Occupy movement

Occupy movement
Part of response to the late-2000s financial crisis and subprime mortgage crisis and the impact of the Arab Spring
Worldwide Occupy movement protests on 15 October 2011
Location	Worldwide (List of locations)
Methods	Occupation Non violent protest Civil disobedience Picketing Demonstrations Internet activism General strikes Direct action
Casualties and losses
Arrests: 7,700+, Injuries: 400+, Deaths: 32

The Occupy movement is an international protest movement against social and economic inequality, its primary goal being to make the economic and political relations in all societies less vertically hierarchical and more flatly distributed. Local groups often have different foci, but among the movement's prime concerns is the belief that large corporations and the global financial system control the world in a way that disproportionately benefits a minority, undermines democracy and is unstable.

The first Occupy protest to receive wide coverage was Occupy Wall Street in New York City's Zuccotti Park, which began on 17 September 2011. By 9 October, Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in over 95 cities across 82 countries, and over 600 communities in the United States. Although most active in the United States, by October 2012 there had been Occupy protests and occupations in dozens of other countries across every continent except Antarctica. For its first two months, authorities largely adopted a tolerant approach toward the movement, but this began to change in mid-November 2011 when they began forcibly removing protest camps. By the end of 2011 authorities had cleared most of the major camps, with the last remaining high profile sites – in Washington DC and London – evicted by February 2012.

The Occupy movement is partly inspired by the Arab Spring, and the Portuguese and Spanish Indignants movement in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the Tea Party movement. The movement commonly uses the slogan We are the 99%, 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. On 12 October 2011, Los Angeles City Council became one of the first governmental bodies in the United States to adopt a resolution stating its informal support of the Occupy movement. In October 2012 the Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England stated the protesters were right to criticise and had persuaded bankers and politicians "to behave in a more moral way".

Background

The Spanish Indignados movement began in mid-May 2011, with camps at Madrid and elsewhere. According to sociologist Manuel Castells, by the end of the month there were already hundreds of camps around Spain and across the world. For some journalists and commentators the camping in Spain marked the start of the global occupy movement, though it is much more commonly said to have begun in New York during September. On 30 May 2011, a leader of the Indignados, inspired by the Arab Spring, 5.18 Movement of 1980, and June Democracy Movement of 1987 called for a worldwide protest on 15 October. 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. Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn registered the OccupyWallStreet.org web address on 9 June. According to Micah White, the senior editor of the magazine, "[we] basically floated the idea in mid-July into our [email list] and it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world, it just kind of snowballed from there." One of the inspirations for the movement was the Democracy Village set up in 2010, outside the British Parliament in London. The protest received additional attention when the internet hacker group Anonymous encouraged its followers to take part in the protests, calling protesters to "flood lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and Occupy Wall Street". They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull. The first protest was held at Zuccotti Park in New York City on 17 September 2011, the tenth anniversary of the re-opening of Wall Street trading after the 11 September 2001 attacks. The protests were preceded by a similar Occupy Dataran movement in Kuala Lumpur in July, seven weeks before Occupy Wall Street.

  Protests in 1–4 cities   Protests in 5–9 cities   Protests in 10 or more cities

"We are the 99%" slogan

Occupy protesters with "We are the 99%" signs in Bennington, VT

Main article: We are the 99%

The phrase "The 99%" is a political slogan used by protesters of the Occupy movement. It was originally launched as a Tumblr blog page in late August 2011. It refers to the concentration of wealth among the top 1% of income earners compared to the other 99 percent; the top 1 percent of income earners nearly tripled after-tax income over the last thirty years according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. The report was released just as concerns of the Occupy Wall Street movement were beginning to enter the national political debate. According to the CBO, between 1979 and 2007 the incomes of the top 1% of Americans grew by an average of 275%. During the same time period, the 60% of Americans in the middle of the income scale saw their income rise by 40%. Since 1979 the average pre-tax income for the bottom 90% of households has decreased by $900, while that of the top 1% increased by over $700,000, as federal taxation became less progressive. From 1992 to 2007 the top 400 income earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%. In 2009, the average income of the top 1% was $960,000 with a minimum income of $343,927. In 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country's total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%. Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15% —an example of the Pareto principle. Financial inequality (total net worth minus the value of one's home) was greater than inequality in total wealth, with the top 1% of the population owning 42.7%, the next 19% of Americans owning 50.3%, and the bottom 80% owning 7%. However, after the Great Recession which started in 2007, the share of total wealth owned by the top 1% of the population grew from 34.6% to 37.1%, and that owned by the top 20% of Americans grew from 85% to 87.7%. The Great Recession also caused a drop of 36.1% in median household wealth but a drop of only 11.1% for the top 1%, further widening the gap between the 1% and the 99%. During the economic expansion between 2002 and 2007, the income of the top 1% grew 10 times faster than the income of the bottom 90%. In this period 66% of total income gains went to the 1%, who in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928. This is in stark contrast with surveys of U.S. populations that indicate an "ideal" distribution that is much more equal, and a widespread ignorance of the true income inequality and wealth inequality.

Goals

During the early weeks the movement was frequently criticized by the news media for having no clearly defined goals. Speaking on 7 October, Kalle Lasn of Adbusters said that in the early stages the lack of demands was the "mysterious part" that allowed the movement to grow. By late October, Adbusters had been trying to "rally it around a single, clear demand" for a Robin Hood tax, with a global march in support of the Robin Hood tax planned for 29 October. Naomi Wolf argued that the impression created by much of the media that the protestors did not have clear demands was false. Wolf argued that they did have clear demands including a desire to end what they saw as the corrupting effect of money on politics. The New Yorker magazine stated that the claims of Lasn and White were specific: tighten banking-industry regulations, ban high-frequency trading, arrest all 'financial fraudsters' responsible for the 2008 crash, and form a Presidential commission to investigate and prosecute corruption in politics. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, protesters wanted more and better jobs, more equal distribution of income, bank reform, and a reduction of the influence of corporations on politics. The movement has also been described as broadly anticapitalist. Some commentators such as David Graeber and Judith Butler criticized the idea that the movement must have clearly defined demands; they argued that issuing demands is counterproductive for the Occupy movement, because doing so would legitimize the very power structures the movement seeks to challenge. In late November, the London contingent of the Occupy movement released their first statement on corporations, in which they called for measures to end tax evasion by wealthy firms. The reason for the delay in articulating a clear demand was given as the time it takes to reach a consensus with the sometimes slow processes of participatory democracy. In November "Occupy London Stock Exchange", an off-shoot of Occupy London, said that they were working on a global collaboration of various occupations that reflected the voices of diverse movements worldwide. The global movement has been called the reinvention of politics, revolution, and utopia in the twenty-first century.

