By now, you have probably heard about the Occupy Movement, or one of the Specific Occupy Movement bases such as Occupy Wall Street, Occupy LA or Occupy Philly. In the UK, we have had Occupy protests take place in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh. They have been all over the news and the general media for months, with their protests and their ‘camps’ in major cities worldwide. But who exactly are they, and what do they want?
Who are they?
Specifically, they aren’t a single group or an actual recognised faction, although they were initiated by the Canadian protest group Adbusters. The protests represent ‘the 99%’ and often use the slogan ‘We are the 99%‘ in reference to the distribution of wealth worldwide. There is no structure of power, as such, with decisions being made by general assembly at each Occupy camp on a daily basis. This gives each protester an equal voice to the next.
What do they want?
Basically, they are protesting for better economical and social equality. Seeing as the top 1% of the wealthiest individuals in the world have more money than the other 99% (hence the slogan), they believe this should be distributed more evenly and on a fairer basis. Naturally there are other more localised aims dependant on the country in which the group is held, but generally they all want the end of inequality and uneven economic distribution around the world.
How do they go about it?
Occupy ‘camps’ are set up by protesters in which peaceful picketing and demonstration goes on. As I previously mentioned, they use general assemblies to make decisions on how the group proceed. The Occupy movement have used social media and the internet to their advantage, with numerous Facebook groups, Twitter profiles and hashtags, Tumblr blogs and websites have been set up. The group have also been said to use Skype to have global conference calls between movement groups in various countries. They have also created social awareness by the use of art and other techniques, to enable the message of the group to be spread to more of the masses.
Will the succeed?
Well that depends who you talk to. Many political and human rights groups have said that the Occupy movement will ultimately fail due to their lack of unification and a set structure, so to speak. However, other sources have spoken about the groups increasing media coverage and mainstream support which they believe will eventually grow to a size where governments will have to take more notice of the people, and indeed, the voters.
Whatever happens, the Occupy movement are starting to cause a lot of people’s heads to turn and everyday people are taking notice of the messages and demands that the group are making. If you would like more information on the Occupy Movement, you can visit www.occupytogether.org or www.occupywallst.org