backs Fannie and Freddie, the two government backed mortgage companies gave mortgages to people who couldn't afford them then sold them off to other banks through misrepresentation and then the banks crashed. The federal government deregulated the mortgage industry and told people they were 'entitled' to own a house (no your not). The government operated SEC was supposed to be monitoring the financial industry, but instead they issued certificates of businesses that were nothing but scams (heard of Madoff ) and just sat around the office downloading porn, some of them had to add external drives because they needed more room.
    These protesters are anarchists, they have no central message, they want to completely destroy our economical system, but offer no ideas and are COSTING taxpayers thousands of dollars a day as well as private business owners.
    Tea Party Members conducted peaceful, organized and lawful demonstrations. At times in certain areas were actually DENIED permits and therefore could not have their rally. Tea party members where called terrorists, racists and other filthy names by citizens and politicians including the president and vice president and senate/house democrats. NOW, Owebummer and his croonies are calling the occupiers (funny they use a term associated with communism/socialist) are 'not unlike' the tea party protesters.. so is he saying that the occupiers are racists (Yes) and terrorists(Yes).. OR... is he saying that the tea party members are NOW just upset and concerned about the economic situation in the US??

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    made

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    The totalt "protesters" nationwide number less than 20000. In a community of 100K, this would be significant. However, the U.S. is a community of 195,000,000 adults. Do the math for yourself.

    These socialist fund-raisers only represent what happens when all of the village idiots in a large city gather in one place.

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    Thaliacs

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    its time someone said something, you put in an application and they basically want you to go back to slavery, that is the response that I get.

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    Unaccredited Cate

    7 months ago

    I will be deleting my profile now. I dont to be apart of somthing that supports such inappropriate behavior

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    jeff33912

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    First:
    Organization needs to come in the form of Change, Real Change in the entire system. Term limits for Congress and the House, just as our President must hold to. Lobbyist and lobbying period needs to be illegal.

    Second:
    Our President, Congress and the House is made up of primarily lawyers, is that representative of the people? A large majority of all of them are multi-millionaires, is that representative of the people? But that is the thing, We the People of the United States must institute change with our votes, Congress or the House doesn't vote the way we want them to, the constituents they are supposed to be representing, we vote them out of office and allow them to return to their fortunes chasing ambulances.

    Technologies need to be used to reduce reliance on oil, foreign or domestic. It amazes me that people don't ask more questions, that more people don't come forward about why we still use oil in such vast quantities, the simple answer is there is no residual for big business/Wall St. (not just big oil) OR the government and the sad thing is is that new industries would emerge and of course new taxes OR the government would have to downsize.

    In only a short amount of research it is disgusting to find some of the things that are available both up the corporate and government ladder. You ask if I am going to participate? In every city that is feasible and I hope that more see this and do the same; the time for real change is here and it We the People that will make it happen, not government and most certainly no Wall Street.

    Join the Revolution!

  • 110312-200057_max50

    zmars302

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    As a psychology major who recently earned his bachelor's (with a head-injury), I can, or at least think I can, see the strengths and weaknesses of each major sides arguments. Strength-wise, Wall-street is successful in doing what they do best, and the protesters are exercising their right to Free Speech. Weakness-wise, they're both at extremes. Where do I stand on the issue? Well the former is greatly taking advantage of the many loopholes and the latter has their prioties bass-ackwards:) I'm going to concentrate on being solution-focused and continue to "get ahead..." The real bottom-line is a question of money vs. happiness...

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    jobless_tired

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    Maybe cavewoman should get her head out of her cave once in while to see what is really going on. How is Occupy wallstreet anti Semites? the only thing the movement is is ANTI corruption, Anti Greed and Anti people like you who cannot see past her doorway, since the movement is not only in New York but Globally . And maybe you should smoke some pot since you seem to be in desperate need of some. The only one that has the head up the Bum is you and to answer your question on how dumb do we think you are? I think the word IGNORANT fits you really well.
    Thank you Monster for posting this issue .

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    doogalavia

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    Why are you posting political articles? I don't remember seeing anything about the Tea Party protests, but then again they were the ones labeled as terrorists. Huh? Regarding Ellison's HufPo article stating "Americans want the Congress to pass legislation that produces jobs.” Really??? Right there is the crux of this whole issue - Congress and the Gov DO NOT CREATE JOBS!! Good grief man!! These protestors are being used.

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    CaveWoman

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    I absolutely think that giving anti-Semites this kind of coverage is inappropriate. School is for learning and not political pushers. I don't even mind that there are anti-Semites, obviously stupid ones I might add, but I do mind that the fact that I wish to get an education pushes these loonies on me! You have a right to your free speech and I have a right to tell you to leave me the heck alone as well. These people have been out there since Sept. 21. I wonder if they used all of that passion and pent-up energy looking for a job instead of smoking pot they would be able to find a job that paid them a wage as well. Stand up, firmly pull your head out of your bum, and realize that nobody owes you ANYTHING for simply being alive. How dumb do you think we are?

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    Unaccredited Cate

    7 months ago

    monster.com you just lost a user for your support of these communist goons

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    erlindava

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    How can news that is happening all over the world and is affecting everyone somehow by lack of jobs be deemed as an inappropriate article? Unless you live under a rock and are not concerned with such events. I on the other hand find this article well written and informative. The person has not taken sides is simply informing us what is going on and it actually made me open up the email Monster College sent me. So if you were able to do that and make me read the article, you did a good job!

  • Photo_user_blank_big

    elizabethV

    7 months ago

    2 comments

    So what @daneev. We can't just turn our back on the truth. Theres already too many corrupted people out there as I see you are but everyone needs to report what is going on. Thanks for covering this. There is much more to come. Occupy LA, and all US cities!

Recent Activity

Photo_user_blank_big
brittneyvargas received the quiz result of "Congrats!", 5 minutes ago.
205660_215915058422721_100000126842320_1029024_46542_n_max30
jkinson received the quiz result of "0-50% Your world capitals knowledge is Low", 9 minutes ago.
Photo_user_blank_big
jcantrell0018 received the quiz result of "0-50% Your world capitals knowledge is Low", 24 minutes ago.
Photo_user_blank_big
jcdifuntorum received the quiz result of "The Perfect Handshake", 27 minutes ago.
15432_189402952824_503902824_2985560_2946175_n_max30
grimya received the quiz result of "0-50% Your world capitals knowledge is Low", about 1 hour ago.