Methods

Assembly hand signals

Activists have used web technologies and social media like IRC, Facebook, Twitter, and Meetup to coordinate events. Indymedia helped the movement with communications, saying there had been conference calls on Skype with participants from up to 80 locations. Interactive live streams of events by independent journalists such as Tim Pool were used to augment Mainstream media coverage. The progressive provider May First/People Link offered cost-free memberships for dozens of groups, including groups in Iran and Germany, to host websites, emails, and email lists securely. The movement went further to create a diverse, multi-media culture of art production and distribution, which has been gathered and archived by institutions such as the National Museum of American History and New York Historical Society. The purpose of much of the art produced was to visually impact the mainstream through imagery to create solidarity and unity among the "99%". The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund released a model community bill of rights, promoting laws that strip corporations of their personhood rights and elevating the rights of citizens, for occupy organizers to adopt locally. In December 2011, Occupy Homes embarked on a movement to assist home owners who had lost or were scheduled to lose their homes due to foreclosure as a result of what they called the illegal practices used by banks that took advantage of consumers. The group planed to occupy foreclosed homes, disrupt bank auctions, and block evictions.

Structure

The General Assembly meeting in Washington Square Park, New York City on 8 October 2011

The movement has been described as having an "overriding commitment" to Participatory democracy. Much of the movement's democratic process occurs in "working groups," where any protestor is able to have their say. Important decisions are often made at General assemblies, which can themselves be informed by the findings of multiple working groups. Decisions are made using the consensus model of direct democracy. This often features the use of hand signals to increase participation and operating with discussion facilitators rather than leaders – a system that can be traced in part to the Quaker movement several centuries ago, to participatory democracy in ancient Athens, and to the spokescouncils of the 1999 anti-globalization movement. At the assemblies, working group proposals are made to meeting participants, who comment upon them using a process called a stack; a queue of speakers that anyone can join. In New York City, Occupy Wall Street uses what is called a progressive stack, in which people from marginalized groups are sometimes allowed to speak before people from dominant groups, with facilitators, or stack-keepers, urging speakers to "step forward, or step back" based on which group they belong to, meaning that women and minorities get to go to the front of the line, while white males must often wait for a turn to speak. The progressive stack concept has been criticized by some outside of the movement as "forced equality" and "unfair."

Nonviolence

In late May 2011, sociologist Manuel Castells congratulated Spanish occupiers for the fact that not a single violent incident had been reported after 11 days of camping all over Spain. Castells said that nonviolence was of fundamental importance, and was echoed by various other sociologists and social historians including Lester Kurtz, Prof. Maurice Isserman and Prof. Tom Juravich. Juravich and others have however said that conflict can be important in attracting attention, with much to be gained if occupiers are seen as victims of the violence, providing occupiers keep their own aggression strictly within limits. In the words of one occupier, it can help them gain media coverage if they "make things a little sexy and badass" . Not all occupiers have upheld the commitment to nonviolence, with aggressive tactics being used in Spain from as early as 15 June, and with some journalists saying the New York branch of the movement did initially accept protestors who had not signed up to nonviolence. In September, sympathetic coverage given to the movement by the media was substantially increased after the circulation of a video of pepper spray being used by a police commander against peaceful female protestors. In early October, Naomi Klein congratulated New York occupiers for their commitment to nonviolence. By November 2011, media sources began to report an increase in violence, with allegations of sexual assault and incidents of violence from occupiers against the police, including one officer allegedly stabbed with scissors. Some occupy camps responded by requiring that all occupiers sign a resolution to be nonviolent if they wished to stay. Rick Hampton for USA Today said the vast majority of occupy members have been nonviolent. Reviewing the global movement in December 2011, Anthony Barnett said its nonviolence remained an immense strength. In late January 2012, the movement's commitment to nonviolence was questioned after clashes with the police that saw about 400 arrests in the U.S. city of Oakland. Some protestors and witnesses said the police initiated the violence, others said there was violence against the police, however they blamed black bloc anarchists and agents provocateurs. After the arrests, a survey of people in the San Francisco Bay Area found that 26% of respondents said they had withdrawn their previous support for the movement, and some leaders of the Occupy movement also distanced themselves from the events. One protester who did not take part stated, "It was organized by a very militant anarchist segment of the movement; I support the idea of taking a building, especially for housing those who don't have housing. But I don't support it with the kind of triumphal attitude I saw expressed."

Chronology of events

See also: Timeline of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street originated as US Day of Rage, an idea published on the Wikileaks endorsed news site Wikileaks Central on 10 March 2011 by Canadian editor in chief Heather Marsh, reporting action taken by Wikileaks Central writer Alexa O'Brien and modeled after the Day of Rages being held at that time in the Middle East and North Africa. Early promotion by the Wikileaks Twitter and blog was reported as being instrumental in the group's success. It was renamed after an idea publicized on an email list and online blog 13 July 2011, by Vancouver-based non-profit Canadian group Adbusters. The Occupy movement protests began on 17 September 2011. On 9 October 2011, activists in cities in over 25 countries repeated calls for a global protest on 15 October. A list of events for 15 October included 951 cities in 82 countries. On 15 October events were held in many cities worldwide.

17 September 2011 to 14 October

On 17 September 2011, 1,000 protesters gathered in downtown Manhattan walking up and down Wall Street. About 100 to 200 people stayed overnight in Zucotti Park, two blocks north of Wall Street. By 19 September, seven people had been arrested. At least 80 arrests were made on 24 September after protesters started marching uptown and forcing the closure of several streets. Most of the 80 arrests were for blocking traffic, though some were also charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Police officers also used a technique called kettling which involves using orange nets to isolate protesters into smaller groups. Videos which showed several penned-in female demonstrators being hit with pepper spray by a police official were widely disseminated, sparking controversy. That police official, later identified as Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, was shown in other videos hitting a photographer with a burst of spray.

Protesters rallying near New York police headquarters, St. Andrew's Church in the background.

Public attention to the pepper-sprayings resulted in a spike of news media coverage, a pattern that was to be repeated in the coming weeks following confrontations with police. Clyde Haberman, writing in The New York Times, said that "If the Occupy Wall Street protesters ever choose to recognize a person who gave their cause its biggest boost, they may want to pay tribute to Anthony Bologna," calling the event "vital" for the still nascent movement. On 1 October 2011, protesters set out to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The New York Times reported that more than 700 arrests were made. Some said the police had tricked protesters, allowing them onto the bridge, and even escorting them partway across. Jesse A. Myerson, a media coordinator for Occupy Wall Street said, “The cops watched and did nothing, indeed, seemed to guide us onto the roadway.” A spokesman for the New York Police Department, Paul Browne, said that protesters were given multiple warnings to stay on the sidewalk and not block the street, and were arrested when they refused. On 4 October, a group of protesters who were arrested on the bridge filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that officers had violated their constitutional rights by luring them into a trap and then arresting them. In June 2012, the incident was found to be the fault of the New York Police Department rather than the protesters. The judge ruled that the protesters had not received sufficient warning of arrest pending entrance onto the Brooklyn Bridge. While the police had claimed that the protesters had received adequate warning, after reviewing video evidence, Judge Jed S. Rakoff sided with protesters, saying, "a reasonable officer in the noisy environment defendants occupied would have known that a single bull horn could not reasonably communicate a message to 700 demonstrators". On 5 October, joined by union members, students, and the unemployed, the demonstration swelled to the largest yet with an estimated 15,000 marchers joining the protest. Smaller protests continued in cities and on college campuses across the country. Thousands of union workers joined protesters marching through the Financial District. The march was mostly peaceful—until after nightfall, when scuffles erupted. About 200 protesters tried to storm barricades blocking them from Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. Police responded with pepper spray and penned the protesters in with orange netting. Inspired by Occupy Wall Street, British protesters organized an occupation of the London Stock Exchange to bring attention to what they saw as unethical behavior on the part of banks. One of the organizers of the protest said the protests were to be focused against "increasing social and economic injustice in this country." In his opinion, "the Government has made sure to maintain the status quo and let the people who caused this crisis get off scot-free, whilst conversely ensuring that the people of this country pay the price, in particular those most vulnerable."

