Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement expressing frustrations at the gross inequities of wealth distribution in the United States, though if you ask the individuals involved in the movement, the scope of grievances extends to environmental and energy policy, labor laws, trade laws and tax policy.
While all of us at The Lamron cannot support everything members of the movement are asking for, we stand behind the movement as a necessary piece of contemporary American political discourse.
In some ways, one could characterize the movement as a left-wing version of something like the tea party and that’s just what this country needs at this point. We’re living in a time in which organized labor is being demonized, public institutions – like every single SUNY school – are being starved of funding, incredibly racist sentiments are becoming acceptable as political speech – see for example republican elected officials attending a rally in February calling for the expulsion of Muslims from the U.S. and condoning the strong display of American family values – and the politicians elected to represent the American people would rather tax middle and lower class people than ask more of the richest among us.
To those who are criticizing the movement for not yet having a clearly delineated, agreed-upon set of demands, we’d like to point out that this is an organic movement organizing and growing as it does its work. It took three years to go from the Boston Tea Party to the more articulate Declaration of Independence; Occupy Wall Street’s a three-week-old movement, and should be considered thusly.
Looking back on the history of movements that call for systemic change in the political institutions of the United States, it is clear that Occupy Wall Street must maintain its steam as the months, and perhaps years pass. This isn’t about immediate protesting. This is about long-term organizing.
One of the obstacles of such organizing will be violent use of force by some, as we’ve seen in the inappropriate actions taken by a minority of police officers in reaction to non-violent protesters such as the infamous unprovoked macing of a group of women who were already contained by orange nets. Such violence is impossible to eliminate, but nonetheless unacceptable.
For the sake of the well-being of the country, we hope the movement doesn’t go away anytime soon. The economic violence of our current political system needs to be fought head-on, and what better way than to peacefully occupy space – even if 700 people get arrested in one day.