Occupy Wall Street Protests

Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011, called together by groups such as Adbuster and Anonymous. From a tactical point of view, the movement drew inspiration from both the Arab Spring and the anti-globalization movement. Protesters began camping in Manhattan to protest corporate greed and a resulting loss of financial wellbeing for most of the population, as well as the loss of democratic representation by elected officials. After the Occupy Wall Street camp was established, other protests started around the United States and spread around the world. Occupations have faced backlash from police and elected officials, in some cases resulting in violence against protesters. This included the destruction of the original encampment in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. This action did not stop the protests which met violence in some other cases, such as those at University of California Davis and Berkeley, and in Denver, Colorado. During demonstration in Davis on 18 November 2011, campus police Lieutenant John Pike used pepper spray on seated students. …show more content…
This slogan established a direct connection between the topics of dispute, of the privileges of a restricted number of people –also during the financial and economic crisis-and the self-representation of the movement. The latter was based on the existence of a “99%”, pooled by the common pressure put by the well-off 1%, which was accused of having massive economic and political power. It is a minimalistic self-definition, characterized by radical aspects (in the juxtaposition between inside and outside) and by one-dimensionality (concerning richness) in terms of inclusion in/exclusion from the movement. On the other hand, it was also fluid in its emphasis on homogeneity beyond socio-cultural differences. Moreover, the adoption of an univocal economic criteria to outline both the subject of the protest and the identity of the movement seemed to recall a redistributive