What did the "Occupy" Movements accomplish?

1. 80

   kuttingxedgeposted 11 years ago

   What did the "Occupy" Movements accomplish?
   
   It was a major event in NY, spreading like fire all over the country. But did it achieve anything for it's supporters? If yes, what? If no, why not?

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   AlexDrinkH2Oposted 11 years ago

   It was an interesting juxtaposition next to the Tea Party rallies that were going on at about the same time.  The Tea Party people were (and are) trying to return the country to fiscal sanity while many of the "Occupy" people put forth ideas that would further exacerbate the current fiscal insanity.  As an aside, after the Tea Party rallies, the places where they met were virtually spotless; not so with the "Occupy" folks - they left huge messes including fecal matter, there was drug use, violence, and even reports of women getting raped!
   Quite a difference.   
   What did they achieve?  Mostly to make fools of themselves.

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      IslandBitesposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      LOL

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      AlexK2009posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The comment about fiscal insanity is a matter of opinion, and I think the Tea Party seek a different insanity.  While they should not have left a mess, the mess says little about the validity of their goals, just their umm.... bad manners.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The Occupy young people were and are activists who have since, instead of focusing on "fiscal sanity" as you state, are out in the trenches, such as Occupy Sandy, helping where needed.They have shifted their focus to real activism within communities.

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3. 84

   Rock_njposted 11 years ago

   Not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.  I guess they raised awareness about some of the excesses on Wall Street, but anyone who is paying attention already knows about them.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      R, Awareness, yes!  Just yesterday, Ky Risdall on "Marketplace" npr announced the new documentary "Inequality for All" by Richard Reich  will soon be released ttp://www.marketplace.org/topics/wealth-poverty/film-inequality-all-takes-income-gap

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   swordsbaneposted 11 years ago

   Which Occupy movement.  There are several going on.  I have a friend that has been involved with several different ones at the Madison, WI capital.  They've managed to get several local ordinances changed and at least one law repealed.
   
   The Occupy Movement isn't so much a thing as a way of doing things, and it works.

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      Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Swordsbane, I worked in Madison when deaf citizens and the leader of the deaf community, together with a caring congressman created the State Office for Deaf and Hearing Impaired.  Lives improve  with activism!

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5. 80

   FitnezzJimposted 11 years ago

   The Occupy movement, like the Tea Party rallies, reminded us that groups of people can make a difference if they organize and act to a common cause.
   That common lesson is probably the most significant accomplishment of both activities.  You have to be involved or actively engaged, arm-chair quarterbacking does not make a difference to anyone but yourself.

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   ieschiefengineerposted 11 years ago

   there is not any achievement for its supporters.Because they are motivating others.If they want to get something then they should go to the opposite to it.

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7. 76

   johnsonrallenposted 11 years ago

   My thoughts? If you have to ask if it accomplished anything, it probably didn't (or you wouldn't have to ask the question!).
   
   There was an Occupy Something movement here in the city of 300,000 people I live in. It consisted- no joke- of two tents downtown. It didn't last too long.

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   cebutouristspotposted 11 years ago

   I think the only thing they accomplish is awareness which majority of the people already know that economic inequality exist.  Other than no.

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      AlexDrinkH2Oposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I cringe whenever I see or hear the term "economic inequality."   What do you want, socialism?  Not everyone is smart or capable or ambitious - those are the facts of life.  Safety net for the truly needy?  Sure.  But Marxism?  No thanks!

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9. 83

   peoplepower73posted 11 years ago

   The tea party was backed by big money from the Freedom Works, which is Dick Armey's brain child that was highly organized.  He funded 12 million dollars via the Koch Brothers.  The Occupy Wall Street movement did not receive any significant funding and was a grass roots movement.  As a result all the creeping crawlers came along for the ride. 
   
   They did not have a mission statement and they did not have a leader.  However, I still have hope, that someday the public will realize that we have all been fleeced by Wall street and the Banksters and there will be an uprising.  Remember, what Wall street and the banks produce does not add a dime to the GDP, but it does line their pockets extremely well while exploiting the public.

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10. 89

    Billie Kelpinposted 11 years ago

    All movements are like the ocean - they ebb and flow. The initial concerns that are an undercurrent will surface again because young 30-somethings, the Millennials and the New Globals who come after them, are grappling with the "how" and trying to figure out what happens with anarchy - what replaces the government in which they have no trust after it's gone?
    This group is actually a reflection and reincarnation of the environmental, peace, and social justice movements in the 70s that lost traction as the Baby Boomers got busy with their real life babies!  In addition, Milennials seem to be attracted to making social change through social networking.  If you listen to Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, etc., you'll find that the movement is alive and well and re-grouping just like the first surge of Martin Luther King's movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement,waxed and waned until the issues started to be resolved.  This issue of 1% possessing the mass of wealth in American is not solved or resolved, and its effects will become even more obvious as soon as the mass of people awaken from their Stockholm Syndrome Slumber!

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       Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I don't mean that the young people examining these issues want anarchy, they're just realizing that there is nothing in place if you try to "delete" what you have.They're trying to figure out the means to their end. It's not an easy puzzle to solve.

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    Borsiaposted 11 years ago

    From the aspect of an American in another country I would say a resounding NOTHING.
    In the interviews I saw with "the front line" they didn't have a clue about what they wanted outside of some basic communist / anarchist rants. Most of them couldn't put together a complete sentence let alone a concept of ideals.
    Even the better spoken of them fell apart when even the most basic questions were asked about how their ideas might work in the real world.
    I suppose they managed to show some cohesion in the number of people who are dissatisfied with government, but we already knew that from their having the lowest ratings in history, just below lawyers and above sewer clogs.
    But it was all overshadowed by their total lack of comprehension as to how life in general works, or doesn't.
    There hasn't been a single change affiliated with the "movement".
    Not even the slightest dip in corruption or wastefulness financial or otherwise.
    When they had their big chance to point out what evil the US and shadow people were doing after Wikileaks they did nothing,,, again. And we haven't heard a peep from them since.

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    1. 89

       Billie Kelpinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Young people like Nathan Schneider author of ""Thank You Anarchy"  and a staff editor of http://wagingnonviolence.org/; activists like Nicole Carty of The Other 98%, and others like them r extremely active in a new kind of social movement, I believe.

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