US - 2011 Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street (OWS), extended protest against economic inequality and the corruption of corporate law that occurred from September 17 to November 15, 2011, centred in New York City. The demonstration marked the beginning of a new focus on wealth disparity in American politics.

The Occupy Wall Street protest took place in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–08 and the resulting Great Recession. The economic downturn significantly worsened the living standards of many Americans, particularly younger adults born in the 1980s, while increasing the disparity of income between the rich and the poor. Public resentment for the upheaval developed toward the United States’ financial sector, whose leaders not only bore some responsibility for the crisis but largely escaped criminal charges for their role in it.

The idea of a protest in Lower Manhattan arose in conversation between Kalle Lasn, cofounder and editor in chief of the anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, and the magazine’s senior editor, Micah White. The men were inspired by how many Egyptians turned out to protest Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Tahrir Square in January 2011. Lasn registered OccupyWallStreet.org on June 9, and he picked September 17, his mother’s birthday, as the date of the event. The announcement of the protest in an Adbusters e-mail on July 13 quickly circulated on Twitter and Reddit, indicating strong interest. By August 9 a group of veteran organizers in New York City—most of whom identified as anarchists—had formed an organization they called the New York City General Assembly (NYCGA) to plan and direct the protest.