Chicago - Protesters in downtown Chicago, often criticized for being haphazard and unfocused, have taken steps to make their mission clearer.
Members of Occupy Chicago, one of many spinoffs of the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, listed 12 demands to help resolve the nation's economic crisis and bring relief to the "99 percent" of Americans who are not among the wealthy elite.
The protesters so far have little direct political influence, but some say the demonstrations could help change public discourse about the current economic crisis, just as the tea party movement gained influence.
"This is an opportunity for the progressive forces in the United States and the president to tap into that same anger that the right wing has been tapping into," said Michael Mezey, political science professor at DePaul University. "Maybe it can change the conversation away from the notion of ending government spending and toward the question of how can we actually move toward a situation of shared sacrifice."
Much like its New York counterpart, Occupy Chicago proclaims to be leaderless, nonpartisan and reliant on group consensus. The demands were developed in twice-daily general assemblies; some were adopted from the Wall Street version, while others were local additions.
2 comments:
Usually you have a gripe and then you protest.
This is all about bringing down capitalism and up with socialism. There are underlying issues here such as the fact that the owner of the property these people are protesting from is owned by Brookfield and Bloomberg's daughter is a key player in that property. That's just a minor detail. Are you aware that people such as the American Communist Party and North Korea, just to name a few, are praising these protests? This is much bigger than you think!!! Oh, did I mention our president is in favor of this? Do the words, "We will fundamentally change America!!!" sound familiar?
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