15 October to 4 November

A crowd of protestors in Congress Square, Ljubljana, Slovenia on 15 October 2011.

On 15 October 2011 global protests were staged around the world, with thousands of protesters staging demonstrations in 900 cities including Auckland, Sydney, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, São Paulo, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, and many other cities. In Frankfurt, 5,000 people protested at the European Central Bank and in Zurich, Switzerland's financial hub, protesters carried banners reading "We won't bail you out yet again" and "We are the 99 percent." Protests were largely peaceful, however a protest in Rome that drew thousands turned violent. Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered in Times Square in New York City and rallied for several hours. Several hundred protesters were arrested across the U.S., mostly for refusing to obey police orders to leave public areas. In Chicago there were 175 arrests, about 100 arrests in Arizona (53 in Tucson, 46 in Phoenix), and more than 70 in New York City, including at least 40 in Times Square. Multiple arrests were reported in Chicago, and about 150 people camped out by city hall in Minneapolis. In the early morning hours of 25 October, police cleared and closed an Occupy Oakland encampment in Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California. The raid was chaotic and violent, but Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan expressed his pleasure concerning the operation because neither the police nor the public suffered any injuries. A street march that afternoon protesting the closure culminated in a confrontation between police and protesters, who sought to re-establish the Ogawa Plaza encampment. During this confrontation, protester Scott Olsen, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran, suffered a skull fracture caused by a tear-gas projectile or smoke canister fired by police. By 29 October 2011, there were around 2,300 Occupy protest camps across around 2,000 cities worldwide. On 2 November, protesters in Oakland, California shut down the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest port in the nation. Police estimated that about 3,000 demonstrators were gathered at the port and 4,500 had marched across the city, however a member of the Occupy movement was quoted by the BBC as estimating as many as 30,000 may have taken part.

5 to 25 November

File:Occupy UC Davis news coverage RT 1.jpg

The UC Davis pepper-spray incident received worldwide news coverage (this example from Russia-based global news broadcaster RT)

On 5 November, protesters held "Bank Transfer Day", marching on banks and other financial institutions to urge Americans to move their money from big corporate banks to smaller community credit unions. It was reported that an estimated 600,000 people took their money out of major banks. On 11 November, Remembrance Day in Canada, police forcibly removed tents from Victoria Park in Halifax, Nova Scotia and arrested 15 protestors. On the night of 14 November, a coordinated crackdown was undertaken by authorities around the world, with several camps being forcibly cleared including Zuccotti Park in New York, Oakland, Oregon, Denver and Zurich. For some of the other camps such as the one at St Pauls in London, no physical action was taken, but on 15 November authorities stepped up legal action to gain authorization for a forcible eviction. Financial Times editor Richard Lambert suggested that the shift to confrontational tactics by authorities would be more likely to spur on the movement rather than cause it to disband. However, John Gapper, chief business commentator at the FT, offered a different view. Gapper said that it may be advantageous that the camps were being closed down, as they were beginning to alienate even members of the public who were initially fully sympathetic with the movement. During demonstration at UC Davis on 18 November 2011, campus police Lieutenant John Pike used pepper spray on seated students. The incident drew national attention and led to further demonstrations, petitions, and calls for Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to resign. (See: UC Davis pepper-spray incident) On 22 November, occupiers mic checked President Obama to draw his attention to the treatment they had received from the police, including thousands of arrests.

26 November to 31 December

Green party leader Caroline Lucas discussing green economics with occupiers at London's Bank of Ideas on 6 December 2011

By December, occupiers had begun to divert their energies beyond protest camps and a narrow focus on the banks, instead seeking to engage further with mainstream politics and joining forces with established activist groups to support causes broadly compatible with the interests of "the 99%". Interviewing one of the informal leaders of the movement, Financial Times journalist Shannon Bond found that issues of concern included: "the unemployment rate, household debt, student debt, the lack of prospects for people graduating from college and foreclosures." In the U.S., Occupy Homes joined with other existing human rights activists groups and began to occupy foreclosed homes, disrupt bank auctions, and block evictions. On 22 December The Washington Post reported that some of the cities which had forcefully disbanded occupy camps were now facing legal challenges.

1 January 2012 to present

On 2 January 2012, Occupy Nigeria began, sparked by Nigeria's President Jonathan announcing the ending of fuel subsidies in the country. There was support from the global movement, but most of the activity took place in Nigeria itself, with a report from CSM saying strikes were effectively shutting down whole cities. On 16 January President Jonathan responded by announcing he would bring prices back down by partially restoring the fuel subsidy. While students have been involved with Occupy since its inception, early 2012 has seen increasing formal interaction between the Occupy movement and academia. In the U.S., universities including Columbia and Roosevelt have begun offering courses about the movement, in the case of Columbia the course includes field work where students join in with Occupy activities. In Great Britain, Occupy's outwork teams are planning school visits to give talks about the movement and related issues. On 23 January, EGT LLC (Export Grain Terminal) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) reached a tentative agreement, mediated by Washington state governor Christine Gregoire. The agreement resolved a year-long dispute, paving the way for ILWU Local 21 workers to work inside the $200 million grain terminal at the Port of Longview in southwest Washington state. This came after "Occupy the Ports" protests which shut down multiple ports on the west coast of the United States on 12 December. The goals of those protests included support of longshoremen and truckers in disputes with EGT and terminal operator SSA Marine (partially owned by Goldman Sachs). A worldwide poll conducted in January 2012 found that only one third (37%) of respondents were familiar with the movement. Of the respondents who were aware of the movement, supporters of the movement outweighed those in opposition two to one. In late January, Occupy protested at the World Economic Forum. On 17 March, Occupy Wall Street attempted to mark six months of the movement, by reoccupying Zuccotti Park, the location of the first Occupy camp. Protestors were soon cleared away by police, who made over 70 arrests. On 1 May, the Occupy movement marked a resurgence with a May Day general strike that took place in cities across the U.S., including New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles. This included a revival of the Free University of New York On the weekend of 15 and 16 September, members of the Occupy movement gathered in Union Square, with Direct action training on the 15th and a celebration of the movement on the 16th. On 17 September the Occupy movement celebrated its first anniversary with several marches and general assemblies which were attended by thousands of protesters.

