Occupy Wall Street

[FRET]

So this shit has been going on for awhile now, but there's surprisingly no topic about it here. Let's fix that.

Anyone been to any of the protests? They're holding them in a lot of major cities. Apparently things got pretty violent in Boston, I'm listening to the police feed from that area right now.

[Rosencrantz]

I was invited to the one for Philly over here

I didn't respond to it, because it's that damn radical republican group that sent a mass mail for everyone to show up.

[Vipershark]

apparently Occupy Charlotte is happening soon

if anything i'd like to drive down there just to check it out considering that BofA's main HQ is here but i doubt anything major will happen.

[Devicho]

I was actually keeping an eye on a couple different stream of Occupy Boston last night. I may have missed it but I didn't see any violence from the protestors. The cops started taking down the Vets for Peace though and at some point the protestors' belongings were thrown into garbage trucks.

If there are plans to hold one in my area I'd like to check it out honestly. I haven't looked yet myself but if anyone hears of an Occupy Albuquerque let me know.

[Woppet*]

Anyone wanna explain this? I have no idea what anyone is talking about.

[Gwen]

Wall Street Protests

[Chutzpar]

I only know a little about this. Can someone provide some good sources to understand what's happening? I know I might be asking a bit much what with the media blackout on this, but I'm woefully uninformed and I have no idea where to look to be able to start understanding it

[Vipershark]

Basically, it began as a mass protest with a bunch of jobless, homeless, and/or angry people protesting against the country/government bailouts on corporations, but it's since gotten more specific goals.
They've been protesting since September 17th and are apparently just getting started.

From what I've heard, the people are angry that corporations and banks receive billions of dollars in free money that allows their corporate bigwigs to get richer and richer while the common man is left out in the cold, figuratively and literally in some cases. Basically, they want reform on a lot of things.

It's a giant protest taking place on Wall Street in new york (which is where the stock market and the big banks, etc are) and there are thousands of people that are camping out there and filling the streets until something changes.

As far as I've heard, the protesters themselves haven't been violent but the police reaction has been super shitty and people have been getting arrested and pepper sprayed and assaulted in general for peaceful protest.

There are other Occupy X (where X is the name of a city or place) protests getting started around the country to continue the protest in banking sectors of other areas.

edit- i've been following coverage through the neogaf threads on it, so you can get more information here.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=443937
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=447099 (better OP which basically has everything you need to know)

[PrettyNier]

Basically, it began as a mass protest with a bunch of jobless, homeless, and/or angry people protesting against the country/government bailouts on corporations, but it's since gotten more specific goals.

yes/no. it was more about the intertwining of corporatism and government thats taken place in this country; it wasn't just about the corporate bailout, although that is in some respect part of it, it was about the vast divide of wealth between the upper class and the lower class.
like, middle class wages having been moderately stagnant for the past 30 years and the riches wages skyrocketing.

[Devicho]

There's also the "We Are the 99%" thing that ties in with it. Admittedly I'm still learning about the protests and everything but the 99% percent thing seems to be trying to bring to attention how badly so many citizens, even honest and hard-working ones, are living right now. http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ is a blog with pages of stories from people supporting those in the protest.

Interesting, I find that one counter to this, "We Are the 53%" (Of people that are actually wealthy enough to be able to pay income taxes.) actually just highlights the issues common citizens face even more. Many of the 53% posts are talking about having just the same problems of living paycheck to paycheck and being one medical emergency from bankruptcy, but with a dash of contempt for others in the same boat who actually want things to be better for everyone. (Then of course there's a few "Me/my family owns three businesses fuck you got mine" for good measure.) http://the53.tumblr.com/

EDIT: for fun

[PrettyNier]

lol

[Cshad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moD2JnGTT...r_embedded

[Devicho]

That reminds me,

[GaryASPG]

i like the part where they showed a black guy and then played a martin luther king speech

[Altrez]

I'm pretty sure I support this. Damn gov'ments. I don't trust them.

*crawls back under rock.*