THUNDER BAY – There is the ‘Tea Party’ movement, and now with the Occupy Wall Street. it could be said we have the ‘Left-tea Party’ starting with activists from the left side of the political spectrum gathering momentum. What is interesting to witness in this growing debate are that both sides are staking claims within the political right and left in the United States, but that the movement is also expanding to Canada.
In Thunder Bay there are reportedly plans for an ‘Occupy Thunder Bay’ on October 23rd at City Hall.
The website states, “Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants”.
The protest to Occupy Wall Street ran for several weeks without any major media coverage. The protest started on September 24th.
The first reports on many of the American media outlets followed up to a week later. It is an example of how today, with social media, how by-passing traditional media outlets can be done. In many ways it is similar to the Arab Spring where protesters took to the streets and utilized social media like Twitter and Facebook as well as their own reporting online to share their message.
There are literally countless videos online, giving people the story from Wall Street, everything from the protesters being arrested by police, to women protesting topless. The use of the Internet by the Occupy Wall Street participants is making the use of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube by protesters in the Middle East seem almost tiny by comparison.
Additionally, Occupy Wall Street is being live-streamed online.
The protest has gone viral online. Already there are plans afoot for the protests to continue to expand across the United States to other major cities.
The frustration, and anger evident from all sides in this ongoing protest is likely to prove to be a factor in the 2012 American election. The protest pits individuals against large and powerful political and business interests.
Is this the start of a new American Revolution? Time alone will tell.
James Murray
Chief Content Officer