The Plan: Occupy Wall Street for two months
On Saturday #Sep17, hundreds of protestors congregated in the Wall Street area of New York at the start of a protest dubbed #OccupyWallStreet. Initially organised by Vancouver based media activists Adbusters, the campaign has set out to establish a protest presence in Wall Street for a “few months”.
Adbusters were joined in August by hacktivist group Anonymous in rallying their supporters for the start of the action and spreading the word through websites and social media.
Although the aim was to replicate the protests of Egypt’s Tahrir Square, it is clear that NYC is not Cairo. What was similar, and possibly of more importance however, was the activism that accompanied the protest being played out on social media.
September 17: Wall Street
As protestors started congregating in NYC, police closed Wall Street itself and in a slightly comic way, moved to protect the statue of the icon of Wall Street – the Charging Bull. The bull was never in any danger and the protest began, and continued, peacefully with scenes of speeches, chanting, yoga and tai chi. Probably the most serious problem the protesters faced, and reflective of the media supported nature of the event, was when police allegedly switched off the power in one location restricting protestors from recharging laptops, phones and cameras.
Although probably not reaching the initial aim of 20,000, it is estimated that about 1,000 – 2,000 protesters attended on the first day with fewer staying through the night, camping in Zuccotti Park.
Meanwhile, online…
September 17: The Internet
Literally tens of thousands of people started following and interacting with the protestors via Twitter, live streaming, chat rooms and blogs.
Organisers were coordinating the protest via the Twitter hashtags #OccupyWallStreet and #Sep17. Concerned that Twitter was effectively blocking the tag #OccupyWallStreet from appearing in the top trending list, they switched to #TakeWallStreet, which then went into the top trending list.
Protestors and supporters were monitoring police radio or providing live streaming coverage of events not only in NY but at other parallel protests in Spain, Greece and other locations.
By 9:30 pm EST, #OccupyWallStreet had nearly 71,000 tweets with 18,000 contributors and approximately 105 million views.
Chat rooms set up by Anonymous and livestream were active with ongoing global dialogue. The #hashtag distribution of #OccupyWallStreet is a global and virtual phenomenon as much as a physical protest in NY City.
Main Stream Media’s Silence
The activity on global social media was curiously not matched by the mainstream media. Apart from a few exceptions, they have so-far chosen not to cover the events.
Following events as they unfolded on Twitter, it appeared that there were only three mainstream journalists in Wall Street – a crew from Al Jazeera’s The Stream, Julianne Pepitone of CNN Money and Colin Moynihan of the NY Times Cityroom Blog. Articles have started appearing in some sites such as MSNBC were just taken from secondary sources.
The issue of lack of coverage of the event by the mainstream media has continued to dominate on Twitter. The possible reasons for this are probably more prosaic than conspiratorial and include:
[1] The protest happened on a weekend and it is possible that mainstream media does not employ journalists to cover unless it is worth the expense.
[2] The protest was peaceful and so far non-disruptive – so lessening the newsworthiness.
[3] The organisers were not doing the journalists’ jobs for them by writing copy/press releases and sending it to them.
The question has been raised as to why there should have been so much interest by organisers and others on Twitter about the involvement of mainstream media.
There is perhaps a misguided belief that coverage in this way somehow legitimises the protest and would causes politicians, corporate executives or the general public at large, to take more notice.
There is another assumption here that if the mainstream media do cover the occupation, they will do so in a way that reflects the protest accurately and in a positive light.
This type of coverage is more likely to come, as it is increasingly does for events such as these, from the bloggers, independent media sites (such as those this article is appearing on) and social media – principally Twitter.
The lack of mainstream media coverage may have a secondary effect, which is to prompt online attacks. Potential targets as part of #OccupyWallStreet were being discussed for just this reason.
1, 2, 3, what’re we fightin’ for?
The other aspect of this protest that prevents realistic comparisons with those in the Middle East is that the aims, although legitimate, are much more amorphous. The Adbusters’ website claims that there is one demand that would be agreed on by the end of the process to be made to the US Government.
This demand has been variously translated into: reducing the undue influence of corporate lobby groups on Washington; regulating the finance industry; addressing the disproportionate ownership of wealth in the hands of the few; and punishing banks and corporations for their roles in the Global Financial Crisis.
Finding people in the US who are happy with the political and economic situation is becoming increasingly difficult. Finding consensus on what to do about it even more so.
We will need to wait and see whether the protestors of #OccupyWallStreet achieve a consensus themselves over the coming days.
If they do, it will not just be between the protestors that are in Wall Street but the tens of thousands that are participating on the Internet.
In the words of rapper Lupe Fiasco who wrote a poem for the occasion:
Hey Moneyman poor Moneyman you should slip out the back. Cuz the forces of greed are under attack. No bombs or bullets or rocks or guns. Just hashtags and voices at the tops of their lungs!
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Photo Credits: Flickr CC pweiskel08, Carwil and Steve Rhodes