Occupy Portland Prayer Vigil, Nov. 2012.jpg

One US occupation still continues: on December 1, 2011, evicted activists from the Occupy Portland camp set up a table on the plaza of Portland's City Hall and lit a candle, igniting the 24/7 Prayer Vigil to Lift the Camping Ban, referring to the city's anti-"camping" ordinances that were cited during the eviction. The activists say that the laws, which prohibit the use of "bedding, sleeping bags, or other sleeping matter," are immoral and that they're obligated to challenge them. The occupiers claim that sleep is a fundamental human right; that it is essential for mental, physical and emotional health, adding that human beings spend close to a third of their lives sleeping. They argue that prohibiting sleep by making it illegal for people to protect themselves and their belongings from the elements causes sleep deprivation; that it is inhumane unconstitutional and amounts to torture. The activists say that the prayer vigil will stay on the plaza until bedding matter is again legal. The vigil has been staffed around the clock for over a year and a candle continues to burn. Facebook group of the Vigil to Lift the Camping Ban. The Occupy movement is now more a global collection of groups working toward similar goals under the Occupy name than an effort to occupy physical spaces. These groups include Occupy Sandy which has provided needed relief to the New York Area since Hurricane Sandy hit, Occupy London's Occupy Economics group that hosted, and was praised by the Bank of England's Executive Director for Financial Stability, Occupy the SEC which monitors US financial regulatory matters and Strike Debt which is raising money to retire defaulted debt. There are numerous non-listed groups and actions. In the words of a Forbes Magazine blog: "But this is a protest movement of techno-competent, administratively well-informed, thinkers, do-ers and creators who know the system well and have levers in it. The changes that we need to see happen will come about because of them and what they are capable of, not because of what they object to."

Protests

See also: List of Occupy movement protest locations and 15 October 2011 global protests

Armenia

Main article: Mashtots Park Movement

Mashtots Park activists protesting in front of the city hall of Yerevan, Armenia

On 20 February 2012 near Margaryan Maternity Clinic, where kiosks were being built by the city authorities. The place of protests was promptly dubbed "Mashtots park" – a name under which it is now widely known by the Armenian society now.
The protesters faced police violence as with many other "Occupy" movements, a report was filed to the ombudsman of RA on account of the destruction of a tent with a sleeping protester inside. "Occupy" demonstrations are still continuing in Mashtots park, and the leader of the Greens party Armenak Dovlatyan has named it the most successful civic action in the history of the Republic of Armenia.

Australia

The Occupy Sydney camp in February 2012

"Occupy" demonstrations took place in Canberra, Wollongong, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne, as well as smaller towns around the country. At the Occupy Melbourne protest on 21 October 2011, approximately 150 protesters defied police orders to clear the area, and were subsequently removed with force. 95 arrests were made and 43 reports of police violence were filed. Occupiers returned the following day in a walk against police violence, re-occupying multiple sites since. Occupy Sydney had an ongoing occupation in Martin Place since their initial police eviction, marking almost 21 months in July 2013. The Occupy Sydney camp was removed on 3 July 2013 but it returned on 4 July. It was again removed on 5 July.

Belgium

In Brussels a large Occupy demonstration took place on 15 October involving between 6,500 and 8,000 participants. The protest was largely peaceful, although seven people were arrested following vandalisation of the Dexia bank headquarters and financial tower. The Occupy Antwerp (Antwerpen) movement had its first gathering on Saturday 22 October at the Groenplaats, next to the cathedral. About 150–200 people attended a speakers corner. The left-wing socialist party (PVDA) was present and served free soup as well as information about its proposed "milionaires' tax". To date, there have been four Occupy protests in Leuven. Three took place on the Grand Market in the centre of the city and one took place at a building of the city's Catholic university. The number of protesters in these rallies varied from 100 to 250. These protests have not included prolonged camping, but the protesters say that it is a possibility in the future. Occupy Ghent (Gent) began on 29 October with 400 people in the South Park (Zuidpark). They received a visit by supporters attending the "second day of Socialism" (de Tweede Dag van het Socialisme), also held in Ghent on the same day.

Brazil

Main Article : 2013 protests in Brazil The 2013 protests in Brazil (also known as the V for Vinegar Movement,[5] Salad Revolt, Vinegar Revolt, Come to the street and Brazilian Spring) are ongoing public demonstrations in several Brazilian cities, initiated mainly by the Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement), a local entity that advocates for free public transportation.

Canada

An Occupy Montreal demonstration on 15 October 2011

Main article: Occupy Canada

Occupy protests have taken place in at least 20 Canadian cities since 15 October 2011. On that day, 5,000 people gathered in Vancouver to protest social injustice, while 150 stayed the night in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. 2,000 people marched in Toronto on 15 October and around 100 continued to occupy St James Park, and 1,000 gathered in Montreal to march down Ste-Catherine Street; 85 tents were set up in Victoria square. Beginning on 23 October 2011 approximately 40 people occupied Memorial Park on Minto Street in downtown Sudbury and still continue to do so. On October 20, 2011, over 100 people occupied the front of City Hall in Prince George British Columbia. Events have been concentrated in provincial urban areas, and there have yet to be any demonstrations in the territories of Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. A relatively small group of occupiers successfully occupied Harbourside Park in St John's Newfoundland for the entire 2012 Winter season. This site, known also as "King's Beach" is symbolically significant as the birthplace of the British Empire, and the encampment is seen by some protesters to represent an occupation of colonialism vis-a-vis its birth site. There are currently a number of court proceedings across Canada on whether or not the eviction of protestors and violence from police is an infringement of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Colombia

Around 800 student protestors began occupying universities across Colombia on 12 November.

Czech Republic

On 28 April 2012 a week after demonstration of unions and civic associations (more than hundred thousand protesters) the camp "Occupy Klárov" in Prague was started. Pirate Party participated in the occupation. Police dissolved the camp a month later

Cyprus

Tents at the Occupy Buffer Zone camp in Nicosia

Main article: Occupy Buffer Zone

On 19 November 2011 protesters started the "No Borders Camp" Or "Occupy Buffer Zone", a permanent occupation of the United Nations controlled buffer zone in the centre of the capital, Nicosia, demanding an end to the decades-long division of the Island. The movement used the Twitter hashtag "OccupyBufferZ". By June 2012 the occupation of the buffer zone was essentially over.

Denmark

On 15 October 2011, 2,000 protesters showed up on the square in front of the city hall of Copenhagen, protesting in sympathy with OWS. Immediately after the demonstration an "Occupy Copenhagen" camp was established. The camp, internally nicknamed "Plaza One Love", lived through harsh climate conditions and a couple of eviction attempts for two months, until it was torn down by the Municipality of Copenhagen and Danish police, on 21 December. The movement has shifted to a mobile camp tactic, and still holds GA every Wednesday and other activities throughout the week.

France

Some 300 protesters started occupying Paris's financial district, La Défense, on 4 November 2011. Since then, their camp has been torn down by several police forces. According to French protestors, relations with the police have varied considerably. Some police joined them for coffee and friendly discussion, but otherwise were hostile and confiscated blankets and food, leaving protesters sleeping in the cold outdoors without protection. On 11 November, following a call made on social networks, some 400 additional people joined the occupation. Occupy protests have also begun at Nantes, Lyon, Grenoble, Marseille, Perpignan and more than 50 cities.

Germany

Occupy Berlin protests on 15 October 2011, pictured in front of the Reichstag

See also: Occupy Berlin

The Occupy movement began in Germany on 15 October 2011 with protests in Berlin – focused outside the Reichstag – Frankfurt and Hamburg. Occupy Frankfurt subsequently took residence in front of the European Central Bank, and Occupy Berlin established a protest camp at St. Mary's Church. On 12 November major Occupy protests took place in Berlin and Frankfurt. Police reported that around 9,000 people peacefully protested near the headquarters of the European Central Bank, and that "several thousand" people took to the streets of Berlin; organisers of the protests claimed that turnout was around 8,000 in Berlin and 10,000 in Frankfurt.

