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The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Rebels with a Cause: Why the Occupy Movement Should be Respected

Rebels with a Cause: Why the Occupy Movement Should be Respected

Amy Goodman, Founder of the media network Democracy Now!, was covering the Occupy Wall Street movement from her base station in New York when she met a young Iraq War veteran at the protest.

He told her, “I fought for my country in Iraq.”

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I’m still fighting for my country,” he answered with grim determination.

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The bottom line is that Occupy Wall Street is a movement of the people. I am tired of people condemning the protests to be a bunch of angry youngsters, fighting for the sake of fighting. These are people, from all different backgrounds and occupations, who feel it is their civic responsibility to advocate for massive societal change.

Contrary to what others have said, the eclectic nature of the protests is what makes it a more unified movement. A movement doesn’t need to be rigidly conformed to a singular ideal to be considered a movement. The protesters are united in that they want to change the direction the country is headed, a noble goal with the same values on which this country was founded. Sure, it started with artists, hippies and homeless people, but it has become so much more than that, and has spread to every walk of life.

The fact of the matter is that everyone is affected by this nation’s policies. So everyone should be fighting, because it is a movement for the people as much as it was started by the people.

We are in an age when economic inequality in this country has amounted to historic levels, so it makes perfect sense that protesters decided to camp out across from some of the wealthiest, money-making companies in the world, whose money comes at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Cuts to the social safety nets, education and infrastructure, in addition to the excessive federal debt, the almost nonexistent corporate tax, and excessive military spending, have completely undermined the government’s ability to care properly for its citizens. These are valid concerns from our nation’s citizens.

I find it despicable that Manhattan Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to evict these protesters from Zucotti Park in the middle of the night with excessive force. I also find it despicable that there have been multiple instances of police brutality toward the protesters, who are merely exercising their First Amendment rights.

There is a reason that the movement’s central ideas have spread to over 1,500 cities across the world. The people are uniting against the corrosive power of multinational corporations and banks, in addition to having a dozen or so other goals that seem to be plaguing our society.

During my visit to the protest in Freedom Plaza, there was a clear and concise set of goals numbered on a sign in the common area of the camp. The protesters also repeatedly reaffirmed that they knew the police were there to help them, not hurt them. The misconceptions about this movement astound me, and like any form of change, the Occupy movement may last a very long time. But there is nothing wrong with that.

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