Countries like Egypt used social media to get the word out about protests and demonstration they drew huge crowds and were able to take back their countries… well the US now has a group that is growing in numbers and they are telling Wall Street and corporate America that we are sick of their greed and we aren’t going to stand idly by anymore and take it. The group is called We Are The 99% and the movement is Occupy Wall Street. Considering that corporations are the people who own our politicians, it is a great beginning to what could be our chance to take back our country.
What is the 99%? It is all of us who are not the top 1% in our country. According to the website “We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent."
Who is the 1%? “They are the 1 percent. They are the banks, the mortgage industry, the insurance industry. They are the important ones. They need help and get bailed out and are praised as job creators. We need help and get nothing and are called entitled. We live in a society made for them, not for us. It’s their world, not ours. If we’re lucky, they’ll let us work in it so long as we don’t question the extent of their charity.”
The Occupy Wall Street group is has been demonstrating since September 17 and it started with just 1000 people. The aim of the demonstration is to hold a sustained occupation or protest on Wall Street, and the financial district in New York. They are trying to draw attention to Wall Street’s apparent misdeeds and call for structural economic reforms.
Why haven’t most people heard about this yet? Maybe because mainstream news was waiting to see if the American people could actually pull this off. Well, protests have grown from just in New York to Los Angles, Chicago, Maine and other places. They are out there because as one protester put it, "because we can't pay for big expensive lobbyists to work for what we want." It seems that a real movement has started, and it is time we all stand up and take notice.
You can find out more about the Occupy Wall Street group here or on the website We Are The 99%.