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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAfter Six Months, A Look At What Occupy Wall Street Has Accomplished
By Travis Waldron
Since its beginning, Occupy Wall Street and the protests it spawned across the country have faced critics who say it has no goals and wouldnt achieve any substantial accomplishments. In fact, the sum total of what Occupy Wall Street has accomplished is zero, a New York Post columnist wrote in November. Inspiring chat around the national watercooler is not an achievement.
The movement turned six months old last Saturday, and a closer look at its record of achievement reveals that it has done more than spark conversation around Wall Streets watercoolers. Occupy groups have shifted the national debate on taxes and inequality, helped homeowners stay in their homes, forced major policy issues to the forefront of debate at the state and federal level, and gotten the attention of the institutions theyve challenged most forcefully. With that in mind, ThinkProgress compiled a brief list of Occupy Wall Streets accomplishments over its first six months:
Occupy Our Homes: The movement has drawn attention to many of the predatory, discriminatory, and fraudulent practices perpetrated by banks during the foreclosure crisis, and across the country, Occupy groups, religious leaders, and community organizations have helped homeowners prevent wrongful foreclosures on their homes. Activists in Detroit are working to save their fifth home, and similar actions have taken place in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Atlanta. The movement has drawn so much attention that local political leaders and even members of Congress have stepped in to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
Move Your Money: On Bank Transfer Day, activists helped more than 40,000 Americans move their money from large banks to credit unions, and more than 650,000 switched to credit unions last October. Religious groups have taken up the cause as well, moving $55 million before Thanksgiving. This year, a San Francisco interfaith group moved $10 million from Wells Fargo and other groups marked Lent by moving more money from Wall Street. As a result, analysts say the nations 10 biggest banks could lose $185 billion in customer deposits this year due to customer defections.
Fighting For Positive Policies: Occupy groups have pushed for positive policy outcomes at both the state and federal levels. Occupy The SEC submitted a 325-page comment letter on the Volcker Rule, a regulation to rein in big banks. Pressure from protesters forced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to reverse his opposition to a millionaires tax, and activists fought Indiana Republicans union-busting right-to-work law, and have pushed big banks to stop financing destructive environmental practices like mountaintop removal mining in coal states.
Though many of the camps across the country have been disbanded, the 99 Percent Movement isnt going away. Organizers have continued fighting at the state level, pushing back against banks on fraudulent foreclosures and other issues, and have now turned their attention to the 2012 presidential elections. Movement leaders in New York, meanwhile, are developing high-tech ways to organize protests and keep the movement going. Occupy is starting to assert a political influence, pushing multiple candidates and even running for office themselves in both Maine and Pennsylvania, former Occupy activists are running for public office.
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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/19/447087/after-six-months-a-look-at-what-occupy-wall-street-has-accomplished/
ananda
(28,873 posts)... even in the face of unjust police state tactics and
unfair and unwarranted attacks.
thanks for posting this
deacon_sephiroth
(731 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)So where are the detractors now? Feeling good that the tents are no longer used to get the public's attention? Well not so fast. The tents did their intended jobs of raising consciousness. Now they're putting their actions where their mouths are and that's probably messing with all kinds of closed minds because it's a lot harder for the police to get brutal when people are moving their money out of the big banks, peacefully without threats or violence.
kag
(4,079 posts)The movement spawned protests in OTHER COUNTRIES where similar income inequality is an issue, and even where activists simply wanted to show solidarity with American citizens against the multinational corporations that are doing so much harm all over the world.
TBF
(32,084 posts)as the owners certainly are globalized.
malaise
(269,144 posts)for Occupy!!
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Thanks for posting this. Rec'd with anticipation of the spring on this snowy first day.
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)done! It's a great testimonial to this movement which was ignored by the media until it grew to such an extent that the media finally HAD to cover it!
I just wish there were a way that oldsters, such as myself, could join up, without occupying a tent on the New Haven Green...
libtodeath
(2,888 posts)will bring about the peaceful social revolution that will bring true democracy and equality to us all.
We must not give up.