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NYC Blog: Occupy Wall St protest
You may or may not have heard about ‘Occupy Wall St’, a protest that’s now in its 20th day here in NYC. Since September 17, hundreds of people have been camping out down by Wall St in Zuccotti Park, protesting against - amongst other things - corporate greed and the imbalance of wealth here in the US, and around the world.
The protest has been mostly peaceful, although there have been a couple of big marches over the last week (Brooklyn Bridge on October 1, and Wall St on October 5) which ended in clashes with police and the arrests of large groups of demonstrators - the violence on the part of police was unnecessary and unprovoked. There’s plenty of footage around, such as the video below, that shows police laying into non-violent protestors with batons before arresting them.
It’s a pretty crazy time to be here, and - while I definitely hope demonstrators stick with their non-violent stance and any further action is peaceful - it is awesome to see people take a stand and speak out against the corruption of the US political and financial systems. Coming from a country like New Zealand, where we have a pretty decent welfare system in place, and things like public healthcare and schooling available to people who can’t afford private, it takes a while to understand just how messed up the political and economic workings of the US really are. Many American people have no job security, no health insurance unless their job provides it - and millions are currently out of work - and are being forced out of their homes as a result of loans gone bad.
Meanwhile, the banks that issued the loans have been ‘bailed out’ by the government, and those who head these and other financial institutions up continue to earn huge paycheques and be rewarded with giant bonusses, even though their bad management has contributed to two major recessions in the last three years. These recessions have widened the already significant gap between rich and poor in the US, and made life even harder for the average Joe, i.e. the majority of Americans, who Occupy Wall St protestors have dubbed ‘the 99%’.
These are just some of the many issues that are being represented at Occupy Wall St; the number of people and workers’ unions involved in the movement is continuing to build, and ‘occupations’ are taking place in many other cities in America and cities around the world, including in New Zealand! It would be awesome if you could take the time to do some more research about the occupations and the issues that are being talked about.
Regardless of how Occupy Wall St pans out, this is an incredibly important (and exciting!) time in history. People all around the world are taking a stand and refusing to let their governments continue to abuse their position and power. If it all sounds a bit conspiracy theory to you, let your research begin not with the banks and big businesses but with the people who live with poverty as a daily reality, and whose basic human rights are consistently ignored and abused as a matter of fact. It’s time to speak out against inequality and demand that politicians around the world start doing what they were elected to do: serve their populations and aid the people who need it most.
Major protests are being planned around the world for Saturday October 15. If you can’t be at one in person, check out OccupyWallSt on Facebook and find out what you can do to get involved!
Photo from Occupy Wall St.
By Sarah Illingworth. Who is Sarah? Find out here and meet the rest of the 24/7 Girl team too. For more New York City blogs, click here.
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