Failure to change game plan, continued disorderly conduct hurts legitimacy
Occupy Wall Street celebrated its one-year anniversary last Monday, with thousands showing up to protest the streets of the New York financial district. The movement, influenced by an Adbusters campaign last year, has returned in hopes that this time something substantial will actually happen, instead of just creating hundreds of streetside conflicts. Not much has changed since last year, though, with more than 100 arrests occurring Sept. 17. The Occupy movement took the U.S. by storm last year, encouraging protests in major cities across the nation. Questions about police brutality arose, as well as questions about the overall efficiency of the movement.
After a winter and spring hiatus, the 99 percent is back at it again. But this time, doubts linger in the polluted NYC air. It seems as if the movement is continuing further into another stalemate. While it has done its job of creating awareness about financial corruption, lack of solidarity and economic decline, the movement continues to disrupt New York City and pose a threat for innocent passersby. Occupy was originally a great idea, and it had a great backbone, but it isn’t working. The protest cannot be taken seriously if hundreds are arrested every day for acting like animals in the street. That’s not the way protests should work in America. As it stands, Occupy has done nothing to help the issue of disorderly conduct — one of the major problems of the movement. The organization has, without a doubt, a clear motive, tons of supporters and widespread exposure. But without the ability to control the protesters, Occupy will likely be unsuccessful.
As many Americans would agree, Occupy is past its prime. The movement has improved essentially nothing and will likely continue to fail if the protests continue in the same manner. Occupy has now begun to appear more as a whiny plea rather than a pivotal part of history. Instead of making change, it instead shows to the rest of the world how much we distrust our government and how incapable the American people are at making our own “change.” If anything, it is portraying our country negatively.
The movement could have been very successful had the tactics been carried out differently. Instead of just waiting for the cold weather to pass, the leaders of Occupy could have made big changes by adding refreshing new ideas and different tactics. Or perhaps this go-around, Occupy just had poor timing. The one-year anniversary arrives at a highly stressful time for our country: the same week of a devastating blow to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign and the release of a religiously biased video. Regardless, Occupiers have done nothing new and yet still expect to captivate the world. Instead, Occupy has become its own worst enemy.