Occupy Wall Street and the Challenges of Winter

It’s raining in Zuccotti Park and some are beginning to worry about the weather. “Definitely, when one has spent the night in the rain and awakened in the cold, it’s hard,” said Anna, who has already camped here with the Occupy Wall Street protesters for more than 15 days. “We’ll see how this evolves in the coming weeks.”

It is now been over a month that the movement has set up shop in the small square, very close to the New York Stock Exchange, to protest against the crisis and a society perceived as increasingly in-egalitarian. The hundreds of people who are there all say “that they will not move, and that they will resist to the end.”

Yet Occupy Wall Street’s biggest challenge now is managing to make it in the long run. The movement has spread to more than 100 American cities and has clearly provided a sounding board for the frustration of numerous Americans facing the economy’s stagnation and the banks’ impunity.

But for now, the protests have only gathered several thousand people and, notably, the movement has not yet been able to formulate a clear message to convey. “This is a bit our strength and our weakness,” acknowledges Chris Cobb, who’s become something of a celebrity in Zuccotti Park since he walks around with a fake Fox News camera making fun of the conservative network. “Since there are multiple demands, no one can appropriate our movement, but this can also appear a bit confusing. Plus, it’s true that the cold isn’t going to help all those sleeping outside at all.”

The main question is whether “the occupation” of Wall Street will or will not have concrete consequences and be able to lead the way to reforms on the political level. A small victory for the protesters is the radical change in Mitt Romney, the Republican favorite of the presidential race. After having rejected the movement, he finally stated that he “understood” the anger of young people in the street.