On September 17th people from all over convened in New York, on Wall Street, to demand a change in economic policy. Now the protesters are on their 42nd day and the movement has spread across the planet. For the first two weeks there was virtually no media coverage. On September 24th the NYPD attempted to dismantle the protest using brute force. Many protesters resisted and, as a result, were arrested. Over 2500 people nationwide have been arrested since the movement began. Between October 1st and 15th more occupations popped up all over the globe. With inequality running rampant around the world and a global economic crisis, people have begun to stand and demand a new model.
The police in many cities have resorted to brutality. Macing women in New York, shooting veterans with tear gas canisters in Oakland, and firing rubber bullets in Denver. The police seem to be dressed in riot gear, although there is no looting or rioting happening. As the media has finally begun to cover this, they only seem to cover the extremists. Fox News is demonizing the protesters while MSNBC is glorifying many of them. However the Media coverage has been shotty at best, while attempting to break the movements message down into sound bytes and talking points.
So that's the basic rundown of the movement so far, Police brutality, Main Stream Media propaganda and a disconnect from our own government.
So now for what's on my mind. We finally have a movement that is sparking public debate about the inequality issues in our country. The large scale fraud that has taken place in our financial sectors and government. The disconnect we feel from our publicly "elected" officials. The wars across the globe. The Media blackout and then subsequent propaganda campaign. Fox news has called the Occupiers filth, parasites and people with no message. I have been to an occupation camp myself. The areas are clean, the people are organized and their message is clear. However the population has been conditioned to believe that without a leader, a group cannot succeed. Without a figure head we cannot have direction or a message. These Ideals are false. These ideas have been burned into an entire generation.
The internet has helped fuel uprisings around the world. Social media has been a tool of the downtrodden. While the old guard attempts to propagandize this movement, the people are more and more turning to the internet for real time information. For the first time and entire population can communicate in real time, without the message being controlled or distorted. The regimes in the middle east are learning what kind of power the internet is giving the people. They have watched their fellow dictators being chased out of their countries and dragged through the streets amd eventually executed.
The hypocrisy of the American Government runs very deep. While condemning dictatorial regimes in the middles east for using force on peaceful protesters, they stand idly by while their own people are beaten, maced, shot (with rubber bullets and bean bags) and gassed in the streets. One protester in Oakland has been hospitalized with a skull fracture due to this police brutality. In New York City they chanted, "Show me what police state looks like... This what a police state looks like!"
