Occupy Wallstreet

[Willow My Love]

Have you all heard about this huge protest in New York? What do you think of it? Personally, I think it's about time the people took to the streets to show our government we're not happy with how unfair things have become. I'm impressed by all the people that are doing this, and I only wish I could be there!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a CNN article: Occupy Wallstreet

 

[Valjavertjinn]

I went to several of the protests in Wisconsin when our governer removed our Unions. There were a lot of people there.

 

[xfivebyfive]

Several people at my jobs went, I haven't been to a protest since I was 11 (against the war in Iraq) but I kinda wish I had gone.

 

[caitaintdead]

Power to the people! More people should rise up and take to the streets.

I'm off to the Chogm protest at the end of this month.

 

[sisterofmercy]

Always good to see people engaging with politics. I've been reading about the protest on the news and it's all very interesting.

 

[GermanGuy]

Would you think, that they could become a Group with influence like a Left-Tea-Party? Or ist it too early to predict the further developement ?

 

[Ianigsy]

Just noticed on Huffington Post UK that apparently something similar is supposed to be happening in London this weekend- the danger is that it ends up turning violent and/or nasty as pretty much every other protest has done over the last year.

The problem here is that there are no electable left-wing politicians to support protests like this (which is part of the reason why they're happening, I suppose). Because we had a change of government last year (to the right), a lot of the people in the current Labour opposition are tainted by association with the first bailout of the banks a couple of years ago. And because there's nobody to the left of them with the slightest chance of getting elected to anything, there's nobody to act as a figurehead for this kind of movement.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

The movement has spread the many major cities nationwide. There's a group of protesters camped out downtown near my apartment. In New York, the protesters are getting harrassed big-time, but I think they're succeeding at getting their message heard.

As for what I think? I think it's fantastic. I only wish more people would join in.

 

[Thamior]

I think Occupy Wall Street would work way better if the people there actually agreed on (or even knew) what it is they WANT. Everyone seems to be unhappy, sure, but if you're not bringing some sort of solution to the table, it's hard to negotiate with you. Since I'm assuming they don't want to shut down Wall Street forever, they must eventually negotiate. What do they want? More government control of banks? Or do they want congress to quit pouring more money into an industry that clearly has enough money already? Do they want the CEO's fired? Arrested? Who'd be put in power next, and who's to say they're not as bad? Do they want the big banks gone, or do they want them to stabilize?

Different people will give different answers, which is a problem. They all seem pretty keen on wanting legislation of some sort passed (as if congress was any more trustworthy than the banks), but they can't agree on what. So yeah, it's great that they're getting a say in where they're money is going - I just wished they used they're power-in-numbers towards a good, or at least coherent, goal.

 

[arabella]

I understand where you're coming from [MENTION=10383]Thamior[/MENTION], and what I see is a bunch of people saying to the government: "things are broken, fix them." I don't expect them to know how to fix the problems, but I do expect the politicians to figure it out. That is, after all, what we pay them for. I don't know if the way they are going about things is at all effective, but at least they are trying.
Anyways...who doesn't want to live like a hippie in a tent village? Sounds like fun to me.

 

[Thamior]

caitaintdead disagrees: They seem to be achieving more than you are typing about how unintelligent they are on a Buffy forum.

I never said they were unintelligent; only unorganized. Also, if any time someone criticizes something you like, your response is, "well I don't see you doing any better," then you're never going to be able to have an actual discussion.

 

[Valjavertjinn]

Here's some pictures of the Wisconsin protest in February and March. I think that I was there the day this picture was taken, but I'm not sure.

And here's some people camping out inside the capitol. Some people slept outside, too, even though it was winter and absolutely FREEZING.

I remember that many of the cool statues in the front were covered in posters, crowns and fake jewelry, and post-its. Some people drew a chain of outlines of people holding hands in sidewalk chalk. I helped with that. And who could forget all of those inflatable palm tress?

There was a whole lot of action there, with us being the dairy state and all. 😀

 

[Summerlilly]

We do need change-that much we know. I went to the protest in San Francisco this saturday and it was inspiring. We may not know HOW to tell the government to change exactly but the 99% need to speak up! The first step is getting more people involved and aware- we can have a voice!

 

[Buffy Summers]

It would be better if people were protesting where the actual problems are coming from, rather than blindly going to Wall Street because it's a buzzword and scapegoat. They're not hurting the people causing the problems, they're hurting the regular joe-average worker.