While I know most people are writing this protest off as another hippie generated movement, I can’t help think there is more behind it than just mere anger-driven energy. And personally, while I dont want to bring down wall street or free trade, it turns out to be the place people think they can direct their anger right now. There is anger, resentment, frustration and of course social media to drive the cause.
When a movement is “mobilized” these days, it means something else. They literally are driven by mobile technology an the access to instant information. I really dont think our politicians and hired officials understand the power of this “mobility” and “social network”. Being able to report the news instantly, and from the perspective of a person at the event, purveys a whole new outlook. It may expose the the movements strength or its weakness but, it does show truth. There is no denying, the constant tweets, pictures, live feeds and reality of the moment. When they say news travels fast, you better believe that this has been swift and deliberate.
A Few tidbits:
- https://twitter.com/occupywallst
- Occupy Wall Street Newspaper Raises $54,000 on Kickstarter – a newspaper being distributed at the protests
- http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution – live protests
- http://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt
- The online conversation has grown at the same time that street protests have taken place in several other cities last week, including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington. A Web site, Occupy Together, is trying to aggregate the online conversations and the off-line activities.
- Some 900 events have been set up on Meetup.com, and blog posts and photographs from all over the country are popping up on the WeArethe99Percent blog on Tumblr
Listen, this wont be about wall street in the near future. It is going to rise above that if apathetic politicians ignore the fact that they need to provide solutions – not long-winded stories of how things will be a year from now. These people are sitting in the center of the world with phones, computers, iPads and they are writing history as it unfolds.