SOCIAL MOVEMENT ESSAY 1

Social Movements Promoting Change: The Occupy Movement

Hannah Farthing

University of South Carolina

Abstract

This essay evaluates the socio-political movement called the Occupy Movement. The articles

discussed in this essay provide a broad outlook on the movement and other branches of the

Occupy Movement that arose throughout the world, including places such as New York,

California, and London. The main aspects of the Occupy Movement that are evaluated in the

essay are the main goals, strategies, and overall accomplishments of the movement.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT ESSAY 3

Social Movements Promoting Change: The Occupy Movement

INTRODUCTION

History proves that dramatic events promote change in society, policy, and public

opinion. Events that promote change can be positive, like marches on state house grounds, or

masacres, such as mass shootings and detonating bombs in heavily populated areas. With

every occurance, society tends to uproar for some sort of change so the injustice experienced

by society can somehow be retributed. One of the more recent movements looking to

promote change is the Occupy Movement; geared towards fighting the presence of corporate

money in the government and the inequality between the top one percent of the population

and the rest of society. The movement originally started in 2009 on the campus of the

University of California; where students gathered in various buildings to protest cutbacks and

tuition spikes at the university. This essay will discuss the Occupy Movement and its

different aspects such as: main goals of the movement leaders, strategies of the movement

and accomplishments for the movement.

MAIN GOALS OF THE MOVEMENT

The Occupy Movement emerged to challenge the corrupted form of democracy the

citizens of The United States were living in, while combating the presence of large

corporation money in the government. The movement was branded with the slogan “We are

the 99%”, alluding to the majority of the population that does not possess nearly the same

financial income as the one percent (​Klein, 2011)​. This movement was criticized in the

beginning for having no clear goal in which members aspired to achieve; eventually the

movement supporters rallied for the approval of the Robin Hood Tax. “​The Robin Hood Tax

is a tiny financial transaction tax on Wall Street (less than one half of 1%) that could generate

$300 billion annually. It will kickstart the economy by funding College For All, creating jobs,
SOCIAL MOVEMENT ESSAY 4

and strengthening public services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure at home —

while tackling AIDS, global health, poverty, and climate challenges around the world” (Why

the World Needs Robin, 2018). The global hope of the tax would be for it to be universally

passed to shorten the divide in all countries. An article published by The Humanist stated

three main changes the Occupy Movement wanted to see: “reverse the ​Citizens United

decision by which the Supreme Court largely dismantled election finance laws that limited...

the influence of money in U.S. elections. Second, occupiers want to reform the U.S. financial

system to “prevent fraud and manipulation.” In part, this would include reinstating the 1933

Glass-Steagall Act that prohibited joint ownership of commercial and investment banks... The

third agenda item for the Occupy movement...is the need to prevent politicians from using

their government positions to benefit corporations in which they own stock”(​Boydston,

2013). The leaders of the movement were extremely bold for going after the minute portion

of society that is responsible for running the country. Before researching this topic I had no

knowledge of the Robin Hood Tax and I personally think it is a smart direction for the

country to take to lessen the income divide in the United States while taking power away

from large corporate enterprises.

STRATEGIES OF THE MOVEMENT

The Occupy Movement was made possible by three main pillars of strategy: social

media, non-violence, and structure. Most of the rallies and protests had such a large

attendance from the community was due to social media and the ability to broadcast specific

information to a large number of people in minutes. Social media was also used to capture the

attention and support of people who could not be in attendance to the various events;

someone could be a thousand miles away and be a part of the movement because of live

streaming on social media. The Occupy Movement was not a violent attempt to promote
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socio- political change, and only participated in peaceful protest. The participants in the

protest sometimes did face small acts of retaliation from law enforcement, which increased

the admiration for the cause; even in the presence of violence the movement as a whole

remained peaceful. The most influential strategy leading to the success of the movement was

structure. The participants of the Occupy Movement were structured in a well working

democracy that truely allowed everyone's voice to be expressed. The members of the

movement gathered in two different forms, a large collective, general assembly, and

