Occupy Wall Street—A Timeline

Occupy Wall Street—A Timeline

The Occupy Wall Street protest, which began in September as a small encampment of mostly young activists with more emotion than clearly stated objectives, was mostly ignored by the media. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the protests quickly became a subject of ridicule. But then something happened: Occupy Wall Street exploded into a nationwide series of demonstrations drawing support from unions and mainstream liberal groups, with comparisons to the powerhouse Tea Party movement and revolutionary pro-democracy protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square. How did that happen?

Take a look at the key events below.

June 9
Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters registers the domain name OccupyWallStreet.org.

July 13
Adbusters calls for a Sept. 17 protest, where "20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades.

Aug. 23
"Hactivist" collective Anonymous releases a video pledging its support for the protest.

Sept. 9
Supporters of Occupy Wall Street start posting their photos and stories to a new "We Are the 99 Percent" Tumblr page.

Sept. 17
The protest begins, with about 1,000 people gathering in downtown Manhattan and walking up and down Wall Street.

Sept. 19
Roseanne Barr becomes the first celebrity to endorse Occupy Wall Street.

Sept. 20
Police start arresting mask-wearing protesters, using an arcane law dating back to 1845 that bans masked gatherings unless part of "a masquerade party or like entertainment."

Sept. 24
About 80 people are arrested during a permit-less march uptown, and video of the event — especially the use of pepper spray on a group of women — earns Occupy Wall Street its first major media coverage. An OWS-inspired protest starts in Chicago.

Sept. 26
Filmmaker Michael Moore addresses the crowd at Zuccotti Park. Noam Chomsky sends his regards.

Sept. 27
Actress Susan Sarandon and Princeton academic Cornel West show up at the protests.

Sept. 28
Transport Workers Union Local 100 becomes the first big union to support Occupy Wall Street via a member vote.

Sept. 30
An internet hoax that Radiohead will play for the protesters draws a crowd downtown.

Oct. 1
Some 700 protesters are arrested in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The mass arrests push the protests to the front page of newspapers and the top of TV news broadcasts. OWS-inspired protests start in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.

Oct. 3
Protesters dressed as "corporate zombies," in full zombie regalia and clutching fake cash, parade down Wall Street. The protests have spread nationwide, including Boston, Memphis, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Hawaii, and Portland, Maine.

Oct. 5
At least 39 organizations, including New York City's largest labor unions and MoveOn.org, join Occupy Wall Street for a march through New York's financial district. Organizers say 10,000 to 20,000 people marched; the media puts the number somewhere below 15,000.

Oct. 6
About 4,000 protesters march in Portland, OR. More demonstrations unfold in Houston, Austin, Tampa, and San Francisco.

Oct. 7
Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticizes the protesters in a radio interview, saying they are "taking the jobs away from people working in this city" and that the protests are "not good for tourism."

Oct. 8
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, shuts down after a crowd shows up to voice opposition to U.S. drone strikes abroad. The demonstrators are joined by members of the Occupy Wall Street offshoot Occupy DC.

Oct. 10
Mayor Bloomberg softens his earlier criticisms, and says protesters can stay in New York as long as they want — so long as they obey the law.

Oct. 13
 Zuccotti Park owner announces that protesters must vacate the park.

Oct. 14
Owner backs off and avoids a standoff between the demonstrators and police.

Oct. 15
The wave of protests spreads worldwide, from Europe to the Americas to Asia

Oct. 18
President Obama delivers a mixed message on Nightline, saying he "understands the frustrations" of the protesters, but that the movement  is "not that different from some of the protests we saw coming from the Tea Party."

Oct. 21
The host of an opera radio show aired by NPR affiliates is fired for participating in the Occupy DC movement.

Oct. 24
Progressive icon Elizabeth Warren takes some of the credit for the movement, telling Newsweek that she "created much of the intellectual foundation for what [the protesters] do."

Oct. 25
The Egyptian activists who toppled Hosni Mubarak lend their support to the protesters. In Oakland, CA, police clear about 170 protesters from their encampment outside of City Hall and arrest 97 demonstrators.

Oct. 26

Big Labor gave an Occupy Wall Street rally in Manhattan a big boost this week, bringing the estimated number of participants in New York alone to roughly 15,000.

