Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
A protester being arrested last weekend at a march in New York.
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: March 31, 2012
WASHINGTON — Six months after the Occupy movement first used protests
and encampments to turn the nation's attention to economic inequality,
the movement needs to find new ways to gain attention or it will most
likely fade to the edges of the political discourse, according to
supporters and critics.
Occupy activists gathered in Northampton, Mass., during a stop on a
bus tour this year.
"They have fewer people, and it's not a new story anymore that there
were people protesting in the streets or sleeping in parks," said
Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, a
liberal organization that has strong ties to top Democrats and has
encouraged the protests. "They need to think of new ways to garner
attention and connect with people around the country."
Driven off the streets by local law enforcement officials, who have
evicted protesters from their encampments and arrested thousands, the
movement has seen a steep decline in visibility. That has left Occupy
without bases of operations in the heart of many cities and has forced
protesters to spend time defending themselves in court, deterring many
from taking to the streets again.
In Oakland, Calif., which at one point last year appeared to be one of
Occupy's strongholds, activists have had less than a handful of
marches this year and no longer have any encampments in the city,
according to a police official there. In New York, where the police
evicted protesters from Zuccotti Park in November, the few protests in
the past few weeks have been smaller than the ones last year, the
police said.
With less visibility, the movement has received less attention from
the news media, taking away a national platform.
Occupy does not have a traditional leadership structure, making it
difficult for the movement to engage in conventional political
organizing in support of state legislators and members of Congress,
like the Tea Party has. And some activists, angry at politicians
across the board, do not see electoral politics as the best avenue for
the movement, complicating efforts to chart its direction.
Occupy activists acknowledge that building and maintaining a populist
movement is daunting and that the clashes over the right to protest
have drained some energy.
Bill Csapo, a 58-year-old member of Occupy Wall Street, the New York
branch of the movement, answered the phone number listed on its Web
site and offered his take on the group's standing.
"Are we a little scarred? Of course," he said.
He added: "The people who were driven out of Zuccotti Park in November
haven't gone anywhere and are still working. All the original
committed people are still here. This is not a game — we are trying to
save our civilization."
Brian Grimes, a member of the movement who has been spending his days
at McPherson Square in Washington, where the police still allow
sit-ins and tents, acknowledged that the group needed to adapt its
tactics to remain relevant.
"Like you'll find in anything, you can't stick to the same thing,"
said Mr. Grimes, 35, of Montgomery County, Md. "Whether it's
education, health care or protests, you cannot be static, and you have
to change your tactics."
Mr. Grimes said that new ways of gaining attention could come in the
form of flash mobs or banner drops from buildings, like the ones used
by protesters in Europe.
"We need to keep them guessing," he said, referring to the news media
and the police.
The movement's staying power will depend on the success of several
events planned for the coming weeks. Despite recent actions that have
fizzled, including an Occupy Corporations day in February, organizers
are planning a strike and demonstrations on May 1, International Labor
Day. But the response has been mixed, and activists now say that
Americans could show sympathy for the cause in other ways, like not
shopping that day.
Chris Longenecker, 24, a member of the group who is helping to
organize the strike and protests in May, said the lull in attention
over the past few months was due to the group's focus on building up
capacity for larger events.
"We are looking to late spring and summer," he said. "We are
reconnecting with our passive supporters who saw us lay more dormant
in the winter. We have spent the vast majority of the winter laying
roots across community organizations and labor and immigration."
Whether Occupy has a resurgence, it has already had a significant
influence on American politics, making economic inequality — and
specifically the top "1 percent" — a major issue in the national
dialogue.
In December, 48 percent of Americans said they agreed with the
concerns raised by Occupy, although only 29 percent approved of the
way the protests were being conducted, according to a poll by the Pew
Research Center.
After that poll, Pew stopped surveying specifically about the
movement. "The movement was not in the news as much coming into 2012,
and the nation's focus and our polling turned to the Republican
primary," said Michael Dimock, an associate director of research at
Pew.
News coverage of Occupy has fallen off significantly since late last
year, according to an analysis by the Project for Excellence in
Journalism.
In October, coverage of Occupy made up 6 percent of the news generated
by news organizations in the United States. That number climbed to 14
percent in the middle of November and then slid to 1 percent in
December. The number remained below 1 percent in January and February
and has been so small this month that the Project for Excellence in
Journalism said it was equivalent to no coverage.
Although the coverage has fallen off, concerns about economic
opportunity and equality are at the highest levels since the
mid-1990s.
In a poll released by Pew on March 2, 19 percent of Americans agreed
with the statement that "success in life is pretty much determined by
forces outside of our control," the highest number since 1994.
What is more, 40 percent of Americans — also the highest number since
1994 — agreed with the statement that "hard work and determination are
no guarantee of success for most people."
Ms. Tanden, of the Center for American Progress, said that even if the
Occupy movement did not regain significant visibility, it would
continue to have an impact on the presidential election, having forced
even Republicans to begin talking about inequality.
"It wasn't Democrats who said that Mitt Romney was a 'vulture
capitalist,' it was Rick Perry," she said, referring to the Texas
governor and former Republican presidential candidate.
Erik Eckholm contributed reporting from New York.
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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