By: Beth Geraci, Questex Media Group LLC
New York City police officers, in the wee hours of last Tuesday morning, wrested Zuccotti Park away from Occupy Wall Street protesters. The protesters spawned the global anti-Wall Street movement in Zuccotti Park September 17, and they had been using it as a base since then.
When a New York judge issued an order allowing protesters back into the park, albeit without the tents and equipment that had enabled them to camp there, enraged demonstrators were further galvanized.
I really couldn’t care less about the Occupy Wall Street movement, and until Zuccotti Park’s shutdown last week I tuned it out completely. When I saw the news reports last Tuesday, however, and how angry the demonstrators were, I couldn’t help but pay attention.
Despite my ambivalence about the movement itself, I appreciated the demonstrators’ willingness to fight for their beliefs, even if I didn’t share them. But given the recent spate of intensifying violence between protesters and police, it’s hard to tell who’s the perpetrator and who’s the victim here. One day you have protesters jumping fences and getting in the faces of police officers, the next you have police pepper spraying peaceful protesters at UC Davis.
Occupy Wall Street protesters have been useful in sparking a national discourse. That much is true. But what’s that discourse about? At this point, the message is getting muddled by a growing chorus of anger, violence and chaos.
Is the uprising still about the wrongdoings of financial institutions? It seems now that everybody’s just feeding a desire to lash out. After the eviction of protesters from Zuccotti Park, I felt a weird sort of admiration for the protesters, simply because they fought so staunchly for their beliefs. They were advocating for change, or so I thought. I don’t know who’s advocating what now.
It’s too early to tell how Occupy Wall Street will impact America’s banking industry in the long term. But one thing’s for sure: The movement is occupying Americans’ minds.
