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10 Ways the Occupy Movement Changes Everything
YES! Magazine / News Analysis
Published: Thursday 10 November 2011
Many question whether this movement can really make a difference. The truth is that it is already changing everything. Here’s how.
Before the Occupy Wall Street movement, there was little discussion of the outsized power of Wall Street and the diminishing fortunes of the middle class.
The media blackout was especially remarkable given that issues like jobs and corporate influence on elections topped the list of concerns for most Americans.
Occupy Wall Street changed that. In fact, it may represent the best hope in years that “we the people” will step up to take on the critical challenges of our time. Here’s how the Occupy movement is already changing everything:
1. It names the source of the crisis.The problems of the 99% are caused by Wall Street greed, corrupt banks, and a corporate take-over of the political system.
2. It provides a clear vision of the world we want.We can create a world that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest 1%.
3. It sets a new standard for public debate.Those advocating policies and proposals must now demonstrate that their ideas will benefit the 99%. Serving only the 1% is no longer sufficient.
4. It presents a new narrative.The solution is no longer to starve government, but to free society and government from corporate dominance.
5. It creates a big tent.We, the 99%, are made up of people of all ages, races, occupations, and political beliefs, and we are learning to work together with respect.
6. It offers everyone a chance to create change.No one is in charge. Anyone can get involved and make things happen.
7. It is a movement, not a list of demands.The call for transformative structural change, not temporary fixes and single-issue reforms, is the movement’s sustaining power.
8. It combines the local and the global.People are setting their own local agendas, tactics, and aims. But we also share solidarity, communication, and vision at the global level.
9. It offers an ethic and practice of deep democracy and community.Patient decision-making translates into wisdom and common com-mitment when every voice is heard. Occupy sites are communities where anyone can discuss grievances, hopes, and dreams in an atmosphere of mutual support.
10. We have reclaimed our power.Instead of looking to politicians and leaders to bring about change, we can see now that the power rests with us. Instead of being victims of the forces upending our lives, we are claiming our sovereign right to remake the world.
Like all human endeavors, Occupy Wall Street and its thousands of variations and spin-offs will be imperfect. There have already been setbacks and divisions, hardships and injury. But as our world faces extraordinary challenges—from climate change to soaring inequality—our best hope is the ordinary people, gathered in imperfect democracies, who are finding ways to fix a broken world.
This article is adapted from the book, This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement edited by Sarah van Gelder and the staff of YES! Magazine and published November 2011 by Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Sarah van Gelder and David Korten are co-founders of YES! Magazine; Steve Piersanti is publisher of Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This article is available under a Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) license, which allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to the original publication of this book (photos not included). More on the book and other resources can be found at www.yesmagazine.org/owsbook.
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ABOUT David Korten
David Korten is the author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and the international best seller: When Corporations Rule the World. He is board chair YES! Magazine and co-chair of the New Economy Working Group. This Agenda for a New Economy blog series is co-distributed by CSRwire.com and yesmagazine.org, based on excerpts from Agenda for a New Economy.
ABOUT Sarah van Gelder
Sarah van Gelder is co-founder of YES! Magazine and has been its executive editor since it began publication in 1996. Her focus at YES! is on the solutions and innovations that address the most profound issues of our time.
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16 comments on "10 Ways the Occupy Movement Changes Everything"
November 13, 2011 4:13am
I don't agree with 1). The monetary-market system itself is the root of the problem. I agree that we should ask ourselves how is it even possible the system allows for Wall Street greed and corrupt banks? The people in that category are PEOPLE, not genetically-modified humans. As Bernard Lietaer observed...
"Furthermore, I believe that greed and competition are not a result of immutable human temperament; I have come to the conclusion that greed and fear of scarcity are in fact being continuously created and amplified as a direct result of the kind of money we are using."
A resource-based economy, as advocated by The Zeitgeist Movement is the best answer I offer. It was mentioned on prime time national television in my country in the last two days: http://www.youtube.com
November 11, 2011 10:12am
I AM with one of the OCCUPY movements A society that works for all is what people are looking for!!, LETS WORK TOGETHER PEOPLE...
Conil, Cádiz
November 11, 2011 2:00am
Don't fall into the journalistic trap of "99 Things you should know about..." "10 Ways..." it's so awful. It may be well-intended but it smacks of the worst type of mainstream magazine trash when writers can't be bothered to put a proper article together: "Ten things you should know about your man" etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum. And it took three of them to put it together? So how many NationofChange journos does it take to change a lightbulb?
