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John Makely / NBC News
Occupy Wall Street protesters leave Washington Square Park at the start of their Saturday march to Zuccotti Park, the first planned march as part of three days of events to mark the one-year anniversary of the movement.
Occupy Wall Street took center stage last fall, galvanizing thousands of people across the country to protest against the abuses of what they called the “one percent.”
But one year after the movement began, it has been reduced to a shadow of its former self: Occupy’s makeshift camps have been shuttered, its membership has dwindled amid internal squabbling and what critics called a lack of direction and goals, and its hopes for social change so far have been unrealized.
Amid this backdrop, Occupy protesters have organized a sit-down protest around the New York Stock Exchange in Wall Street on Monday, their one-year anniversary, hoping to regain some momentum.
Photoblog: Occupy Wall Street protesters attempt to reignite their movement in New York
“Why are we going back to Wall Street? Because the one percent wants it all and they’re not giving anything up without a struggle. Economic conditions are roughly as bad as they were a year ago and for many, many people they’re precarious,” said Bill Dobbs, of the Occupy Wall Street public relations team.
As Occupy struggled to find its footing after being booted out of its camps, the New York flagship, in particular, wrangled with internal conflicts over financial transparency, leadership and tactics.
Jon Reiner, a laid-off New York marketing executive who traveled to many Occupy camps last fall, is disheartened the movement didn't engage in electoral politics.
“I think there’s an opportunity that it has missed,” said the 50-year-old husband and father of two. “I’m still meeting people my own age who are still being laid off. … so the issue has the same prominence in terms of its, you know, impact on people’s lives, and I think that the movement shouldn’t be quiet about any of this, and one way not to be quiet in an election cycle is to get yourself in the face of the … candidates."
“I still identify myself with the movement,” he added, “but I don’t feel like I have necessarily an outlet for my activism.”
Another point of contention was whether the movement should embrace violent tactics.
“These big arguments took up a lot of time and energy for months over whether the tactics should remain strictly nonviolent,” said Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism at Columbia University who wrote a book on Occupy. “ … the turning inward of energy was not constructive.”
New York couple Betty and Dennis Carbone, former anti-war and anti-nuclear activists, still come once or twice a week to Zuccotti Park to maintain a presence at the birthplace of the movement. They are disappointed others haven't done the same.
“We were down here for the winter,” said Dennis Carbone, 69, as some protesters chanted, blew whistles and held up the familiar yellow-and-black banner reading, “Occupy Wall Street.” The barricade-lined park protesters once called home had security officers at entry points on Friday many months after the encampment came down.
John Makely / NBC News
Dennis and Elizabeth Carbone still come to Zuccotti Park a couple times a week.
“Everybody was all pumped up: ‘Wait till spring, wait till, wait till spring.’ Guess what? We’re in fall. No spring, no summer. What did we Occupy?” Carbone said. “That was probably the most disappointing … . And now, here we are what, one year, and what’s happened?”
Disillusion over the perception that things weren’t getting done led some protesters to create spinoff groups, such as OccuEvolve, which is focused on bringing more people into the movement and collaborating with the seven Occupy branches in New York city.
“I saw the stagnancy in the movement,” said Sumumba Sobukwe, 44, who started the group in February. Though he had previously been working with others on Occupy outreach and movement building, “even then, I didn’t see enough outreach into the community that represents the 99 percent."
Unlike other Occupy demonstrators who plan to join the sit-down protest on Monday, those with OccuEvolve will be in the subways, hoping to attract newcomers.
“I think a lot of people kind of naively thought … that things would automatically change and it takes work, it takes organization,” Sobukwe said.
Other social movements have taken years to achieve results, such as the Civil Rights struggle, so Occupy should not be counted out, said Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University.
“The underlying social conditions that created the movement are far from over,” he said, citing money in politics, poverty and income disparity. “ … which means the potential for the movement to still exist is there.”
Sue VanDerzee, a 66-year-old retired newspaper editor from Durham, Conn., participated in Occupy Wall Street a few times and in a few Connecticut chapters, but she has turned her efforts to groups focusing more on local issues. She last visited an Occupy camp in March.
“I think that there’s other groups which sort of seek to reach people where they are and not so much out of a sense of anger but out of a sense of possibility,” she said.