New report finds that in the past three decades, the richest 1 percent of Americans have seen their income grow by 275 percent since 1979, compared to the nation’s poorest 20 percent who had only an 18 percent increase (see PDF).

So what is Occupy Wall Street so angry about?

PR Tips: False: All Around the World Same Song

False: All Around the World Same Song

By Nicole Hayes

Cutbacks. Higher prices. Lost jobs, closed businesses. Foreclosed homes. For more than three years, we’ve been bombarded with these words. For some of us, this may be true of our current situation. Others may consider the possibility “contagious” and assume they’ll soon become infected, singing the same tune as those who succumbed to a failed economy. But what happened to viewing “the glass half full” instead of “half empty”? All around the world, it’s not the same song…and here’s why.

More people (whether or not of their own volition) are viewing the “economic crisis” as an opportunity to reinvent themselves or pursue dreams long ignored for the sake of a steady paycheck and benefits. Some women were managers and after becoming suddenly unemployed, found their joy and business in the kitchen. Other people put a twist on daily activities to offer as a unique product or service. So how can you sing a different tune when the world is cracking around you? Here are four suggestions:

1)    Listen to and understand what drives you, excites you. This could very well be your path to reinvention.

2)    Put your face in the place—Network! By maintaining relationships with old colleagues and friends and meeting new people, opportunities are often what you make of them.

3)    Go where the people are—Social Media.  According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, at least 79% of American adults use the Internet; of which 65% use a social media networking site (Facebook or Linked In)—this is up from 61% in 2010. Social media is a vehicle where you can receive broad and rapid responses to a need or pursuit. Give it a try! Some of us (myself included) are being forced to grow our skills in the social media space, where others are more adept. Saying you “don’t have time” or “don’t know how” are simply excuses that will shut you out of waiting opportunities. Update your social media profiles regularly, let people know what you do, what you need. Someone will respond!

4)    You frame your world with your thoughts, words. Simply put, if you think it, it shall be.

If you’re not already, we encourage you to follow one or more of these suggestions to create and seize new opportunities. The sad song someone else is singing doesn’t have to be yours!

Social Justice: Go Forth And Occupy

Go Forth And Occupy

By: Shannon Mouton

     @ShannonRenee



"Occupy____" seems to be popping up all over the United States and Canada, yes, our presumably docile neighbor to the north has awakened. 

• The original, OccupyWallStreet, is still going strong and OccupyDC doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.
• OccupyVancouver, OccupyToronto and OccupyWinnepeg are gearing up for the long haul. 
• There has been some police action in OccupyBoston and the potential for arrests in OccupySeattle and OccupyDallas. 
• OccupyPortland, OccupySeattle, OccupyLosAngeles and OccupySanFrancisco have the west coast covered.

And this is only a sampling of what is going on across the country.

Many are dismissive of the protesters, which is a shame because it completely misses the bigger picture: for the first time, in a very long time, people are trying to hold people accountable for their actions. So often, you go-along to get-along, let "them" fight the battle or simply ignore issues altogether. Americans literally can not afford to keep silent any longer.

This is WONDERFUL!

No one has to accept the status quo just because it is the status quo. History is filled with institutions and attitudes that were once the status quo, and they only changed when the collective voices of the people demanded or forced change. 

Whether or not you agree, or even understand, what the OccupyXXX in your area stands for, consider supporting your fellow Americans, who are using their voices, versus sitting quietly on the sidelines, letting someone else fight their battles.



PR Tips: Committed People Move a Message

Committed People Move a Message

By Nicole Hayes

For more than three weeks, Americans have witnessed a collective increase of committed people joining in a movement to highlight wealth inequality in the United States. “Occupy Wall Street,” which protests corporate tax avoidance and Wall Street bailouts,  started with angry New Yorkers and now people in cities across the country are ‘occupying’ this message. The 99% are telling the 1% “we’re not taking it anymore.” The movement has gained widespread participation, with ongoing demonstrations in Washington, DC as reported in this video clip. Organized demonstrations have been primarily driven by social media outreach. So far the demonstrations have been relatively peaceful and it’s hoped this continues. Will their message of “we’re not taking it anymore” bring about desired results?