condensed discussion groups. During the general assembly the “Occupiers responded by

creating a human mic in which a speaker's words were repeated by the crowd so that

everyone could hear her. The process takes a long time, but some occupiers felt it had good

psychological effects and it kept speeches short” (​Madrigal​, 2013). Outside of the general

assembly, break out groups formed to deliberate the discussed topics and allow each

participant to voice their opinion.“This form of group deliberation has been a key

differentiating component of the occupation. Led by skilled facilitators, the entire group can

engage in debate about what courses of action to take. Consensus-based decision-making is

not some newfangled idea, but has been developed for years”(​Madrigal​, 2013). I believe the

strategies implemented by the Occupy Movement were very innovative and progressive

while creating a strong platform for the movement to rise.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE MOVEMENT

While the Occupy Movement originated on a college campus in California by

students protesting personal injust that the students were being exposed to. Soon enough the

movement spread all over the world to multiple states in North America and abroad countries

such as London, England. Extensions of the movement did not only affect policy and money

making industries, such as Wall Street and various stock exchanges, but also government law
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enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The most known

branch of the movement was Occupy Wall Street. An article posted by the Building

Movement Project stated that the movement “​was extremely successful in adjusting the frame

of the national conversation about the economy” (Endyke). Other than opening the eyes of

the nation’s citizens to the injustice in the economy, the Occupy Movement had no tangible

success, policy change and tax breaks for lower class citizens, that the members hoped to see.

The article also points out shortcomings of the movement, “For example, because of OWS

organizers’ refusal to commit to a specific agenda, they missed out on a potentially valuable

opportunity to partner with other organizations that focused on campaign finance reform as a

way to subvert the power of the 1 percent” (Endyke). During the beginning of my research

into the Occupy Movement, I was very optimistic to find a positive outcome resulting in a

massive progressive change in our nation's government. No one person can ever truly predict

how a large social event will transpire, but with a strong foundation, change is eventually

possible. This first attempt of the Occupy Movement laid the groundwork for future social

and political movements to arise; if new leaders take the strengths and weaknesses from the

primary movement a strong impact on the community will be the ultimate response.

CONCLUSION

Even though the Occupy Movement did not untimely meet the goal set out by the

founders of the movement, each member of the movement did have many impacts on the

world through education. The Occupy Movement was able to shed light on the corrupt

relationship between government and privatized money. It is personally astonishing that such

an educational and impactful mark on history was originally started by a group of college

students, the same age as myself. Researching this movement puts how powerful the voice of

a group of people with a cause can actually be, and that if you have the right goals change is
SOCIAL MOVEMENT ESSAY 7

possible. I do not believe society has seen the last of the Occupy Movement; hopefully next

time a similar movement arises it will be a true catalyst for change in the global economy and

lessen the divide of the one percent.

References

Boydston, B. D. (2013, December 06). What Exactly Does the Occupy Movement Want?

Retrieved March 18, 2019, from

https://thehumanist.com/magazine/january-february-2012/features/what-exactly-does-t

he-occupy-movement-want

Endyke, C. (n.d.). Celebrating Successes AND Failures of Occupy Wall Street at 2nd

Anniversary. Retrieved March 20, 2019, from

http://www.buildingmovement.org/blog/entry/celebrating_successes_and_failures_of_o

ccupy_wall_street_at_2nd_anniversary

Klein, E. (2011, October 04). Who are the 99 percent? Retrieved March 20, 2019, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/who-are-the-99-percent/2011/0

8/25/gIQAt87jKL_blog.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a51c0e4a56f6

Madrigal, A. C. (2013, July 17). A Guide to the Occupy Wall Street API, Or Why the

Nerdiest Way to Think About OWS Is So Useful. Retrieved March 18, 2019, from

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/a-guide-to-the-occupy-wall-st

reet-api-or-why-the-nerdiest-way-to-think-about-ows-is-so-useful/248562/

Why the World Needs Robin. (2018, July 24). Retrieved March 18, 2019, from

https://www.robinhoodtax.org/