Hong Kong

See also: Occupy Central

The Occupy movement in Hong Kong, named 'Occupy Central', began on 15 October 2011 with protesters occupying the plaza beneath the HSBC Main Building in Central, an iconic landmark of the territory's central business district. Despite the fact that the protesters were peaceful, HSBC filed a lawsuit for their eviction. On 13 August 2012, the High Court ruled that the protesters must leave the occupied area. On 11 September 2012, the protesters were evicted from the plaza by court bailiffs, ending one of the world's longest continuously occupied Occupy protest camps.

Israel

See also: 2011 Israeli social justice protests

Social protests have been ongoing in Israel since July 14, 2011.

Italy

See also: 2011 Rome demonstration

On 15 October 2011, about 200,000 people gathered in Rome to protest against economic inequality and the influence of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund on government. Many other protests occurred in other Italian cities the same day. In Rome masked and hooded militants wearing makeshift body armor, in black bloc fashion, participated in the protests centered in St John Lateran square and committed numerous violent acts, throwing Molotov cocktails and other homemade explosives, burning and blowing up cars, burning buildings, and smashing up property such as ATMs and shop windows. The Roman Catholic church Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano received extensive damage, including a statue of the Virgin Mary being thrown into the street and destroyed. Several unexploded petrol bombs were reportedly found on several streets by Italian police. Over 1,000,000 euros of damage (equivalent to over 1.3 million dollars) was recorded. At least 135 people were injured in the resulting clashes, including 105 police officers, several of whom were left in critical condition, and two news crews from Sky Italia. Two protesters had their fingers amputated by exploding smoke bombs. Almost 20 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. After the 15 October demonstration, peaceful people occupied the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme square and started camping as in other cities worldwide. The name of this Rome's group, related to international Occupy movement, is Accampata Roma.

Malaysia

See also: Occupy Dataran

The Occupy Dataran movement first held their assembly at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) seven weeks before Occupy Wall Street on 30 July 2011 to create an alternative to the current representative democracy using the popular assembly model based on principles of participatory democracy. As part of the 15 October 2011 global protests, over 200 people took part in 15 October's Occupy Dataran, the largest assembly to date. In late October, the movement spread to Penang with Occupy Penang and Kelantan with Occupy Kota Bharu.

Mexico

Occupy began in Mexico City on 11 October 2011, with a hunger strike in front of the Mexican Stock Exchange highrise. Edur Velasco, a 56-year-old labor economist and university professor, was on a 42-day-long hunger strike sitting in a tent outside Mexico City's stock market, demanding that the government guarantee greater access to higher education among the youth. Days after his initiative, it came as a surprise to see the multiplication of tents setting up outside the stock exchange building. Police remained discreetly around the corner sitting in their trucks. Occupy Mexico, came at a time of many other nationwide protests, mainly condemning the Mexican Drug War, which many associate with the economic interests of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mongolia

S. Ganbaatar, the head of Mongolia's Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU), has announced that the association joins the worldwide occupy protests of Wall Street and other high streets on 20 October 2011. He claimed that bankers are charging higher interest rates from customers and corporates. In the most recent data in September 2011, the weighted average annual MNT lending rate is 16% in Mongolia.

Nepal

Main article: Occupy Baluwatar

Also known as Baluwatar Satyagraha, Occupy Baluwatar is a peaceful protest movement calling on the Nepali state to better address the widespread problem of impunity and gender-based violence. Since 28 December 2012, protesters have gathered outside the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar from 9:00 -11:00 am daily. The protesters created a coherent set of demands, divided into short and long term goals, which they presented to then prime minister Baburam Bhattarai. The short term demands called on the state, including the police and the judiciary, to properly investigate and prosecute the guilty in five specific cases which took place immediately prior to the movement’s start. The long term demands focused on policy reform in the arenas of migration and rape laws, among others.

Netherlands

Occupy Rotterdam on 22 October 2011 in front of the Beurs-World Trade Center

In the Netherlands, Occupy protests took place in many cities, most notably Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht

New Zealand

The Occupy Auckland protest camp in Aotea Square, Auckland on 16 November 2011

Main article: Occupy protests in New Zealand

In October 2011 Occupy protests began in six New Zealand cities – Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill – with protests in Auckland drawing up to 3,000 supporters. A seventh Occupy protest started on 19 November in the Lower Hutt suburb of Pomare by a group called "Pomare Community Voice" to highlight what they call the "loss of community" caused by the demolition of state homes in the area. On 23 January, police moved in on four sites in Auckland. Two arrests were made and police said campers were in breach of council bylaws regarding camping. The sites were at Aotea Square, 360 Queen st, Victoria Park and Albert Park.

Nigeria

See also: Occupy Nigeria

Occupy Nigeria is an anti fuel subsidy removal protests that started in Nigeria on 2 January 2012 in response to fuel subsidy removal by the Federal government of Nigeria on 1 January 2012. It is a movement against corruption in Government & public service, insensitive & inhuman treatment of Nigerians by Government & Security agents. The movement ended on 16 January 2012 following agreement between the government and the organized labour leaders which saw a partial restoration of the subsidy regime. Fuel pump price in Nigeria has since then been fixed at the official rate of 97 naira per litre while it practically sells for as high as 130 naira in some major cities including Port Harcourt, one of the cities in the oil-producing states in Nigeria.

Norway

See also: Occupy Oslo

The Occupy movement in Norway began on 15 October with protests in Oslo and Bergen as part of the Global Day of Action. In Oslo, the movement has since then met every Saturday in the city centre, usually at Eidsvolls plass in front of the Parliament, but sometimes at other sites, like Spikersuppa and Youngstorget. In Bergen, the movement meets on Saturdays at Vågsallmenningen 4 (Holbergsstatuen).

Republic of Ireland

See also: Occupy Dame Street

The Occupy Dame Street camp in Dublin, Republic of Ireland

To date six towns and cities in Ireland have witnessed experienced Occupy camps; Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford, Letterkenny, and Athlone. Protests were held in Dublin, Cork, and Galway. The Irish Times described the movement in the following terms: "The group has no hierarchical structure, has set up a Facebook page and Twitter account – with the social media links attracting a very mixed, and sometimes critical, reaction." The protest in Dublin was organized by "Pots & Pans – Ireland", and #OccupyDameStreet protest group, who then invited Real Democracy Now! Shell to Sea, Tir na Saor and many other non political groups to participate and all set up camp outside the Central Bank of Ireland in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York. On 22 October is was reported that over 2,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by Occupy Dame Street. This camp survived through the winter, but was removed by an Garda Siochana (Irish police) on 13 March 2012, days before the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. On the morning of 16 May 2012 at approximately 4.30 am,the Occupy camp in Eyre Square in Galway, the longest-lasting of the Occupy groups in Ireland, was removed by An Garda Siochana and Galway City Council. The camp was removed because the group was illegally occupying a public amenity. At the time the camp was dismantled, there were only 6 protesters at the camp. The camp had lasted for 215 days.

South Africa

Main article: Taking Back South Africa!