A similar question was asked when a committed and hopeful people sought change and it happened: The resignation of longtime Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak—a decision fueled by millions of in-person and virtual protestors. These protests, though very violent, were the catalyst for giving the Egyptian people a chance at democracy and deciding their future. In this, and other instances (ex: Civil Rights Movement), committed people communicating the same powerful message can bring about change.  

Criminal Justice: The Prison Industrial Complex Hurts The Economy

The Prison Industrial Complex Hurts The Economy

By Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Lately, some surprising folks have been talking about what needs to change in the criminal justice system. There have been repeated calls for a national conversation. But at the moment, people are understandably preoccupied with the worst economic crisis since the Depression.

But criminal justice is not unrelated to the economy. Our nation’s prison industrial complex contributes in large and small ways to our overall economic decline. We pay a cost through incarcerating large numbers of men and growing numbers of women who could be a productive part of the economy, and making them basically unfit for anything other than prison or continued criminal pursuits. We pay for the toll their absence plays on families in poor communities and communities of color. And all of us suffer from the warped economic priorities that push states to direct more and of their scare resources to maintaining prisons, while starving education, human services, arts and infrastructure.

As people organize to speak truth to power whether on Wall Street  or at the nation’s capital, real criminal justice reform needs to be on the agenda.

A recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics featured on the Sentencing Project’s weekly electronic newsletter proves that when it comes to traffic stops, we’re not post-racial. Read more from the Sentencing Project, here.

Blacks Three Times as Likely as Whites to be Searched in Traffic Stops

The survey showed that African Americans were slightly more likely to face multiple contacts with police officers, but that blacks were about as likely to be pulled over in traffic stop as whites and Hispanics. However, when pulled over blacks were more likely than whites and Hispanics to be arrested, while both blacks and Hispanics were more likely to receive tickets than whites. Blacks were also more likely to have force used or threatened against them by police officers.”

“A special report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that black drivers in 2008 were three times as likely to have their cars searched during traffic stops as whites. The study, which looked at contact between citizens and law enforcement, also found that traffic stops involving blacks were roughly twice as likely to result in a search as those involving Hispanics.

Former Harvard law professor William J. Stuntz says the American justice system is unraveling.

 

Justice System Unraveling

Still more so the African American portion of that prison population: for black males, a term in the nearest penitentiary has become an ordinary life experience, a horrifying truth that wasn’t true a mere generation ago. Ordinary life experiences are poor deterrents, one reason why massive levels of criminal punishment coexist with historically high levels of urban violence.

“Among the great untold stories of our time is this one: the last half of the twentieth century saw America’s criminal justice system unravel. Signs of the unraveling are everywhere. The nation’s record- shattering prison population has grown out of control.

Outside the South, most cities’ murder rates are a multiple of the rates in those same cities sixty years ago — notwithstanding a large drop in violent crime in the 1990s. Within cities, crime is low in safe neighborhoods but remains a huge problem in dangerous ones, and those dangerous neighborhoods are disproportionately poor and black. Last but not least, we have built a justice system that strikes many of its targets as wildly unjust. The feeling has some evidentiary support: criminal litigation regularly makes awful mistakes, as the frequent DNA-based exonerations of convicted defendants illustrate. Evidently, the criminal justice system is doing none of its jobs well: producing justice, avoiding discrimination, protecting those who most need the law’s protection, keeping crime in check while maintaining reasonable limits on criminal punishment.”

 

Read the whole article on Salon.com  

One Nation, United?

One Nation, United?

Protest marches against Wall Street's infamous greed continue to spread throughout the country as the movement marked its 20th consecutive day this week.

To The Left (Social Justice): Two Plus Two Equals Seven... Huh?

Two Plus Two Equals Seven... Huh?

On Tuesday September 13, 2011 at 5:08pm, WTOP posted this story from Amy Hunter, Renters face high rates in D.C. region.

Rental rates in the D.C. region are the highest they've been in years, experts say. In fact, Bloomberg Businessweek recently ranked the District and parts of Northern Virginia as having the ninth-biggest rent hike in the country over the past year. Nearby Bethesda, Md. ranked 25th.

