OCCUPY WALL STREET is a people powered movement for democracy that began in America on September 17 with an encampment in the financial district of New York City.  We vow to end the monied corruption of our democracy … join us! We're now in DAY 10.

... Mike Taibbi Rolling Stone
I was speaking at a conference in Boston yesterday when one of the attendees asked me, "How come the media isn't covering the protests on Wall Street?"

I was about to give a pithy answer about how the press doesn't cover marches unless someone sets a car on fire or someone throws a rock through the window of a Starbucks, when I realized that I myself hadn't even written anything about it.

I don't know a whole lot about Occupy Wall Street, although I'm going to check it out when I return to New York. There are times when one wonders how effective marches are – one of the lessons that the other side learned from the Vietnam era is that you can often ignore even really big protests without consequence – but in this case demonstrations could be very important just in terms of educating people about the fact that there is, in fact, a well-defined conflict out there with two sides to it.

There is a huge number of Americans who simply don't realize that they've been victimized by Wall Street – that they've paid inflated commodity prices due to irresponsible speculation and manipulation, seen their home values depressed thanks to corruption in the mortgage markets, subsidized banker bonuses with their tax dollars and/or been forced to pay usurious interest rates for consumer credit, among other things.

I would imagine the end game of any movement against Wall Street corruption is going to involve some very elaborate organization. There are going to have to be consumer and investor boycotts, shareholder revolts, criminal prosecutions, new laws passed, and other moves. But a good first step is making people aware of the battle lines. It sounds like these demonstrations have that potential. Anyway, I'm going to check them out tomorrow. In the meantime, I encourage people to check out their site, and investigate for yourselves.

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... Noam Chomsky

Anyone with eyes open knows that the gangsterism of Wall Street -- financial institutions generally -- has caused severe damage to the people of the United States (and the world). And should also know that it has been doing so increasingly for over 30 years, as their power in the economy has radically increased, and with it their political power. That has set in motion a vicious cycle that has concentrated immense wealth, and with it political power, in a tiny sector of the population, a fraction of 1%, while the rest increasingly become what is sometimes called "a precariat" -- seeking to survive in a precarious existence. They also carry out these ugly activities with almost complete impunity -- not only too big to fail, but also "too big to jail."


The courageous and honorable protests underway in Wall Street should serve to bring this calamity to public attention, and to lead to dedicated efforts to overcome it and set the society on a more healthy course.
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Cops might be cracking down on Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York City, but activists are now bringing their big-bank bashing across the country with demonstrations springing up from coast-to-coast.

More than a week after protests began in Lower Manhattan, the Occupy Wall Street movement is moving, well, off of Wall Street. Both Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois have both hosted demonstrators in the days since the first protest kicked off in New York, and now dozens of more locales across America are expected to be swarmed upon by citizens sick and tired of corrupt corporations and financial institutions run amuck by mismanagement and greed.

Within the next few days, occupation-style protests like the one happening in Liberty Plaza Park, Manhattan are expected to occur in Washington DC, Lexington, Kentucky and San Francisco, California. Elsewhere organizers are laying down the groundwork to soon wage demonstrations in cities like Omaha, Birmingham and Philadelphia, as well.  Occupy Together has started up as an online hub so that like-minded individuals that have had enough of the corrupt ties between K Street and Wall Street can launch protests across America.

“We will only grow stronger in our solidarity and we will be heard, not just in New York, but in echoes across this nation,” writes a post on the homepage of Occupy Together.

This past weekend, Occupy Los Angeles demonstrators led a march through the streets of LA to show their solidarity for their East Coast brethren. On Saturday, Californians will come together again and march to City Hall, hoping to pull in the support of thousands. Occupations in New York are expected to continue as well.

Even if the number of protesters in Los Angeles pale in comparison to the thousands that have gathered in New York for the same cause, that isn’t to say that the message is any different.

"Corporate interests seem to be controlling both parties," one protester out west says to laactivist.com. "The 'little man,' the 'American every man,' just isn't getting their voice heard. When you need $35,000 to donate to a campaign to get your voice heard, to have a meeting, that's not democracy."

In Chicago, what began as a small group of only four demonstrators grew to 20 over the weekend. Some of them have stayed camped out in front of Willis Tower. On Friday, they marched to the Federal Reserve Bank to rally there. Occupy Together shows that demonstrations are expected to continue in conjunction with the NYC rallies throughout the Windy City.

Dozens have been arrested for participating in peaceful protests since the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began earlier this month.