In South Africa, a movement called Taking Back South Africa! sprung up as an initiative primarily aimed at protesting and inciting mass action against the economic and social inequality in the country. It consists of a loose informal affiliation of on-the-ground groups and individuals across South Africa as well as internet based groups.

South Korea

Hundreds of protesters held rallies in the South Korean capital of Seoul on 15 and 22 October in 2011 under the slogan of "Occupy Seoul". Protesters focused on issues such as a recent free trade agreement with the United States as well as costs of tuition and rent.
'Occupy Seoul' began as a part of 15 October 2011 global protests. Protesters gathered in several places in Seoul, including Yeouido (financial hub of Seoul) where protesters rallied under the slogan of "Occupy Yeouido: 99% against Financial Exploitation of 1%." Three primary requirements demanded by these protesters were: (1) clarifying the responsibility of the bureaucracy, (2) financial regulations, and (3) compensations for the victims of failed financial policies of Korean government. Other protesters, led by leftist organizations such as People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, gathered in front of Seoul train station and Daehanmoon. However, they failed to enter the Seoul City Hall Plaza as they had planned, as their protest permit was rejected by the police due to an exhibition that was already taking place in the Plaza.
Although there were considerable support from public, there were also criticisms regarding the nature of the protest. Unlike the original Occupy movement which started out as the anti-capitalist protest, many of the catchphrases of Occupy Seoul contained anti-government or anti-American messages. One of the observers has argued that "South Korea overcame the 2008 financial crisis relatively well and there was no serious crisis in financial sector. It is hard to find the legitimate basis of the protest."

Spain

See also: 2011–2012 Spanish protests

A series of protests demands a radical change in Spanish politics, as protesters do not consider themselves to be represented by any traditional party nor favoured by the measures approved by politicians. Spanish media have related the protests to the economic crisis, Stéphane Hessel's Time for Outrage!, the NEET troubled generation and current protests in the Middle East and North Africa, Greece, Portugal as well as the Icelandic protest and riots in 2009. The movement drew inspiration from 2011 revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and uprisings in 1968 France, and Greece in 2008. The protests were staged close to the local and regional elections, held on 22 May.Occupy Hispania – Iberia – Lusitania Indignados # Iberian R-Evolution & Unión União Unió Ibérica

Switzerland

On 15 October, between 500 to 1,000 Occupy protesters demonstrated in front of the offices of UBS and Credit Suisse on the Paradeplatz in Zurich. 100 protesters later established an occupation on the nearby Lindenhof, which was evicted by the police on 15 November.

Turkey

Some of the protesters have styled themselves as #OccupyGezi.

See also: 2013 protests in Turkey

The initial protests in Istanbul on 28 May 2013 were led by about 50 environmentalists against replacing Taksim Gezi Park with a reconstruction of the Ottoman Era Taksim Military Barracks (the scene of pro Sultan riots in 1909). The current protests developed into riots after the heavy handed police intervention which featured significant use of tear gas and water cannons. The oppressive reaction to the protests caused the protests to widen with many more people to become involved, people from many different walks of life including a wide range of political interest groups, secular and religious people, students, gays, feminists, football fans, women in head scarves, whole families, all finding reason to join the protests.

What started as an environmentalist protest against plans to replace Taksim Gezi Park developed into wider anti-government demonstrations. Demands issued on 4 June included a) the end of police brutality, b) the end of the sale of public facilities such as parks, forests and beaches to private investors, c) the right of public expression, d) media responsibility in informing the public of events, and other demands. The protests (up to 500.000 in İstanbul and 30.000 people in Ankara) also spread to other cities in Turkey, and protests were seen in other countries with significant Turkish communities.

United Kingdom

Main category: Occupy movement in the United Kingdom

England

See also: Occupy London

A tent at the Occupy London encampment in the City of London

As part of the 15 October 2011 global protests, protesters gathered in London, Bristol and Birmingham in England, together with Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland (See Scotland heading below). The London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square was the initial target for the protesters of Occupy London on 15 October 2011. Attempts to occupy the square were thwarted by police. Police sealed off the entrance to the square as it was private property, and a High Court injunction had been granted against public access to the square. 2500–3000 people gathered nearby outside St Paul's Cathedral, with 250 camping overnight. A canon of St. Paul's, Reverend Giles Fraser, said he was happy for people to "exercise their right to protest peacefully" outside the cathedral and an indefinite encampment was established. Additional smaller protests occurred in Birmingham and Nottingham. As of 17 October an indefinite encampment had also been established on College Green in Bristol. On 29 October a camp was also established in Victoria Gardens, Brighton, and grew from six tents to around twenty within one week. Further Occupy camps took place in Liverpool Bath, Bournemouth University, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, Thanet, Newcastle upon Tyne, Plymouth, Exeter, Norwich, Lancaster in England and Cardiff in Wales. On 8 Jan 2012, Lancaster Police arrested four members of Occupy Lancaster who were occupying a disused hotel in the city centre. On 11 November, police arrested 170 EDL members on Armistice Day when intelligence revealed EDL members planned to attack campers at St Paul's Cathedral. On 15 November an Occupy camp was established in the centre of Leicester near the Highcross shopping centre. On 25 November an Occupy camp was established in Liverpool near the Walker Art Gallery. As of 30 November 2011 following national strike action, a body of students occupied The University of Sheffield Arts Tower in solidarity with, but not limited to, the occupy movement.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, Occupy Belfast initiated its protest outside the offices of Invest NI on 21 October. Occupy Belfast took residence at Writer's Square, in the Cathedral Quarter. It also took control of a disused building owned by the Bank of Ireland, renaming it the People's Bank, with plans to open a library and homeless accommodation to be a community hub. It was expected that an Occupy Derry would take place in the near future.

Scotland

See also: Occupy Edinburgh and Occupy Glasgow

Occupy Edinburgh protesters in St Andrews Square, Edinburgh

Occupy camps were established in the financial district of St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh on 15 October 2011. St. Andrews Square is the home of the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters in the Dundas House mansion. Edinburgh City Council subsequently officially backed Occupy Edinburgh and the Occupy movement worldwide. Protesters from Occupy Glasgow set up in the civic George Square on 15 October but after the council obtained a court order moved to Kelvingrove Park, where the council agreed to provide running water, toilets and safety fences.

Wales

In Wales, Occupy Cardiff originally set its camp-site outside Cardiff Castle but it was disbanded by police, and some protesters were arrested. Charges were later dropped following calls from trade unionists, lawyers and politicians including Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, Labour Party politician Tony Benn and demonstrations outside Cardiff magistrates court. Occupy Cardiff set up a new camp in the city, outside the offices of Welsh Labour and a number of trade unions at the Transport House, Cathedral Road.