When asked if she thought Occupy could carry on, she said: “As a movement, I’m not sure. As an idea, definitely. It’s embedded in our culture.”
John Makely / NBC News
Veteran James Hegler, center, was arrested Friday by NYPD officers at Zuccotti Park for trespassing after he refused to move his backpack for the private security firm that overseas the park on Friday Sept. 14.
Related:
'Battle for the soul of Occupy': Activists fear becoming Democratic 'pet'
'Tea and Occupy' -- a discussion/debate between members of the two movements
Occupy Congress: Could it be politics as unusual?
To demand or not to demand? That is the 'Occupy' question
Chicago braces for major protests as NATO summit looms
Old guard back in the trenches at 'Occupy' protests
Leave a Comment:
Welcome to the show. You now can see the beast. Democracy was about all people, and capitalism wasn't bad until it became Corporate which through leverage is attempting to eliminate democracy for total control. America is a leader in Capitalism and control, so therefore it's understandable why other smaller world countries are upset with us. The president doesn"t create private sector jobs. He and congress set policies that guide business. When money is allowed to set policy, we as a collective society have almost already lost our voice. I am a 58 year old white male who grew up in absolute poverty and was able to work my way to the comfortable position I am in today. I thank Democracy and Capitalism for my position, but we all need to understand that Democracy is about individual rights and doesn't depend on Capitalism, but Capitalism can take over Democracy and those with the most money can and will control the 99%. Small and medium business - YES. Corporations - NO!! I find that most Corporation leaders and management are Republicans, and rightly so because they enjoy power and will openly acknowledge their status. The question is " How much better off are you now thand you were 4 years ago ". This may be the last time you get to have a say in your furture. Go Vote before you ultimately face the Beast.
"He and congress set policies that guide business"
I don't feel too strongly about that, mostly because I remember McConnell saying one term president blah blah blah and the they voted NO to everything the President ever said. I also think the Supreme Court has had more say in big business than they ought to have. Other than those two blips, I agree completely with you and wonder how long it will take Americans to make a stand. I hope to see the super pac issue get addressed, being American I'm guessing it'll take 10 years.
I see the bought and paid for rightie followers are out in droves this morning. The tea party is no twhat it was originally..it has been infested by those with thier own agenda and just tacked on the teaparty name. It has been infected by outsiders who are out for their own interests and not the real interests of the teaparty.
Occupy collapsed because it actually believed in it's own crap and they could not accept how wrong they are. As a counter point to Occupy, look at the Tea Party.
While Occupy kept stating they did not want to get involved in the political process as they did not trust that process and considered it corrupt, the Tea party jumped right in and even today is putting their candidates into place on ballots around the country.
Occupy was against all authority and believed people working together can best achieve changes, so they formed committee after committee in their camps to endlessly discuss everything. With lots of committee making endless suggestions that kept the group distracted as any committee results had to go back to the camps for group disclosure and open discussion and since you can't get everyone to agree on such things, nothing as ever moved forward. That lack of anyone providing any direction killed them and caused them to splinter into smaller groups (like Occupy Homes or OccuEvolve) which being far smaller lack the abiltiy to achieve anything. The Tea party on the other hand like authority, and despite wide ranging views focused on Obamacare is bad, taxes are bad, we must defeat Obama. Adopting several political figures as defacto leaders increased their presence in the political world pushing their ideas into the mainstream.
IN other words, Occupy failed mainly because their ideals are failures to begin with. Such ideas have always failed in the past and they will continue to do so in the future. Look at the Arab Spring in Egypt. Until the Muslim Brotherhood stepped in (behind the scenes) the crowds were nothing by angry,unofocused rabble protesting over so many disappointments in life. But they saw an opportuinity and moved in to provide leadership while trying to stay our of the limelight. They were able to get the rabble more focused on Mubarak. So instead of complaining about lack of jobs, lack of food, lack of education, lack of x, y, z they were transistioned into "It's Mubarak's fault" and they drove him from power. They leveraged what they had built in the streets, the Muslim Brotherhood was able to advance their candidates in the general elections, to seize control.
They are complaining about being layed off? It's not occupy wall street that will magically create jobs, its getting rid of Obama that will create jobs.
A government big enough to give you everything that you want, is strong enough to take away everything that you have. Your government cannot give you something without taking something away from someone else.
