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.

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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.

“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.”

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

 

Los Angeles officials say the costs of police overtime and cleaning up local parks due to the Occupy protests have nearly doubled to $5 million, as cities across the country continue to tally the protests’ price tag.

City officials initially said the cost would be $2.6 million, but Los Angeles Councilman Mitch Englander told NBC Los Angeles the figure had grown, with the bulk of the cost attributed to overtime for law enforcement.

 

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"At a very difficult time financially with the city, at a time we're talking about laying off civilian LAPD and fire personnel, this is going to have a dramatic effect on the city budget," said Englander, chair of the public safety committee. "For every action the city takes, there is a cost."

 

 

 

Protesters hit streets for May Day rallies
'Battle for the soul of Occupy': Activists fear being 'pulled to the right'
Charlotte protesters: Bank of America is 'the worst of the worst'

The two-month camp in the city closed Nov. 30.

Other events in the city also racked up millions of dollars in cost: the 2010 Lakers Parade was estimated at $1.8 million and the Michael Jackson funeral came in at $3.2 million in 2009, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Other cities have spent from tens of thousands to millions of dollars in police overtime and cleanup costs. In New York, the tally reached $17 million through mid-March, DNAinfo.com reported, citing police testimony at a city budget hearing. In Oakland, the city had paid $3.7 million through Feb. 27, according to a report by Oakland Local.

Of the money the cities said they spent, Justin Wedes, of Occupy Wall Street, noted: "America doesn't need to spend millions of dollars on a paramilitary response to citizens exercising their First Amendment rights in public space."

Most of the Occupy camps across the country were shuttered over the winter, but protesters continue to hold marches and demonstrations against income equality, corporate greed and political corruption. Their latest national action, held on May Day, brought thousands of people into the streets.

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Hundreds of protesters gathered on a grassy knoll in front of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for an Occupy Congress protest, bringing the nationwide protest movement to the steps of the country's legislative branch.

Under cloudy skies and occasional drizzle, protesters held “mic checks” to announce where they had journeyed from to join the protest. Many wore yellow index cards stating: "This space is occupied."

In the early hours of the event there were a few scuffles between protesters and police, and one man was taken away by police for reasons that were unclear. Also some protesters tore down green mesh netting lining a wall on the lawn.

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The numbers of people had not yet reached the thousands expected by demonstrators who helped organize the event, though many of the larger events -- such as a march by the three branches of government -- were scheduled for later in the day.

 

Some of the protesters attended planned meetings with their lawmakers to talk about their grievances, including a group from Greensboro, N.C., that met with Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan's staff in her office.

"To be in a participatory democracy is very exciting,” said one of them, Cynthia Maddox, who also was streaming video of the group’s activities. “To feel like I'm being heard, and that all of us are being heard, I think it's given people voices that haven't had a voice for a long time. And that's where the frustration comes from ... not being heard."

Click here for previous post on the protest: Occupy Congress: Will it be politics as unusual?

Thousands of Occupy protesters from across the country are expected to converge Tuesday on Capitol Hill to take their message to the halls of Congress, in what some observers say is the movement’s overdue moment to engage the American political system.

Protesters already have set up camps in public spaces, taken over foreclosed homes and  shut down key shipping ports, but for the most part they have shunned the political system, viewing it as beyond salvation.

The congressional protest – which falls on the movement's four-month mark and the beginning of a new session of Congress – appears to represent a strategic shift aimed at winning support of the many Americans disillusioned with the legislative branch.

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“Often the complaint that I hear is that, 'you guys are targeting the wrong people.' And so we have that discussion about you know whether or not Wall Street is the source of the problem or really Congress is," said Aaron Bornstein, a 31-year-old neuroscientist and member of the Occupy Wall Street Think Tank, which will hold discussions at the event.

“They're really two sides of the same coin,” he continued. ”You can't have the corruptive influence without both the people who are doing the corrupting and the people who are corrupted.”

Protesters have traveled from far-flung towns and cities such as Walla Walla, Wash., Greensboro, N.C., and San Diego by plane, car, bus and train. They have made posters and information cards – some about controversial legislation, such as the National Defense Authorization Act and the online piracy bills, SOPA and PIPA; and the voting records of members of Congress as well as their net worth. Some intend to camp at one of the two Occupy sites in D.C.

