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In this century, the year 2011 will be remembered as a historical landmark for mass demonstrations for social change. Starting with the so-called Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, followed by the 15M Indignant movement in Spain and Occupy movements in the USA and other countries, these rallies quickly and heterogeneously spread around the world. Despite their distinctive features, they share some common characteristics. On the one hand, there is a general feeling of indignation toward the political and financial systems, resulting in subsequent claims for change. This public call for change was made explicit in the United for Global Change demonstrations that took place on October 15, 2011 in more than 80 countries worldwide. On the other hand, there is a growing role of information and communication technologies, especially social media networks, in the development of social movements.

The Occupy Movement Explained is a readable, compact account and analysis of the Occupy protests, by a scholar who participated in several Occupy events. The book is thoroughly researched, painstakingly accurate, and fully documented. It debunks a number of myths and misunderstandings that have become rife. Nicholas Smaligo shows how the movement arose out of radical currents that have been active below the media's radar since the 1970s. Occupiers are not all the same, and the author reviews some of the debates and changes within the movement. The occupations began under a slogan that conjured up a naive sense of unity-"We Are the 99%!" It did not take very long for that sense of unity to give way to an appreciation of just how socially, economically, and ideologically fragmented American society is. For some, this was an excuse to return to their cynicism-for others, it was an invitation to lose their illusions and begin to see the world from the viewpoint of political activists. The Occupy Movement Explained describes this process of education and the lessons learned about "the 99%", the police, direct democracy, political demands, and the intimately related questions of social change, violence and property.

I would like to provide a new angle on the Occupy Movement from a Christian point of view, specifically from the standpoint of my own work as a Christian theologian. Christians, I believe, should be supportive of the Occupy Movement and not simply for the obvious religious reasons. What are those obvious reasons? Christian concerns about social justice, Christian concerns especially for the poor, for all those disadvantaged and downtrodden, marginalized and harmed by forms of social exclusion and exploitation—such concerns clearly overlap with issues that the Occupy Movement has now brought to the forefront of our national consciousness: economic inequity and the economic plight of the 99 percent woefully underserved by our political and economic system since the financial crisis hit. Christianity and the Occupy Movement are closely aligned on these grounds of shared concern—concerns about injustice and about the economic disadvantage suffered by so many. But more than this, I believe that basic beliefs of Christianity contain an alternative vision of economic life that helps make sense of and pull together coherently the multiple strands of our economic and political predicament targeted for protest by the Occupy Movement—that's what I want to argue now. I'll try to show what this alternative Christian vision for our economic lives is, what the multiple concerns of the Occupy protest are, and how that Christian vision of economy brings those multiple strands of protest together.

This essay puts forward the basic premises around which the Occupy movements in the United States are organized, locates the movement globally, argues that the movements themselves are the ones that should determine their own success, and then distinguishes these positions from those that Michael Kazin puts forward in his article, "The Fall and Rise of the U.S. Populist Left." Kazin argues that the way to determine if the Occupy movements will be successful is if they articulate "what a better country would look like and what it would take to get there." This, however, is the wrong way to evaluate the Occupy movements. The intention of the thousands of assemblies taking place around the United States, as well as in Greece and Spain, where I have been most recently, is to open spaces for people to voice their concerns and desires—and to do so in a directly democratic way. These movements emerged in response to a growing crisis, the heart of which is a lack of democracy. People do not feel represented by the governments that claim to speak in their name. The Occupy movements are not based on creating either a program or a political party that will put forward a plan for others to follow. Their purpose is not to determine "the" path that a particular country should take but to create the space for a conversation in which all can participate and in which all can deter-mine together what the future should look like. At the same time, these movements are attempting to prefigure that future society in their present social relationships.

This essay puts forward the basic premise around which the Occupy movements in the United States are organized, locates the movement globally, argues that the movements themselves are the ones that should determine their own success, and then distinguishes these positions from those that Michael Kazin puts forward in his article, "The Fall and Rise of the U.S. Populist Left.". Adapted from the source document.

The Occupy movement has spread over hundreds of cities nationwide and over 1,500 cities around the world. The movement is formed around a common goal, which is to protest the way government actions or inactions have rooted widespread discontent. The Occupy movement has encountered opposition from the cities and counties where it is located. Arrests have been made for a number of violations of city and county codes including resistance to police orders and disorderly conduct charges. In our country, freedom of speech and the right to protest have been regarded as inalienable rights. The question becomes how to balance the rights of the people involved against the rights and obligations of the government. This thesis will provide an in depth look at the issues being discussed in cases and hearings involving the Occupy movement. The key issue plaintiffs argue is that their First Amendment rights are being infringed on. In January 2012, both international human rights and United States civil liberties experts at seven law school clinics across the country met and formed the Protest and Assembly Rights Project. The project investigated the United States response to Occupy Wall Street. This thesis will discuss and recap some of their findings. In addition, it will analyze the Federal Constitutional restrictions to protestor's rights and the cases that arise on the grounds of these restrictions, as well as examine how the courts interpret the First Amendment and clarify these issues along with defining protestor's constitutional rights. Based upon the Constitutional rights and legitimate restrictions, the thesis will make appropriate recommendations on the limits for both the protestors and the local government. ; 2012-12-01 ; B.S. ; Health and Public Affairs, Dept. of Legal Studies ; Bachelors ; This record was generated from author submitted information.

From the beginning of the Occupy Movement, poetry has occupied a major supporting role. Both the New York and Boston encampments immediately set up a library tent, and poetry readings were a regular part of the camp's activities.