...Especially when those people earned their money and these occupiers just want money handed to them.
It was a fad. They never actually knew what they were protesting besides, "I don't want to work, I want Obama to take rich people's money and give it to me".
Maybe the had to go to work?
The Occupy movement is still alive. It's members are dedicated clean employed Americans trying to make this country a better place. Unlike the Tea party that was supported monetarily by the far right rich, Occupy has no such support. With limited resources it has not been able to engage in large scale actions or engage in the needed drumbeat of media messages to make it appear viable. It also has been hampered by ignorant Trolls who love nothing more than to denigrate individuals who actually are trying to make this country better. Smug self satisfied people mean of spirit and devoid of any awareness that they are just tools of the 1% who keep them under their thumb and distract them with Beer and Football (Bread and Circuses)
Good Luck the Typical Muslim Radicals will support you. They know how to control the weak end of the scale
I knew it! It's the NFL's fault! Tin hat strapped on too tight today LOL!
Like I said, mean spirited ignorant Trolls. Thanks for proving my point. I see it did not take you long.
Vargus -
You and "we have had enough" are two sides of the coin. You "think" in bumper-sticker terminology and slogans. The fully indoctrinated, of any side, lose the ability to think constructively.
mpa,
I must disagree, I have not been indoctrinated by anyone. I am not quite sure what you mean by Bumper sticker terminology and I am always open to opposing viewpoints if they are backed by facts or carry the weight of thoughtful opinion. I joined the Occupy movement because i see overwhelming greed by individuals like Bernie Madoff and incredible corruption on Wall street and in Washington. I see it destroying this country. I see countless people who have had life savings wiped out and who have lost jobs and homes. I see a healthcare system where companies charge ten times market rates as soon as equipment is labeled medical grade. I see politicians lying in both parties and I see the journalist who could not report their way out of a paper bag. Easily manipulated and only interested in reporting a sound bite not caring what it is. I have read countless papers and opinions and treatises in the past year as a part of my volunteer work for the Occupy movement and I have reported on numerous actions and factions that have been ignored by the mainstream media. It is not indoctrination that guides my opinions it is experience.
The OWS movemnet was a DNC paid for crowd/riot and was ment to scare the Tea party folks back to their homes and make them shut up!
It conned hundreds of the dumb and desperate into acting out and thinking they could do something but instead they simple were meant as a distraction to hide all of Obama's failures and give the press something to cover as the economy and the recovery died as the money ran out and the green jobs never happened!
No news coverage of the OWS protest at the DNC convention was the wake up call up folks missed!
OWS is done it only fooled the people who still believe in Obama and deny the truth about this weak,sad,pinko who can't do anything but make speeches as American comes under attack after attack from the Muslim mence!
There would be many more jobs if the stupid republican's would have voted for them, but no!! they want nothinggood to happen as long as preisident Obama is in office. I will vote against every republican this time around for that one reason, they are nasty people who would rather see the US fall dead instead of making the right decisions for we the people, they are disgusting. This fool by the name of Romney is mental that man can't even speak correctly.. he has no idea what he believes in without asking the goonies around him..he a very sick person..
Lori:
I see that
Obama & his shameful dangerous media have succeeded in their campaign of Hate...
As I read your post it seems as if the "principle" you're voting on is what Obama & the media have Orcestrated.............DESIPSE & HATE your fellow Americans ~ be jealous be resentful
stay angry least you stop fighting long enough to see the damage being done to your Country
I encourage you to visit the Drudge Report & see what news the Obama Media is hiding from you.
One of the things that showed in this movement which needs to spur some changes is that highly educated people in many fields are not employable nearly as much as they were decades ago. This is much more of a problem with those in the arts and social sciences, less in tech, business, medicine, construction, trades. We need a better long-term plan on matching education with job skill needs the market will keep demanding. I think the youth especially in the middle and upper classes look at education more in the past twenty years or so as a combo of work/career preparation and some form of entertainment or enjoyment like a hobby. When our society / gov promotes massive amounts of loans and grants to get more kids going into fields that are going to be overcrowded or even shrinking/dying out that creates a double waste - the money if it cannot be paid back/resupplied for future education purposes and the time of the students in their most important learning years of adulthood. What I think will become the solution is something both conservatives and liberals may not like much, but it will probably look like the German/Europe/Japan approach to being more efficient with their education dollars for employment purposes.
