Celebrating two months

Two months of #Occupy: September 17 to November 17. As if to celebrate

In Egypt they were beaten and arrested by a military that would not have its word questioned. [Londono and Hassieb]
In Bahrain they were beaten and arrested by a family that would not have its word questioned. [Huff Post]
In New York they were beaten and arrested by a mayor who would not have his word questioned. [Deprez and Vekshin]
And in UC Davis they were beaten and arrested by a chancelor who would not have her word questioned. [Wasserman]

But they kept coming back. When they were told they could not put tents on University property at UC Berkeley they floated their tents over the campus. Our space, they claimed.

And the message streams surged with adversity and the celebration.

The dark line is #OccupyWallStreet and the light line is its abbreviation #OWS. The identification hashtag started as #OccupyWallStreet, but on October 5 the word went out that henceforth it would be #OWS [Boynton, 2011]. Very quickly #OWS came to dominate; few characters is better than more characters. The numbers in the figure are total uses of each term. Both appeared in a few Twitter messages, but that is a small minority. The total is 5.8 million.

When celebrating what did they have to celebrate?

They could celebrate their progress, which is according to: OccupyDenver "First they ignore you (✓), then they laugh at you (✓), then they fight you (✓), then you win" - Gandhi #OWS #OccupyDenver #OccupyWallStreet

#OccupyWallStreet began small -- a few people camping out under the rubric #OccupyWallStreet. They were largely ignored by the mainline media. The best they could do was new media -- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Livestream. This revolution would be "Livestreamed," which is an organization that takes a feed and pushes it out to the internet. For example, if you wanted to see the OWS Drum Circle at Bloomberg's House on November 20 Livestream was the place to look. It was being streamed live.

Then they said it would not last. These are kooks.

Then #OccupyWallStreet became a global movement. It became 2,600 #occupies around the world. It became tens of thousands occupying every village. It became the 6 million messages in the figure and tens of thousands about OccupyOakland, OccupyLA, and OccupyDC, etc. that were streams of messages in addition the ones in the figure. They did not go away. They grew. They spread the 99% versus the 1% word globally.

Then they fight you. So the week before the celebration police attacked. The number of references to the police rose from three thousand a day to 25,000 on the 15th -- the large spike before the celebration. They were tossed out of 'their' spaces. And as soon as they were out they returned. The fight was on.

And they won -- at least this much.

Ben Smith (11/11/2011) counted references to income inequality -- the 99% versus 1% -- and found that references in mainline media was five times greater by the first of November than it had been before the #Occupy movement started. At roughly the same time a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that three-fifths of those polled believed the distribution of wealth has become more unequal and that the government should do something about it (Post Politics, 11/8/2011).

A Republican acquaintance, with considerable glee, pointed out the poll that said the #Occupy movement was losing favor with the public. (Public Policy Polling 11/16/2011) Okay.

My view is that this is not a very insightful understanding of historical change. The blacks who rose up in the 1950s to sit-in, to march, to confront the establishment were not liked. But they changed the world. The students and others who demonstrated and marched to confront the establishment about US engagement in Vietnam were not liked. But they changed the world. The women who 'burned bras' and otherwise confronted the establishment were not liked. But they changed the world. Changing the world is not a popularity contest. It is a culture changing contest.

What did they have to celebrate?

They started as a handful of people in one park and became a global movement.

They became so well known that they could move to a 'nickname' in their communication.

The enthusiasm for their cause could reach more than 250,000 messages in a single day -- a day of celebration.

They have started changing peoples' understanding of 99% and 1%.

That seems rather impressive for only two months labor.

References:

Ariosto, David (November 17, 2011) 'Occupy' protesters, police clash during 'day of action', CNN

Boynton, G.R. (October 9, 2011) Noticing Identity in Social Movements -- #OccupyWallStreet

Deprez, Esme and Alison Vekshin (November 15, 2011) New York Police in Riot Gear Clear 'Occupy' Protesters from Zuccotti Park, Bloomberg

Huff Post (November 19, 2011) Bahrain: Hundreds Mourn After Boy Is Killed In Demonstration

Londono, Ernesto and Ingy Hassieb (November 19, 2011) Police, demonstrators clash in Cairo, The Washington Post

Public Policy Polling (November 16, 2011) Voters moving against occupy movement

Smith, Ben (November 11, 2011) Occupy Wall Street is winning, Politico.com

Post Politics (November 8, 2011) Washington Post-ABC News Poll

Wasserman, Todd (November 19, 2011) YouTube Video Prompts Calls for UC Davis Chancellor's Resignation, Mashable.