United States

Main article: Occupy movement in the United States

See also: List of Occupy movement protest locations in the United States

One of the marches to the Port of Oakland during the 2011 Oakland General Strike on 2 November 2011

The Occupy Wall Street protests began in New York City on 17 September 2011. By 9 October, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities across the U.S. The movement rejects existing political institutions and attempts to create alternative ones through direct action and direct democracy. Occupy protesters' slogan, "We are the 99%", asserts that the "99%" pay for the mistakes of the "1%". The original location of choice by the protesters was 1 Chase Plaza, the site of the "Charging Bull" statue, but when police discovered the planned site, it was fenced off and nearby Zuccotti Park was chosen. There was scant media coverage till 24 September when a large march forcing the closure of several streets resulted in 80 arrests. Police used a technique called "netting", the use of orange plastic nets to corral protesters, and the march received extensive media coverage when a video of several "netted" young women being pepper sprayed was widely circulated. Media coverage was again sparked on 1 October, when New York City protesters attempted to march across the Brooklyn Bridge and more than 700 arrests were made. Some said the police had tricked protesters, allowing them onto the bridge and even escorting them partway across before they began to make mass arrests. On 25 October, police officers cleared two Occupy Oakland protest camp sites. Police fired tear gas canisters at the protestors, allegedly in response to objects being thrown at them. Protest organizers said that many of the troublemakers were not part of the Occupy movement. The raid was described as "violent and chaotic at times" and resulted in over 102 arrests. Scott Olsen, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran, suffered a skull fracture caused by a projectile that witnesses believed was a tear gas or smoke canister fired by the police. On 2 November, protesters in Oakland, California shut down the Port of Oakland, the fifth busiest port in the nation. Police estimated that about 3,000 demonstrators were gathered at the port and 4,500 had marched across the city.

Zuccotti Park closed to overnight camping on 15 November 2011

At about 1:00 am on 15 November, police cleared the Zuccotti Park encampment. Many journalists complained that the police had made a deliberate decision to keep journalists away from the park during the raid. New York City journalists responded to what they perceived as "alarming suppression, abuse and arrests of reporters" by forming "The Coalition for the First Amendment" to "monitor police-press relations as a way of spotlighting police activities that threaten constitutional protections". Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie of the International Press Institute commented: "It is completely unacceptable to hinder reporting on a subject that is undoubtedly of public interest. Such reporting is vital to democracy, and authorities at every level of government – federal, state and local – must honour their constitutional obligation not to infringe upon the freedom of the press.” On 6 December, Occupy Homes, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, embarked on a "national day of action" to protest the mistreatment of homeowners by big banks, who they say made billions of dollars off the housing bubble by offering predatory loans and indulging in practices that allegedly took advantage of consumers. In more than two dozen cities across the nation the movement took on the housing crisis by re-occupying foreclosed homes, disrupting bank auctions and blocking evictions. On 17 September 2012, protesters returned to Zuccotti Park to mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the occupation. On 26 September, administrators at the University of California agreed to pay out roughly $1 million to end a lawsuit brought by UC Davis students who were pepper sprayed by police at a protest on 18 November 2011. Students had gathered to protest against rising tuition costs and reduced services.

Reactions

Main article: Reactions to the Occupy movement

Political

• Brazil On 15 October 2011, President Dilma Rousseff said, "We agree with some of the expressions that some movements have used around the world [in] demonstrations like the ones we see in the US and other countries."
• Canada On 15 October 2011, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty expressed sympathy with the protests, stating "There's growing worry about a lack of opportunities for the younger generation – particularly in the United States – and it's up to governments to ensure youth are able to capitalize on their education and find good jobs." He later commented, "I can understand some legitimate frustration arising out of that."
• India On 19 October 2011, Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, described the protests as "a warning for all those who are in charge of the processes of governance".
• Iran On 12 October 2011, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei voiced his support for the Occupy Movement saying, "Ultimately, it will grow so that it will bring down the capitalist system and the West."
• United Kingdom On 21 October 2011, Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the protests were about fairness. "There are voices in the middle who say, 'Look, we can build a better financial system that is more sustainable, that is based on a better and proportionate sense of what's just and fair and where people don't take reckless risks or, if they do, they're penalized for doing so.' " On 6 November 2011, Opposition leader Ed Miliband: "The challenge is that they reflect a crisis of concern for millions of people about the biggest issue of our time: the gap between their values and the way our country is run." He mentioned that he is "determined that mainstream politics, and the Labour Party in particular, speaks to that crisis and rises to the challenge". On Saturday 26 November 2011, Edinburgh City Council set a worldwide precedent by voting in favour of the motion to support the aims and sentiments of Occupy Edinburgh and the Occupy Movement as a whole. This motion was presented by the Scottish Green Party, was seconded by the Scottish Labour Party and was slightly amended by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish LibDems. The only party not to back the motion was the Scottish Tories. "We regard this as a fantastic step forward in the opening of dialogue with the Scottish government.", stated Occupy Edinburgh.
• United States On 16 October 2011, President Barack Obama spoke in support of the movement, though also asked protesters not to "demonize" finance workers. Local authorities in the United States have collaborated to develop strategies to respond to the Occupy movement and its encampments, and political leaders in eighteen United States cities consulted on cracking down on the Occupy movement, according to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who participated in a conference call. Within a span of less than 24 hours, municipal authorities in Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Oakland and New York City sent in police to crack down on the encampments of the Occupy movement. In a markedly different approach, the city administration and police in New Haven, Connecticut, have worked with Occupy New Haven to ensure the safety of protesters occupying the upper section of the New Haven Green. As of 23 January 2012, Occupy New Haven, has been running continuously on the Green for 100 days with no plans to discontinue the physical encampment.
• Venezuela Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez condemned the "horrible repression" of the activists and expressed solidarity with the movement.

Media

Foreign Affairs has had various articles covering the movement. In the January/February 2012 issue, Francis Fukuyama compares and contrasts the Occupy movement with the "right-wing" Tea Party movement who is "anti-elitist in its rhetoric, its members vote for conservative politicians who serve the interests of precisely those financiers and corporate elites they claim to despise." A survey for the think tank Center for American Progress suggested that the Occupy movement has succeeded in substantially boosting the coverage of the job crisis in the American media.

Other

Egyptian protesters from Tahrir Square have lent their support of the movement. A message of solidarity issued by a collective of Cairo-based protesters declared: "As the interests of government increasingly cater to the interests and comforts of private, transnational capital, our cities and homes have become progressively more abstract and violent places, subject to the casual ravages of the next economic development or urban renewal scheme. An entire generation across the globe has grown up realizing, rationally and emotionally, that we have no future in the current order of things." In early December 2011, business magnate Richard Branson said the movement is a "good start", that they have been protesting for valid reasons, and that if the business community takes some of their concerns on board they will have made a difference. On 15 December, Jesse Jackson said that Jesus Christ, Gandhi and Martin Luther King were all occupiers, and that: "Occupy is a global spirit, which is now sweeping the nation and the world, fighting for justice for all of God's children". A global survey of 23 countries published by Ipsos on 20 January 2012 found that around 40% of the world's citizens are familiar with the movement. Over twice as many reported a favourable response to the movement compared to those who dislike it. Support for the movement varied markedly among countries, with South Korea (67%), Indonesia (65%), and India (64%) reporting the highest sympathy – while Australia (41%), Japan (41%), and Poland (37%) reporting the lowest.