If I had taken one day off to protest my boss would have said "don't let the door hit you in the a*s on the way out". Who were these people who had all that money and time to sit and protest?
Sure as he*l was not the average working man/woman who had a family to support, a mortgage to pay, doctor bills, car payments, ETC
No one will ever conviecne me that they did it on thier own. These people were getting money somewhere.
Nobody in the middle class, lower class has that kind of savings that they could take off a day let alone weeks and months. So they were getting kick backs from someone or they had to be very rich which makes no sense.
Ironically, OWSers claimed to "represent" those people...and for more laughable irony, those were the very people they hindered and harassed as they went to work.
OWSers? stands for?
Obama War on Success?? (guessing)
Their families got them back on their medications, and they slid back under the rocks they came from.
Who cares?
.
Soros stopped funding the whole operation.
Now, get back to work, you bums. All you did was cost everyone money!!! Begin by contributing to society instead of free loading. Do you have any idea who much police patrols cost that govern your "tent city"? It cost ME money! I want my 1 year back. The city wants their money back. Get back to work, you hippie bums!!!!
My mom and I were just discussing this last night. She said it was a shame they didn't last. I said to her that Occupy was the seed that will eventually grow into a revolution, and a lot of people agree with me that something is coming. We are seeing things happen politically that are unheard of and that will probably come close to destroying us, and prior to Occupy there was never much indication that we could fight back cohesively. Occupy showed us that we can, Occupy was nationwide and it was only the beginning of what the American people can do when we're mad enough. For the people who were against Occupy, what would you do if you saw old people starving and people who used to work every day starving? What would you do if fuel shortages and/or food shortages began affecting you and then you saw it reach out and hurt people you don't even know? If you were already hurting yourself and then you looked around and saw strangers hurting too because of some choice the government had made? It won't matter who voted for what, and it won't matter who's in office, chances are you're not going to stand down. And when that happens, and it probably will, even if it takes a long time, you're going to remember that Occupy did it and you're going to start organizing and looking after people to your best ability. THAT is when America will come back together and fight for our country and for a clean government that isn't owned by the corporations. So Occupy will never die, because Occupy showed us what can be done. Occupy was in my small South Dakota town. Why do you think that is? It's because unfair is unfair no matter what color your state is.
If you are right you will eventually be able to move out of her basement
You mean when people get really mad they camp out indefinitely in public parks, creating heaps of garbage, and harassing people trying to go to work?
Sara .... Consider something written many many years ago:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to selfishness;
From selfishness to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage" Alexander Tyler
Sarah -
I admire your idealism, I really do. You sound very young. I would only like to address the concept of "fair." Ask your mom if she is aware of an old saying that most of us grew up with: "Life isn't fair." You won't run across a more truthful statement.
i'll tell you what happened. Once the NDAA act passed it ws over. The Govt and their corporate cronies had the tool to throw you in to jail indefinetively with no bail, no court and no reason other than declare you a home grown terrorist. They can go into your House without a search warrant and can nose in on any of your conversations. Thus ended the movement. Who the hell wanted to protest and then be arrested to have the key thrown away?
If they go to jail they win. The local Government will house, feed and give them medical care. Free TV also. What a Deal
Had enough -
You haven't read the NDAA have you?
Obama sure tried hard to polarize the United States. His anarchists, Occupy, started getting into too much trouble and became a symbol of domestic terrorism. That's what happened! Drugs and Violence showed up in every city.
G O P Math: Greed + Corruption (Bribes and Extortion) – (Campaign Finance Reform Laws) = Republican TeaBilly Conservative Whackjobs.
You BetCha…..Fer Sure.
It must be terrible to be eaten up with Jealousy. Remember the Democratic Party spawned the "KKK" to try and controll the white vote and when that failed they targeted the Black Vote and were successful
Some Tea Party's slogans from Last Debate:
"We wanna make it White again".
Let's do the White thing this time.
"It's not White to have a Blk President in office.
” I'm dreaming of a White President”.
And since Obama is Half White: We never like Half and Half in our Tea.
JST ...... And this differs from the Democratic Party Agenda of making the citizen slaves to the state reliant on the government for survival how?
