1.If you had been on the internet last year, you would have heard of Occupy Wall Street. But heard of it is not the same as knowing what the hell it is.
Now, let's say you are interested, so the basic question you will be asking is, what is Occupy Wall Street?
2. Put it simply, it's a movement. Now like every movement, the goal is working to make sure their voices are heard about a cause.
3. Just as during the Egyptian revolution that took place last year in Egypt when the people of Egypt ousted President Mubarak from office, it started with a small movement which eventually grew so big, they were victorious in ending Mubarak's presidency by force.
Inspired by the victory of the Egyptians, Occupy Wall Street launched itself by modeled their movement.
The protests are against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the undue influence of corporations—particularly from the financial services sector—on government. The protesters' slogan We are the 99% refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.- Wikipedia
The Americans who participated in the movement believe that,
... money has become the driving force behind all policy making. They say that powerful corporate lobbyists are behind a lot of the political gridlock that is keeping Washington lawmakers from making large scale change and they want it stopped. - Glen Craig
4. So, from there, the movement has then,
has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. occupywallst.org
In fact, here in my country - Malaysia, a movement inspired by Occupy Wall Street has also began to bloom by calling itself as Occupy Dataran.
The Malaysian Insider reported that Occupy Dataran were an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street. The online news portal also reported that the Malaysian protesters were expressing solidarity with the New York protest movement as part of the 15 October 2011 global protests. - Wikipedia
Although each movement in different country might be different in terms of struggles and causes, but they are essentially inspired by one another to have their voices heard. For example, for Occupy Dataran,
The movement says that it aims to "redefine democratic participation beyond representative democracy, and imagine a new political culture beyond race, ideology and political affiliation".
But A question would hover on your head now, (I assume)
Where are we going with this? If we were to emulate the Egyptians and their results, can it actually be ACHIEVED else where other than Cairo?
I found an answer for that as I go on with my reading.
I think their end game is to try to steer attention to this problem.
- a commentor of freefrombroke.com
While they may be "small" at the moment, but it's not impossible that these type of movements could actually achieve what they set out to achieve - CHANGE.
Well, I suppose that's enough basic explanation I think. Come, scroll below and see a few pictures that might stir your interest a little bit more.
Images source: BuzzFeed
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