A movement is swelling, and I don’t see an end point anytime soon. I am hugely grateful that people are beginning to stand up to the utter scandal of greed, dishonesty and disparity in this country. I’m one of those “if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention” kind of people. I have deep-seated resentment towards the entitled class and politically connected that have lived high on the hog for decades.
Occupy Wall Street is in its 3rd week, having started in a bar in the Village in New York. It had a slow burn to start, but has quickly grown to occupy Zuccotti Park and draw worldwide attention. It now has an organized camp, including kitchen/food space, media center and even a newspaper.
Many newsmakers didn’t know quite what to make of the movement for the first two weeks, partly because they themselves are part of the ever-growing media conglomeration, driven by profit and shareholders. CNN and Fox News looked on in amusement at the hippies in dreadlocks and drum circles. Now that the movement has matured and grown teeth, they are acting much more like this is a real news event, and not a sideshow. Today, Occupy Wall Street got a major shot in the arm by a myriad of union groups and organizations pledging support. Here are just a few of them:
- AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
- United NY
- Strong Economy for All Coalition
- Working Families Party
- TWU Local 100
- SEIU 1199
- CWA 1109
- RWDSU
- Communications Workers of America
- CWA Local 1180
- United Auto Workers
- United Federation of Teachers
- Professional Staff Congress – CUNY
- National Nurses United
- Writers Guild East
- VOCAL-NY
- Community Voices Heard
- Alliance for Quality Education
- New York Communities for Change
- Coalition for the Homeless
- Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)
- The Job Party
- NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
- The Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center
- The New Deal for New York Campaign
- National People’s Action
- ALIGN
- Human Services Council
- Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
- Citizen Action of NY
- MoveOn.org
- Common Cause NY
- New Bottom Line
- 350.org
- Tenants & Neighbors
- Democracy for NYC
- Resource Generation
- Tenants PAC
- Teachers Unite
So many people have asked “What do these protesters stand for?” In a nutshell, justice, equality and accountability. And unlike the Tea Party, which admittedly has accomplished a lot, this movement is based on actual events and pinpoints
examples of extreme greed. They don’t rely on boogeymen and nonsensical notions like “zero taxes”.
If the rich called out “class warfare”, they got it. It’s on.