Nothing is more greedy than a citizen who feels they have some "right" to what another has worked for. Now that is greed.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them". Thomas Jefferson
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." -- Dr. Adrian P. Rogers
.
Folks, Todd Akin is da “Poster Child” for da Good Ole Boys Club and……………….
Who just Blocked da Campaign Finance Reform Bill?
Who just Blocked Obamas Job Bill?
Who just Rewrote and put a Loophole in da House Version of da Stock Act. You know da Billl that would make it Illegal for Politicians do be involved in Insider Trading Antics. How many people have gone to Prison for this and yet they think they are “Exempt” from da Law.
And………here’s more since President Obama Took Office:
Tax on Companies that ship jobs overseas- A bill that would have eliminated a tax break that companies get when they ship jobs overseas. Republicans blocked this, allowing companies to keep the tax break they receive when they ship jobs to other countries.
The Small Business Jobs Act -would give LOCAL, community banks access to billions of dollars to loan to small businesses. Republicans blocked this, then attempted to block it a second time and failed.
Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”- Would have repealed the law that forces gay and lesbian services members to lie about their sexuality and gives the military the right to discharge soldiers based on their sexuality. Republicans blocked this many times and Democrats were finally able to pass it with the support of just 2 Republicans.
You Guessed it…………Cantor, Boehner, McConnell and da rest of them Republican TeaBilly Conservative Politicians.
Can you imagine da Shenanigans if Mitt “F da Poor” Romney and Paul “Middle Class Warfare” Ryan get Elected.
You BetCha…..Fer Sure.
Thye recovery starts and we can have "Hope and Change"
I'll take you as seriously as you take English.
A lot of folks think change is going to happen over night. Many who have been disapointed in President Obama think he was to take over with a magic wand. Americans frustrated their own cause when they either sat on their hands or joined with the Teas in 2010. The Occupy Wall Street movement did produce a bill proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders and some Democrats to publicly fund elections and end corporate personhood. Americans don't seem to care about it. If they want quick change or a magic wand affect then they all need to put their heart and soul into campaign finance reform that even President Obama supports. the magic wand is in a supermajority in the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. Republicans have proven that. Which party do you want to possess that wand? I'm not optimistic unless....
Americans broke the stranglehold on corporations and the greedy with their VOTE to usher in the New Deal and Great Society. In his speech to the DNC, Bill Clinton told Americans that they must ignore the coming onslaught of big money, Super Pac Ads that the Republicans will pound us with from here on out. The religious right will be releasing a blizzard of their hate mongering adds in October. Your own interests are contained in your VOTE so you can use it for your good or cast it to the corporation, the greedy, and the self-righteous.
Including Obama himself. He said if he couldn't get it turned around three years, he'd be a "one-term proposition."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmRgaKfWMPA
America's Biggest Welfare Queens, Big Oil and Big Finance.
America's five largest oil companies receive $20 billion in welfare annually, largely through tax breaks afforded to no other industry. Big Financiers pay half the personal tax rates of their brethren at community banks.
Republican TeaBilly Conservative Politicians will do Everything in their Power to keep this is Place.
If you want to know the Truth follow the “Money Trail”. It will usually lead to the Lobbyist, Special Interest and the Self Righteous!
JST ..... Lets take a little closer look at that rant: Big Oil as you put it is a collection of investors. Who are the investors? Millions of private citizens, company retirement pension plans, and yes a very small number of extremely wealthy individuals. The Big Oil keeps a resource flowing that makes our civilization and extremely over populated world possible while creating hundreds of thousands of very well paid jobs. Big Banking as you call it is the only thing that is keeping the Republic possible. What happened the last time those banks were allowed to collapse? Your rant sounds good but not very rational.
2/3s of the deficit is from mandatory federal spending social welfare spending.
The highest 1% tax brackets (made possible by oil and banks?) account for over 36% of all tax revenue collected. When you go to the higher 25% tax brackets they account for over 86% of all tax revenue collected. The lower 50% tax brackets account for less than 3% of tax revenue, 45% of that group accounts for 0% tax revenue...... How is that sustainable? I guess we should roast the goose that lays the golden egg for dinner today and moan about no golden egg in the morning?
Basically it breaks down to the same old simplistic whining about things the simple minded have no clue about that has attracted the sheep throughout all recorded history.
Dennis -
You are posting FACTS on this vine???? Shame on you!