By Rebecca Gorelov, Staff Writer

On September 17, 2011, 1,000 protestors marched through the streets of New York protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the powerful influence of corporations. This group calls themselves Occupy Wall Street. Now, a month later, tens of thousands of people are still staging protests in over 900 cities across the world including Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. The group even continues to expand from their base, Zuccotti Park in New York City. The Occupy Wall Street movement is an expression of frustration with business, where financial profit comes at the expense of everything else.

These protests were influenced by a Canadian anti-consumerists magazine, Adbusters, which posted a call to action on its blog in mid-July. A New York group calling itself the “General Assembly” began holding organized meetings in New York City in public places such as Tompkins Square; which led to the group’s march near Wall Street. After being shooed away, they ended up in Zuccotti Park. The peaceful protests were influenced heavily by Arab Spring tactics, especially the protests in Tahir Square.

The New York Times has called Occupy Wall Street, “a hodgepodge Lower Manhattan encampment” since it has no appointed leader, no ending date, and a large variety of people. The protestors come from all over the country, leaving all sorts of jobs. No matter how different these people are they have established their own community in the middle of New York City. In between the tents, mattresses, and sleeping bags strewn through out the camp there are food stations, a recycling center, a media center, a medical station, and even a library.  This make shift family, no matter how different are bonded together because they want to make a change from the bottom up.

The protesters call themselves “the 99%,” which refers to the difference in wealth between the world richest 1% and the rest. The event has been criticized for its lack of demands and organization. Yet according to a protester, “I don’t think we should issue a list of demands at all. That’s not what this is about. It’s about creating a new kind of community, of showing people a new way of relating to one another.” However their main point is clear: they are protesting the corruption and the unrestrained political power of Wall Street; which as a result is destroying the financial security for the world’s remaining 99%.

The reaction with in our school community is varied.  While some had strong views on the topic others had no idea that it existed. Serena Gupta ’14, said, “Its [Occupy Wall Street] lack of organization and its lack of relevance to Newark Academy students is the reason it is not widely known.” Hopefully as the event becomes better known the Newark Academy Community will become more informed.