Ten years ago, a group of mostly young activists took to the streets — the expensive streets of New York’s Wall Street. One of the world’s top financial centers, headquarters to the titans of finance and the companies they headed. The activists raised their voices to speak back to the 1% of the super wealthy who own most of the nation’s resources. “We are the 99%” was their rallying cry. The 99% of Americans who lived at the other end of the economic ladder. This was Occupy Wall Street that went from street demonstrations to a makeshift squatters’ settlement in Zuccotti Park.
Occupy Wall Street’s message and movement found eager supporters around the country and the world. Occupy Boston set up tents in Boston’s Dewey Square, inspired by the energy and spirit of the movement. The encampment grew to include a kitchen to feed the hungry, and even a library named for social justice legends Audre Lorde and Howard Zinn. Here, many first-time organizers received an on-the-ground education about grassroots actions from veteran activists who had lived through the civil, voting and women’s rights movements. The intergenerational mix of protestors expanded as more Boston-area residents, and others, joined the protest — as did the group’s list of issues, eventually embracing anti-war efforts, health care access gaps and environmental concerns. On a visit to Dewey Square, then-Governor Deval Patrick observed to WBZ radio, “I’m just trying to understand, there’s such a range of issues and interests.”
All of the Occupy groups refused an organized structure and designated leaders, insisting their movement could be steered by any among them — they were not leaderless but “leaderful.” They may not have been traditionally organized, but they were laser focused on the central mantra of the 99% vs. the 1%. They helped concretize and humanize the economic inequities, their frustration addressing the widening gap they felt between the haves and have-nots. At Dewey Square, 27-year-old Amy Fisher told WBZ, “I’m really sick of nothing happening to reduce income disparity. It’s just going to get worse and worse and worse until violence takes over.”
Her words seem prescient considering the ongoing street protests about living wages and low-income workers fight for a $15 minimum wage. And the economic pain and suffering levied by the impact of COVID, which has swelled the ranks of the unemployed.
Ironic that the 10th anniversary of 'Occupy' arrives as the super wealthy literally can’t stop making money. As I noted recently, billionaire MacKenzie Scott, who founded Amazon with her ex-husband Jeff Bezos, has acted on her pledge to give away most of her fortune — $8.5 billion so far to various institutions and causes addressing public health, climate change, pandemic assistance and more. But because of the way the wealthy are invested, she earned back all the money she gave away. (I’ll point out that her ex-husband is spending some of his billions flying into space.)
Occupy Boston only lasted two and half months, before Boston police razed the encampment on Dec. 10, 10 years ago this week. But the mantra the 99 vs. 1% is now part of the lexicon. And the economic inequalities the mantra reflects are now generally understood. What’s more, many of the Occupy activists were forever changed by their experience and have gone on to work for the cause of the 99% in nonprofits, politics and, yes, other protests. Occupy lives through the marchers in last summer’s George Floyd protests for racial justice. Seeds of Occupy fueled #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Perhaps the late professor and activist David Graeber said it best. Back in 2011, he foresaw Occupy’s fundamental lesson, telling Time magazine, “the system is not going to save us, we’re going to have to save ourselves.”
