With the “Occupy Wall Street” protest entering its third week — and new protest sprouting up in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Portland, and Seattle — Fox News writes that the movement lacks “a defined cause.” In fact, the movement is calling attention to the excesses of Wall Street, the unfairness of our political system that rewards the wealthy, and the growing disillusionment with the financial sector. ThinkProgress visited Zuccotti Park — which protesters call “Liberty Park” — to find out who is in attendance and what brought them out to join the protests in New York’s Financial District.
Name: Jonel
Home: New York
Reason for attending: “It seems like an overall progressive space. I think most of the issues voiced deal with some issue of humanity, or humanism. Anyone, any group, that fights for humanism, I think we should support.”
Name: Sam Husseini
Home: Washington, DC
Reason for attending: “There are these two parallel movements, antiwar and the anti-financial-corporate domination. And they really have a great deal in common. And unfortunately, for years if not decades, they’ve run somewhat in parallel but they need to not run in parallel. [...] Clearly that’s finally being figured out. Lots of things are being figured out.”
Name: Tom Smucker
Home: New York
Reason for attending: “We just came down to handout flyers since at Verizon, union employees in the northeast are bargaining a new contract with Verizon. So we’re here to support these people and hoping these people will support us. [...] The issue of there being a fair economy is obviously very important to union members right now. And we all feel that there is now pressure on union members and working people in general to accept less when it’s clear that there’s another set of people who aren’t accepting less.”
Name: Ulla Jorgensen
Home: Denmark (but has “lived in the U.S. for many years”)
Reason for attending: “I’m mad. [...] There’s a war. And there’s a big difference between the rich and the poor. And there’s a lot of hunger.”
Name: Tony
Home: New York
Reason for attending: “I’m here to make sure the next generation is secure, their education is guaranteed, and after their education, they’re guaranteed a job. Because today people go to college and they spend all this money and they have absolutely no opportunity. A degree matters to nobody these days. What are people trying so hard for if they aren’t provided with any opportunity?”
Name: Michael
Home: North Dakota
Reason for attending:: “It seems like there has to be a redistribution of wealth because if a very small number of people are holding on to a great deal of money and we’re cutting public education, public works, that’s just kind of asinine.”
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