“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.