“Occupy Wall Street” Movement

Thousands of protesters occupied New York City’s Times Square, buoyed by a day of demonstrations around the world in support of their month long campaign against corporate greed. This is a people powered movement named as Occupy Wall Street (OWS).

• Causes: Wealth inequality, Corporate influence of government, Social Democracy, inter alia.
• Characteristics: Non violent protest; Civil disobedience; Occupation; Picketing; Demonstrations; Internet activism
• Slogan: “We are 99%”
• 99% is an fantasy % that represents the common people and 1% the elite class in USA
• The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia
• Movement spread to over 900 Cities worldwide
• Internationally Movement popularized as: “Occupy”
• Initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters.

In mid-2011, the Canadian-based group Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, address a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.