America’s “Occupy Wall Street” Movement Continues to Spread

The “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement that broke out in New York is entering its third week and shows no signs of ending. At the same time, the wave of protest is spreading every day: Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Seattle and other cities have also had protests occur.

Most of the protest’s participants are unemployed youths, including university graduates who are unable to find work. Their goals are mainly to oppose corruption on Wall Street, oppose corporations abusing the influence money exerts on politics, and oppose the American government providing large scale assistance to banking agencies.

Last Saturday, New York police arrested over 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge, an area unapproved for demonstration. Although they later released the majority of them, it by no means settled the wave of the protest. Records show that over the past two weeks, police have already arrested nearly 1000 protesters.

Currently, the protest movement’s influence is clearly expanding, the number of participants is increasing, and the movement is becoming more organized. The protesters have even published their own newspaper, “The Occupied Wall Street Journal,” and established a temporary hospital.

Zuccoti Park, located near Wall Street, has already become the protest movement’s base camp, with many people spending the night there wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags. The organizers also established a “winter committee,” in order to prepare for the coming frigid weather.

One demonstrator said, “In America, the richest 1 percent own 99 percent of the wealth, the other 99 percent pay taxes, but there isn’t anyone truly representing us. Washington politicians are all working for that 1 percent.” A portion of Manhattan public school teachers also participated in a sit-in last Saturday. One teacher said that in her school the majority of the children live below the poverty line. Class sizes are up to 50 students per class. She said that these kids are America’s future workers, but at the moment all kinds of problems have been pushed on them: unemployment, crime, etc. Wall Street is the main culprit behind America’s financial problems. The government needs to take more steps to solve the problems with Wall Street.

Although the Occupy Wall Street movement erupted as the result of young people’s dissatisfaction with unemployment, signs of the continued expansion of the protest make it clear that this movement is becoming an outlet for American society’s dissatisfaction with the current situation as a whole. At a deeper level, this is the reason that the protest movement is able to persist.

In Los Angeles, a similar protest movement originated with a group called “Occupy Los Angeles. ”Protesters raise slogans such as “The banks ate my baby,” “Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate welfare’s got to go,” stating their desire to change the way America’s financial system favors the wealthy. In Boston, an immense camp has already been set up in Dewey Square. In the middle of the camp there is a tent, a first aid station, and even wireless Internet. On the first day of the movement, there were already over 1,000 demonstrators participating. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh author, Nathaniel Glosser, is currently helping to organize an “Occupy Pittsburgh” protest movement and planning to have the first gathering on Oct. 15.

Experts believe that these protest movements are a genuine portrayal of the contradictions of current American society, illustrating that the economic and financial reforms put out by America’s government and regulatory authorities haven’t met people’s expectations. The disappointment of ordinary Americans in the depressed economy has amassed to the point where it must be released.