November 10, 2011 11:17pm
Obviously blind, needs Cain.
November 10, 2011 6:23pm
Good film to watch!search Inside Job Long (20 min.) 109min.
November 10, 2011 4:54pm
The only thing clear about the Occupy movement is that there is absolutely nothing clear.
If it is not about a list of demands, than why was there a list of demands put forth by the original Wall Street group?
It is nice to say all of these things, but the facts do not back up most--if not all--of the statements being made here. There is nothing substantial about this article at all other than the substantial conjecture it puts forth.
November 10, 2011 6:22pm
Stay on the couch Jeff and vote. How is that working for you??? Go check it out. If you are confused then I don't know what to tell you. Civil disobediance is the most American thing you can do.
November 10, 2011 4:42pm
HEY 99%! Are you angry? Use it!
We have POWER! “Buying Power.” And, it’s about time we used it. Here’s how.
STOP BUYING THINGS. STOP BUYING…EVERYTHING.
WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE KILLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, etc., etc., etc. All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be left in shock not knowing what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 10, 2011 4:07pm
If politicians are in the pay of big multinational corporations
We get:
* less taxes from the very rich - tax havens are no objections
* degradation of infrastructure, environment, and public services
* weak employment regulation and greater wage inequality
* banking, and anti-trust regulation goes in the bin
Staggering inequality in opportunities for individuals
* unemployment, underemployment, and low income levels for the many
* low levels of education and training for most
* high levels of debt
* lack of social cohesion
Such a weakened market or society directly leads to:
Less job creating opportunities for local businesses, entrepreneurs, and co-operatives
They also have to compete against international companies which have tax breaks, bail-outs, and arms in tax havens around the world:
* national and international chainstores and franchises
* large suppliers or buyers who have a monopolistic hold on the market
* producers who move to wherever the tax breaks are the greatest and the labour is the cheapest
* banks that threaten that the world will go under if they go under
November 10, 2011 4:00pm
Wonderful piece, clear and compelling. Win the big one first, breach the seemingly invincible Corporate fortress by overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision with a swift and unstoppable Constitutional amendment. Social media can make this happen in less than a year. The amendment to reduce the voting age to eighteen was accomplished in less than six months. Then we push for greater government financing a significant portion of all state and federal elections to further reduce the power of corporations and any agents of collective financing of elections. Dollars should not equal votes. Then we insist that , as we the people own and monitor the use of the air waves, that media must play their part in our democratic system by contributing air time to legitimate candidates. The group monitoring and guiding these two new elective functions must be as credible as possible, subject to public withdrawal and drawn from all political factions that have a clear and genuine interest in the outcomes and be subject to the will of the people. Their goal is to serve the common good and social justice.
November 10, 2011 3:50pm
Douglas,
Your icon says it even more distinctly than your idiotic comment. I suspect that, like many of my aquaintances with view points similar to the tea party, you think the occupy movement is anti-Republican. If you bothered to find out what you are talking about you would know that #Occupy is not about individuals, parties, or candidates. it is about the injustice perpetrated on most Americans by an elite wealthy group that controls the government for their own benefit. Basically the clear vision of the occupy movements is "Those who f*cked it up should be made to fix it up!. Is that clear enough for you, Dodo?
November 10, 2011 1:56pm
David and Fran:The ten poins you listed are approximately right. Thanks for that. Now let us move on to situate this in the history of the social movements in the US and globally. Most important is: how this is uniquely nurtured by the new knowledge and information economy. Comparison with the Seattle demonstration of 1999 would also be useful. I am working on these themes as well.Pramod Parajuli, Ph.D., Prescott College
November 10, 2011 1:42pm
Yes, Wilcox, a society that works for everyone. I feel sorry for people who let prejudice and greed cloud their vision.
@Ehin: you recall that the Citizens United ruling (that corporations are "people") overturned campaign financing limits. I'm not opposed to your suggestion, but it will now take a Constitutional Amendment.
November 10, 2011 1:37pm
Still don't agree with "the source" of the problem; only the last part of the statement gets it right "corporate takeover of the political system," but THIS is the fault of of our government more than the corporations. If wouldn't matter at all if corporations tried to buy influence if our politicians weren't for sale.
Why aren't we demanding an end to lobbies and a radical reform of campaign financing, something like all campaigns paid for with public funds, all candidates working with same budget, no private/corporate donations?
November 10, 2011 1:06pm
Provides a clear vision? LOL LOL
Douglas, your "LOL LOL" looks like you're laughing out of both sides of your mouth.