"It's a trend that's resulted from the recession," says Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. "The rental market has been so hot in Washington because we did generate jobs during the downturn and we attracted young people who came as renters. Many of them don't qualify for purchase of houses, or they want to live in an urban area closer to downtown."

According to Bloomberg, rent prices in the No. 9 area have seen a 7.4 percent annual increase, with a 4.6 percent vacancy rate. Added to that, unemployment rates have remained low, hovering around 6 percent.

While the recession ravaged other locales nationwide, Washington actually saw stability and some job growth. Because of that, folks who'd lost their homes or jobs in other areas came to D.C., filling up the city's apartments and ultimately, tightening the market enough to enable landlords to hike the rents, Fuller says.

A couple of hours later at 7:47pm, WTOP posted this story from AP’s Hope Yen,

Nearly 1 in 6 Americans in poverty, Census says.

The ranks of the nation's poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million _ nearly 1 in 6 Americans _ as the prolonged pain of the recession leaves millions still struggling and out of work. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in over two decades.

The figures are in a Census Bureau report, released Tuesday, that offers a somber snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for last year when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. The rate is still 9.1 percent at the start of an election year that's sure to focus on the economy and President Barack Obama's stewardship of it.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, from 14.3 percent the previous year, and the rate from 2007-2010 rose faster than for any similar period since the early 1980s when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment. For last year, the official poverty level was an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty are the most on record dating back to when the census began to track in 1959. The 15.1 percent tied the level of 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

Something isn’t adding up...2 + 2 = 4...doesn’t it?

In a matter of two hours, 39 minutes, WTOP posted stories that paint very different, if not opposite pictures of the nation’s capital. The first story speaks to DC’s prosperity, “stability and some job growth” and the second story speaks to the city as being among the states with the highest “share of poor people.” Huh? How does this happen?

When did 2 + 2 start equaling 7?

How does DC have growth in a recession AND have such high numbers of poor people?

Was there only “stability and job growth” for certain populations?

If DC’s unemployment have remained low, then are the poor people the working poor?

There is something terribly unjust, horribly unfair and blatantly unequal about this situation.

Posted by Shannon Mouton

Economy Recovers for Corporate America, Not for Everyday Americans

Economy Recovers for Corporate America,

Not for Everyday Americans

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria reports there’s a tale of two economies in America, where the haves are big business and the have nots are the unemployed and average American worker. Corporate America has rebounded from the nation’s financial crisis while the jobless rate continues to grow. Zakaria offers a five-step plan to rescue America’s workers:

1. Revitalize manufacturing in this country. Germany offers a powerful example of how to do this. They have managed to maintain high-end manufacturing in their country.

2. Focus on retraining workers. We have a generation of people whose skills are not going to provide them with employment in the current global economy.

3. Focus on the growth industries like entertainment, healthcare and tourism. One of the simplest things to do in life is double down on things that are succeeding.

4. Promote small business. Small business creates most of the new jobs in this country. The single biggest thing the U.S. government could do to help small businesses is allow more skilled immigrants into the country.

We train the world’s best and brightest - often at public expense since they go to state universities or they get grants from the U.S. government - and then just at the point at which they’re about to start filing patents, making inventions, creating jobs and paying taxes, we kick them out of the country. It’s an incredibly counterproductive policy.

5. Invest in infrastructure today. The crisis is now and we know that a large number of unemployed people in America come out of the construction and housing industry. We also know we have a huge crisis in infrastructure. We have bridges falling down, highways that need repair and airports that need building. We’ve got to come up with some way to finance infrastructure that will allow us to employ hundreds of thousands, if not millions of American workers.

There are ways to do this that are not as costly to the public. We can develop infrastructure banks and forge public-private partnerships. America is one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t allow the private sector to participate in building and financing public infrastructure. Why shouldn’t we open it up so that we can get the capital we need, which will in turn create more jobs?

In short, we need to do all of these things because America faces a huge structural problem – a jobless recovery – and no single action will be enough to help American workers recover and prosper.

Highlighted Clip for Thursday, May 19, 2011:

"A tale of two economies: How to save the American worker"

By: Fareed Zakaria

 I have been thinking a lot about America's economy and American jobs lately, and have an essay on the subject in this week’s TIME Magazine. As we emerge from the financial crisis, we are witnessing the extraordinary tale of two economies.