US Feature: How #OccupyWallStreet Became #OccupyEverywhere (Schneider)

It all started with an e-mail. On July 13 Adbusters magazine sent out a call to its 90,000-strong list proclaiming a Twitter hashtag (#OccupyWallStreet) and a date, September 17. It quickly spread among the mostly young, tech-savvy radical set, along with an especially alluring poster the magazine put together of a ballerina atop the Charging Bull statue, the financial district’s totem to testosterone.

The idea became a meme, and the angel of history (or at least of the Internet) was somehow ready. Halfway into a revolutionary year—after the Arab Spring and Europe’s tumultuous summer—cyberactivists in the United States were primed for a piece of the action. The Adbusters editors weren’t the only ones organizing; similar occupations were already in the works, including a very well-laid plan to occupy Freedom Plaza in Washington, starting October 6.

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US Feature: Occupy Wall Street --- "There's Something Happening Here, Mr Jones" (Sifry)

Well, something is happening here, Mr. Jones. The protest, or occupation, is now in its third week, and in addition to a steadily increasing level of media coverage, this coming Wednesday a range of local unions and progressive groups are planning to rally their members to join in. Stubborn resilience plus some outraged media attention to police brutality seems to have been enough to light the spark, but beneath that, credit must go to the horizontal adhocracy running the occupation downtown, which has developed its own infrastructure for internal and external communication and social support. And it's doing this without obvious leaders (who could be arrested and held to suppress the movement) or institutional backers (who could be pressured), and with a wide array of networked support that is being marshaled via Internet Relay Chat, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter, livestreaming, online video and street theatre.

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US Feature: A Beginner's Guide to "Occupy Wall Street" (Schneider)

Raw video from Associated Press of the march and arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge

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On Saturday, the 15th day of "Occupy Wall Street", New York City police arrested more than 700 protesters for blocking traffic lanes as they tried to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The march had started in the afternoon  from the protesters' camp in Zuccotti Park (Liberty Square) in downtown Manhattan, near the former World Trade Center. Demonstrators have vowed to stay at the park through the winter.

As "Occupy Wall Street" not only continues but grows, Nathan Schneider of The Nation offers a Beginners' Guide to the movement....

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