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"Most of the people in our group ... are Social Security folks," said Norm Osterman, a 68-year-old retired teacher from Walla Walla. He said the important issues for him and his fellow retirees are saving Medicare, taxing the rich and ending corporate personhood. "So we’ve seen things come and go. And going to D.C. to complain seems like the only sane thing to do right now."

"Like I say, if people are coming from Walla Walla, they're probably coming from everywhere," quipped Osterman, adding that many residents of his eastern Washington city are supportive of their group called Rebuild the American Dream since students had already taken the Occupy Walla Walla moniker.

A Gallup poll in mid-November showed congressional job approval hovering at 13 percent and the firm noted it was "low among all Americans, regardless of their political party identification." Gallup noted that 2011 was on "track to be the lowest annual rating of Congress in Gallup's history."

'American as apple pie'
Vietnam veteran and retired fine arts professor James A. Davies II is part of a Greensboro group that chartered a bus for the six-hour journey to the nation’s capital. For him, it's imperative to have his "boots on the ground" to protect his children's future and the right to protest, which he said "is as American as apple pie."

“I have to do something to let it be known that there are things in this country that are happening that are wrong and that are contrary to what I grew up believing this country represented," said Davies, 66, noting his grievances include the militarization of the police, suppression of freedom of speech and concerns about "corporate fascism."

The Greensboro group, like others, will meet with their local members of Congress. The day will include a protest march past the three branches of government; a general assembly; teach-ins; a D.C. voting rights vigil, trainings, performances at an 'open mic' stage and a party. Some protesters plan to stay through the weekend so they can march against the landmark Supreme Court decision affirming corporate personhood and money as speech – known as Citizens United – on its second anniversary on Saturday.

• PhotoBlog, December 6: Demonstrators from 46 states 'Take Back the Capitol'

Dorian Warren, an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, said the twin events will tie their core concern about what the protesters consider Wall Street greed to its impact on the political system.

“This is actually the second prong of their (Occupy) critique," he said. "It’s kind of a smart move to now make their next big event at the site of their second core critique of our democracy, so I think a lot of people will be paying attention."

The event has raised questions about whether Occupy is becoming politicized, especially with an event focused on politicians. But some of those helping put together the day dismiss that idea.

“Our main message is that our elected officials are no longer representing the people and that’s largely due to corporate money running the show on the Hill,” said Mario Lozada, a 25-year-old immigration lawyer from Philadelphia. “The question as to whether or not Occupy Wall Street is becoming politicized -- the answer is ‘absolutely no.’ We’re not supporting any candidate at all."

Embrace party politics?
In some parts of the country, however, Occupy protesters are engaging in the political process.

In parts of Florida, Occupy protesters want to work with Democrats to introduce legislation, according to Deana Rohlinger, an associate professor of sociology at Florida State University researching the Tea Party and Occupy. Protesters in Portland, Ore., also recently claimed credit for helping the City Council craft a resolution supporting the end of corporate personhood.

"The movement is creeping up on this really critical moment in its history because they're going to have to decide whether or not to embrace party politics in some ways, and this is really contentious," she said. "The movement wants to maintain its strength and some activists would see this as being extraordinarily hypocritical, to work within a political system that has been corrupted by the money of corporate America."

"But there are a lot of activists that really believe that despite the flaws of the system, the only way that you can begin to create meaningful, lasting change is to figure out ways in which you can work within the system," she added.

Chris McKay, a 44-year-old auto glass installer in San Diego who left his job to participate in Occupy fulltime, believes the movement will begin to focus on politics over the course of the year. But he noted the changes that have already occurred.

"We're four months old, we're learning, we're adjusting, we're growing," he said. Before Occupy, people may have said, "’I'm one person, what can I do?’ Now, I think Americans are starting to think I am one person, but I can do something."

"I'm excited about the occupation going and doing this," he said about Tuesday's event, before leaving on a cross-country bus trip. "I think it's needed to make a statement that 2012 is the Occupy year. This is the year the Occupy movement really will gain the credibility that it needs."