This month marks the tenth anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protest against economic inequality brought crowds to demonstrations, and soon the ‘Occupy’ tag travelled places, promoting similar demonstrations around the world. It captured the imagination of the youth. It also generated hopes of a radical change. Looking back a decade later, did it achieve anything concrete at all?

On September 17, following a call given by the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, people gathered at the Zuccotti Park near the Wall Street in New York. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/what-is-occupy-wall-street-the-history-of-leaderless-movements/2011/10/10/gIQAwkFjaL_story.html) Their target was the “greedy” corporate culture and financial markets that were widening the divide between the haves and have-nots. The chief among their many slogans was “We are the 99%” – a reference to the concentration of most wealth in the hands of the top 1% people. Their placards also read:

* “THIS IS THE 1ST TIME I’VE FELT HOPEFUL IN A VERY LONG TIME.”
* “TEAR DOWN WALL STREET GREED BEFORE IT TEARS DOWN THE WORLD.”
* “I’LL BELIEVE CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE WHEN TEXAS EXECUTES ONE.” “SCREW US AND WE MULTIPLY.”

They “occupied” Wall Street till November 15, when they were forced out, but they continued to “occupy” banks, corporate headquarters, and university campuses.

OWS kindled hopes that a new world was possible. Noam Chomsky, a veteran of many such protests, thought it was different – more radical than the civil rights and anti-war movements. “By its nature, as a tactic, it brought people together to construct a community … It was an educational experience, which for many people changed the way they think of what life could be.” (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/15/occupy-wall-street-10-year-anniversary-lessons)

The world, however, moved on as before. Trump came and went. New fears and new hopes replaced the old ones. The OWS arguably failed to make any change anywhere. What it achieved, however, is that economic inequality has become part of the world’s agenda. The gap between the rich and the poor became a talking point again after the path-breaking work of French economist Thomas Piketty. (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/03/pikettys-new-book-explores-how-economic-inequality-is-perpetuated/) The problem is far better understood today, and so are its solutions.

More:

(https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/4/23/18284303/occupy-wall-street-bernie-sanders-dsa-socialism)

Book Review: ‘Generation Occupy’:

(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/books/review/generation-occupy-michael-levitin.html)