Impact

Some known impacts to date include the following:

Social impact

In the United States, the protests have helped shift the national dialogue from the deficit to economic problems many ordinary Americans face, such as unemployment, the large amount of student and other personal debt that burdens middle class and working class Americans, and other major issues of social inequality, such as homelessness. The movement appears to have generated a national conversation about income inequality, as evidenced by the fact that print and broadcast news mentioned the term “income inequality” more than five times more often during the last week of October 2011 than during the week before the occupation began. The Occupy movement raised awareness regarding what organizers consider undeserved wealth and lack of fairness in American society. Labor unions have become bolder in the tactics they employ and have been using digital social media more effectively because of the Occupy movement. In New York City, the Occupy Wall Street protest has also provided hundreds of protesters to help in picket actions conducted by labor unions. On 10 November 2011, The Daily Telegraph reported that the word "occupy" had been the "most commonly used English word on the internet and in print" over the past 12 months according to a top ten list published by media analysis company Global Language Monitor. In January 2012, members of the American Dialect Society voted with an overwhelming majority for "Occupy" as the word of the year for 2011. Numerous news shows and radio shows have been using the term "1%" and "99%" TV shows such as The Middle, Revenge and, The Office have made references to Occupy, and in July 2012 the City of Vancouver added the word to its list of reserve names for civic assets such as streets and buildings. In December 2012, the Television show Conan launched a contest called "Occupy Conan."

Political impact

On 27 December 2011, the Financial Times argued that the movement had had a global impact, altering "the terms of the political debate." However, some sympathetic commentators such as Anthony Barnett have suggested that in Spain, where the movement once had the support of well over 70% of the population with millions taking part, the popularity of Occupy is now past its peak and has achieved no consequences of any significance. However there were numerous successes at local levels, and The Economist has reported that Spanish protesters caused their government to pass various laws including new limits on the amounts banks can "claw" back from defaulting borrowers. In November 2011, U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch, member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced the "Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Constitutional Amendment," which would overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision recognizing corporate constitutionally protected free speech rights and would ban corporate money from the electoral process. In March 2012, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore called on activists to "occupy democracy", explaining that "Our democracy has been hacked. It no longer works to serve the best interests of the people of this country." Also in November 2011, Paul Mason said that the Occupy movement had started to dynamically shape the global policy response to the Late-2000s financial crisis, being mentioned so often at the 2011 G20 summit that if Occupy had been a brand "it would have a profile to die for among the super-elite". Various journalists along with Jared Bernstein former chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, have suggested that Occupy influenced the President's January 2012 State of the Union address , with the movement creating the political space for Obama to shift to the economic left and speak about the desirability of the rich paying a greater share of the tax burden. Inequality has remained a central theme of President Obama's reelection campaign, yet he no longer mentions the Occupy movement by name, which analysts say reflects the fact that by early 2012 Occupy had become a divisive issue, unpopular with much of the public.

National monitoring and crackdown

Government documents released in December 2012 pursuant to Freedom of Information Act requests by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund reveal FBI monitoring of what became known as the Occupy movement since at least August 2011, a month before the protests began. The FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, local police, regional law enforcement "counterterrorism" fusion centers, and private security forces of major banks formed the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC) to collect and share information about, and to share plans to target and to arrest Occupy protesters. Banks met with the FBI to pool information about participants of the Occupy movement collected by corporate security, and the FBI offered to bank officials its plans to crush Occupy events that were scheduled for a month later. FBI officials met with New York Stock Exchange representatives on 19 August 2011, notifying them of planned peaceful protests. FBI officials later met with representatives of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Zions Bank about planned protests. The FBI used informants to infiltrate and monitor protests; information from informants and military intelligence units was passed to DSAC, which then gave updates to financial companies. Surveillance of protestors was also carried out by the Joint Terrorism Task Force. DSAC also coordinated with security firms hired by banks to target OWS leaders. On May 20, 2013, the Center for Media and Democracy and DBA Press released a special report, "Dissent or Terror: How the Nation's 'Counter Terrorism' Apparatus, in Partnership with Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street."

Lawsuits

Following actions by police and municipal officials to use force in closing various Occupy tent camps in public spaces, lawsuits have been filed, while others are being planned. Civil liberties organizations filed separate law suits against the FBI for refusing to turn over documents requested pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the FBI's role in surveillance of the Occupy movement and the FBI's sharing of intelligence about Occupy events with private corporate security officials. The FBI withheld documents requested under the FOIA citing the reason that the withholding was "in the interest of national defense or foreign policy."

GSA protection

The General Services Administration instructed local law enforcement officials in Portland, Oregon not to arrest members of the occupy movement. The White House "blessed" the edict.

See also

• List of Occupy movement protest locations
• Law enforcement and the Occupy movement
• Occupy Wall Street
• We are the 99%
• Occupy the Hood

Other U.S. protests

• 2011 United States public employee protests
• 2011 Wisconsin protests
• Occupy Homes
• Tea Party protests

Other current international protests

• 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests
• 2010–2011 Greek protests
• 2011 Chilean protests
• 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement
• 2011 Israeli social justice protests
• 2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests and 2010 UK student protests
• 2013 Bulgarian protests
• 2013 Brazilian protests
• Aam Aadmi party - Common Man's Party, India
• Arab Spring
• Spanish 15M Indignants movement
• Yo Soy 132
• Idle No More

Related articles

• Bioregionalism
• Bonus Army
• Cascadia movement
• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Coxey's Army
• Empowered democracy
• Grassroots movement
• Green Feather Movement
• Guy Fawkes mask
• Hooverville
• Income inequality in the United States
• List of countries by distribution of wealth
• List of countries by income equality
• March Against Monsanto
• Occupy (book)
• Peace Convoy
• Plutocracy
• Regulatory capture
• Selected Historical income tax rates in the U.S. (1913–2010)
• Wealth inequality in the United States
• The Occupy Money Cooperative

Further reading

• Berg, A.G. and Ostry, J.D. (September 2011) "Equality and Efficiency" Finance and Development (Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund)
• Byrne, Janet (editor). (2012) The Occupy Handbook, Back Bay Books ISBN 978-0316220217
• Graeber, David. "Concerning the Violent Peace-Police: An Open Letter to Chris Hedges". Retrieved 9 February 2012.
• Horizontalism and the Occupy Movements. By Marina Sitrin. Dissent, Spring 2012.
• The Spirit Level: Why Equality Makes Societies Stronger, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett.
• Wolff, Richard and Barsamian, David (8 May 2012). Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism. City Lights Publishers. ISBN 0872865673

External links

• Occupy.com
• Occupy Together, OccupyTogether.org
• OccupyWallSt.org
• nycga.net, website of Occupy Wall Street NYC General Assembly
• Occupy Movement Directory
• Portal to various essays by social scientists written on the movement, provided by Berkeley University
• 10 Films that Explain Why Occupy Wall St Exists
• Model Community Bill of Rights Template for Occupy Communities
• We All Occupy Directory/Resource Lists
• Occupy Educated: Collection of literature and documentation relevant to the movement
• Occupy Poetry Anthology
• Occupy Agenda
• Occupy Together Meetups Everywhere at Meetup
• Occucards.com
• Video on YouTube
• The Occupy Money Cooperative

News media

• Occupy movement collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Occupy Wall Street collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Blodget, Henry (11 October 2011). "Charts: Here's What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About..." Business Insider. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
• "Occupy" photographs from around the nation from the Denver Post

Related websites

• Inequality.org, from Program on Inequality and the Common Good, an Institute for Policy Studies project
• The Equality Trust