The Best Pictures From Occupy Wall Street

The protest in photos.

By now I'm sure that you've heard about the ongoing Occupy Wall Street (or Occupy Wherever) protest. The protest is a peaceful occupation and the only thing that the people who are protesting have in common is that they all say that they are part of the 99 percent. Their slogan, "We are the 99%" refers to the huge difference in wealth in the United States between the top 1 percent and the rest of the country. The people are from different political parties, have wildly different political views, values and motivations, but they all have joined together to protest social and economic inequality, the lack of good jobs, corporate greed and the huge amount of power that rests in the hands of corporations.

Some of the protesters are young adults, teenagers and college students while others are professionals in their mid-thirties. Many people are there to protest the lack of jobs. They have been laid off or downsized and are having a very hard time finding new jobs. There are people protesting who have served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some are veterans of the Vietnam war and even World War II. They are old, young, red, white, brown, yellow, liberal, conservative, democrat and republican, but they still have come together to show their solidarity and demand change.

The Occupation of Wall Street has been ongoing since September 17, 2011 and is not showing signs of stopping, in spite of the pepper-spraying and mass arrests they have endured. As the protest continues, they are receiving more media attention, although not all of it positive. Many celebrities and even a few companies have come out to offer support and encouragement to the peaceful protesters. Every day, more people are coming out to join the group and to participate in the democratic process of peaceful assembly and debate.

Although news reports tend to either ignore the movement entirely or paint it in a negative light, an October 11th poll showed that 54 percent of Americans have a positive opinion of the protest. What's more, a whopping 67% of New Yorkers agreed with the protest and even if they didn't, 87% of the New York City voters supported their right to be there and protest.

It remains to be seen how long this occupation will last and how large it will grow. There is no way to know if this demonstration will cause any real changes, but it is certainly getting the attention of those in power and resonating with people across the country who are angry about the economy, jobs, corporate greed and power and the ongoing wars. As of October 15th, there have been similar demonstrations and occupations in 70 cities and 600 communities.

The protesters have no official list of demands, however there is an online discussion forum for citizens to submit, discus and vote for specific items at OccupyWallSt.org.

Whether or not you agree with all of their points, the protest is still worth paying attention to. Even if the occupation ends without achieving anything, this is still the largest ongoing protest that has happened in this country since the recession started. People are angry, they are losing their jobs, their homes and there's seemingly no hope in site. For those people, the protest is all that they can do to express how heart sick, disillusioned and angry they are.

Here is a look at some of the best pictures from Occupy Wall Street:







What do you think about these photos and the movement? Do you agree or disagree with what they are doing? Please share your thoughts in the comments.


By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManhattanJobsBlog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.