Walking Wall Street

On the streets of Oakland, California, a handful of rubber bullets, 10/26/11. (photo: dinab/flickr)

By Stephen Eric Bronner, Reader Supported News

11 November 11

Reader Supported News | Perspective

Certain times require a spark: not merely to ignite action but to foster some sense of historical understanding. This is one of those moments and Occupy Wall Street struck the match. Frustrated over the seemingly intractable character of the financial crisis that began in 2007, and the inability of established political organizations to do anything about it, American activists and anarchists of a new stripe took up a suggestion from the Canadian magazine Adbusters to occupy the center of New York's financial district and the heart of global capitalism. These activists were not part of some half-crazed mob of fanatics as suggested by Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor, Bill O'Reilly and other luminaries of the Tea Party and Fox News. Occupy Wall Street was inspired by the Arab Spring, but even more by the street protests in Greece, Italy, and other nations teetering on the brink of financial insolvency. READ MORE