By Lindsay Renner, Copy Editor
The opening line of the declaration reads as follows, and in some ways, says it all: “As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.”
Over the course of the last month, the country and ultimately the world have been swept by the winds of change at the hands of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Beginning on September 17, a group of protesters banded together to sit in on the financial district of New York City, one of the most widely influential economic hubs the entire world over. At the time of writing this article, the protests have lasted nearly 40 days, and their effects have long since reached beyond the boundaries of Wall Street, with cities all across the world witnessing Occupy events of their own, from Atlanta to Tehran.
In some areas of the world, these protests, despite beginning peacefully enough in nature, soon denigrated into full-scale riots. In Rome on October 15, the day that the protests first went international, tear gas and water cannons were fired on those gathered to protest in the ancient city, where reportedly over 100,000 people met to join in solidarity with those on Wall Street.
These protests have been characterized in part by General Assembly meetings, where the occupants meet to reach a consensus of what goals the group hopes to achieve in time. The protesters, who refer to themselves as the 99 Percent, seek to overturn the corporate corruption and greed that they feel has been the catalyst for the widespread economic problems that have sent the world reeling over the last several years. While the success of these operations cannot yet be determined, it appears to remain certain that the 99 Percent will hold steadfast to their cause as they await change.
