By TOM ENGLISH
- Saying: “We are the 99 percent!” people took off work and school to march on May 1 to demand that the wealthy one percent pay their fair share. PHOTO: Roberto Reyes Ang
Occupy Wall Street seemed to disappear with the first frost. Though the Occupy movement wasn’t in the news much, it kept going during the winter. There were many protest activities around the country. People went into empty foreclosed homes (a home the bank takes over after kicking out the residents who have fallen behind on their home loan payments) and refused to leave.
Spring came early on March 17, when demonstrators, in celebration of Occupy’s six-month anniversary, tried to stay in Zuccotti Park in New York City. This was met by a brutal police response with about 70 arrests, including an officer pushing a protester into a glass door. In Chicago, people locked themselves into a mental health clinic scheduled for closure. Protesters in Toronto, Canada, blockaded the local courthouse to protest police violence.
Occupy, along with other groups, organized a May Day Strike, “a day without the 99%,” in at least 115 cities. May Day has traditionally been a day to celebrate workers, and, recently in the United States, a day to rally for immigrants’ rights. Rahee, marching on May 1 in New York City, said, “This is not a movement that affects only a certain group of people, it affects us all.”
Occupy Wall Street: A protest movement started in September 2011 to challenge inequality in the United States: one percent of people control 40 percent of the wealth and have great influence on our political leaders. Meanwhile, more and more poor people lose their job, home and health care.
