Occupy Wall Street becomes an international movement
Spreads to Los Angeles
The Occupy movement is an international protest movement which is primarily directed against economic and social inequality. The first Occupy protest to receive wide coverage was Occupy Wall Street in New York City, which began on Sept. 17, 2011. By Oct. 9, Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in over 95 cities across 82 countries, and over 600 communities in the United States, including Los Angeles. As of Dec. 20, the Meetup page “Occupy Together” listed 2,751 Occupy communities worldwide.
The movement was initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, and partly inspired by the Arab Spring, especially Cairo’s Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants. The movement commonly uses the slogan “We are the 99 percent,” the #Occupy hashtag format, and organizes through websites such as “Occupy Together.” According to the Washington Post, the movement, which has been described as a “democratic awakening” by Cornel West, is difficult to distill to a few demands.
Just after midnight on Nov. 9 in London, Ontario, police evicted protesters from the city’s Victoria Park, becoming the first forced evictions in Canada. On the afternoon of Nov. 11 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and later on the night of Nov. 14, authorities forcefully closed down camps around the world in cities such as New York, Oakland and Zurich. Occupy protesters immediately regrouped and vowed to continue their protests, often returning to the cleared sites. On Nov. 24, Edinburgh City Council became the first governmental body in the world to grant the Occupy movement official recognition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
The most aggressive efforts began last week to dismantle the protracted assemblies of dissatisfaction in various cities around America. Certainly the most visible confrontation between the people and “the establishment” was in Oakland, California, but Occupy Oakland wasn’t an entrenched demonstration like Occupy Wall Street and Occupy L.A.
The mass movements happening around the nation are indicative of a shifting mood of intolerance in the continuing rape of America’s free market capitalist system and the indifference to the increasing wealth gap that is occurring.
Legendary civil rights and political leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., speaking at the Urban Issues Forum on Monday, drew a comparison between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s to the Occupy movement of today.
Jackson was the keynote speaker at the monthly event, and by way of metaphors explained the correlations between the Civil Rights Movements of 40 years ago and the biblical movements for social justice.
Although initially somewhat subdued, the audience warmed up to Jackson with chants and frequent “amens.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Police officers in riot helmets arrested 292 people today and, in a mostly peaceful operation, dismantled the tent city that sprang up Oct. 1 outside Los Angeles City Hall as a western outpost of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The park where the encampment was set up was fully cleared by 5:10 a.m., about five hours after the operation began, Los Angeles police Officer Cleon Joseph said.
NOTE: The U.S. Human Rights Network (USHRN) National Human Rights Conference will be held in Los Angeles at the Airport Radisson Hotel from Dec. 9-11. For both Occupy Wall Street and L.A. folks and others involved in the larger struggle for people first and things second, the scheduled speakers include a plethora of those with full resumes of getting things done.
