What are the lessons to be derived from "occupy Wall Street"?

Constructive. But not well organized.

I see the OWS group as a parallel grass-roots group to what the Tea Party was doing at the time.

However, the Tea Party folks had gotten their shit together. The had organized, planned, had real goals in mind, had a mechanism to reach them. They had a strategy and focus to what they were doing.

OWS had essentially no governance – it was almost anarchical. No unifying vision, no articulated goals, no methodology. It was a popular (and populist) movement that had no plan. So it failed.

It’s too bad. OWS reflected my views and political leanings, but they screwed it up for lack of leadership and achievable goals.

So if there is a lesson to be learned, it is that if you’re going to start a social movement, you need to be organized. You need to know what you want to accomplish, and some idea of how. You have to articulate the message in a way people can understand. And that takes planning and thought.

I think “Occupy Wall Street” while not effective in itself led to a resurgence in grass roots movements. “Black Lives Matter” which is effective is partially an outgrowth of that idea. Anything that is a move to people becoming active against the takeover of America is potentially useful.

Contrasted with the corporate owned tea party, the lesson is that non-violent change and influence is not possible without buying politicians and influencing politics with huge amounts of money.

maybe, @ragingloli – but remember that the Tea Party was not originally co-opted by the corporate world. When it was a new organization, it was very much grass roots, and to a degree non-partisan.

Tea Party either let itself get smothered by the Republicans, or was taken over by the Republicans (and corporate interests). But that was a distinct second step, months after the tea party originated.

If the TP had maintained its non-partisan, single issue identity, they might have had more universal support. Now they only represent a far right wing minority.

The OWS movement did have articulated goals and was more organized than people want to think. Unfortunately the media has the reach and volume to drown that out and paint the narrative anyway their Wall Street masters wish.

Protesting a large variety of social and economic issues at one time didn’t work well.

OWS was protesting social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and influence of corporations on government, etc, etc, etc. What the heck is that suppose to mean? Not much to most people working theirs butts off trying to achieve the American dream.

I ran a marathon in Portland were the finish area was a small park in the middle of the city. OWS folks took over the finish park a couple days before the marathon. No problem as the finishing runners occupied the streets surrounding the park. The thousands of marathon finishers, friends and family totally overwhelmed the OWS protesters like they weren’t even there. HA!

OWS wasn’t even a speed-bump to Wall Street anything else including capitalism or the American way. Thanks partially to President Obama nowadays we see a soaring stock market with the rich and the greedy getting richer while the middle class is shrinking and lower class growing.

@elbanditoroso That’s a VERY interesting point. How is it that the tprs were so easily co-opted? I mean not a lick of suspicion when Koch pulls out his checkbook. It’s like Donald Trump underwriting OWS! The failure to even anticipate the unavoidable taint is mind boggling.

@gondwanalon I agree that the message lacked focus, but that’s the trouble with spontaneity. OWS took everyone by surprise, including most of the participants.

The small guy can never win. Everything is about money and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Waste of time. Wall street is where money grows and allows greater wealth for everybody, albeit terrific wealth for them for their trouble. You may hate it, but it is in fact a two way street.
Shut down Wall Street, and you will be eating dog food in your old age.

@josie

OWS was never about shutting down Wall Street (see my previous point about controlling the narrative?). Its aim was reform and lessening corporate influence in government.

@Darth_Algar
Without corporate and wealth building influence in government, who will fill the void and exert influence?
The Stupid?
The self perpetuating victims?
Sociopaths?
Caitlyn Jenner?
Me?
Good luck with all that.

@josie

So you prefer your lawmakers bought and paid for. Good to know.

@Darth_Algar
They are all bought and paid for. As you should know.
In fact as I suspect you do know, but you only hate it when the other side does it.

@ragingloli But if you consider that people act in what they perceive to be their own interests, isn’t the only possible reason that said tprs could relegate themselves to serving as dupes for corporations, a failure to appreciate the facts?

@josie What makes you suppose that those wielding corporate and wealth building influence on the government aren’t sociopaths?

@stanleybmanly
Interesting accusation.
If you want it to stick, prove it.

sociopath: a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.

90% of all politicians and corporations are sociopaths, anyone could tell you that.

@josie

Thanks for confirming it: you accept, hell, maybe even support, our politicians’ prostituting themselves to monied interests. I do not.

Yes, bow down and roll over before the unaccountable king and his fellow aristocrats, and hope for them to be benevolent enough to gift to you the semi rotten scraps from their plates.
(voodoo economics in a nutshell)
It is always interesting to see, how disconnected from reality someone can be.