Occupy Archive Digital Exhibits: Spring 2020 CWRUMain MenuOccupy Archive Digital ExhibitGrievances of the 99%At its roots, the Occupy Wall Street Movement was an anti-capitalist, anti-corporation movement composed of people angered by the selfish and greedy financial practices of the country’s upper class. Proponents of Occupy thought the American Dream was no longer possible and protested the stifling lack of opportunity available to non-privileged citizens. As a result of the Great Recession beginning in 2008, the 99%, the people paying the price for the actions of the country's elites, advocated for regulation and oversight of this corrupt 1%. The Occupy Movement rooted their activism in an understanding that an economic system exclusively benefiting the top 1% at the expense of everyone else is unsustainable and antithetical to the idea of democracy."Spillover"Our group's central theme is 'spillover', describing the ways that the actions described through our images reflect events and initiatives occurred as a consequence of the Occupy movement and its mentality.Policing as a Response to Occupy (and Social Movements in General)By: Darnelle Crenshaw, Michele Lew, Kyle Jones, and Virginia SquiresCreditsHeather McKee Hurwitz5475560673ea0735a10b6e6d3d625f3b9ffa12d7Julia Barnett99ba46e1a90a7c1df20f21922190310f6f3efdd5Olivia Condonc9140ebeac749df292dcdb314b72f0421fd3b153Darnelle Crenshaw El698b5260fd87a6ad0bc33689d5f2d8d45ba709d8Maria Fallavollita80c688f6c729eba0508714a2d4be84dad57ff6fdMichael Grantc56a32fdaf3bdefdbea0262874aacdc2bc18f0e2Avi Horwitz86de03d4466bf83c7ef82d3fdfb9344a5a531f67Kyle Jones061ae84fb0af3ee4257d662c0654a6ffc248e2d5Roshana Krishnappae0efb0ba054c32db4767f895dc7d5696b3ce193bGloria Lee6a607995fcf70c624683f646ed74c7eed6383c13Michele Lew4e5de8e7b6de054339aed342bf927a814a7d2a19Will Schwartzman11715609fe7faf2d6f0a77333d2d3b45da0d31e1Virginia Squires3251adeef9fda64a96c1b0502ba068a372db97beTianyi Zhangdf4f70f56ee96771ef9e03bd733312d96d3463edClaire McDermott Keannac220f01cd16fa51a4e7fb66bbb768248db30c4c2
12020-02-26T19:30:15+00:00Summer Disobedience School by Claire McDermott Keanna25plain2020-03-04T19:39:44+00:00The Summer Disobedience School was a series of teach-ins and group discussions occurring in the summer of 2012 within the context of the greater Occupy movement. As can be seen in the group’s definition of ‘civil disobedience’, the objective of the meetings was to create a space for gathering as well as an environment conducive to individuals with varied interests within the greater Occupy movement coming together and sharing tactics.
The set-up of the meetings is conducive to a wide variety of people being able to attend, creating a diverse group with which to create action. As is described in Dr. Hurwitz’s work “Gender and Race in the Occupy Movement: Relational Leadership and Discriminatory Resistance”(2019), the occupy movement lended itself to a type of discriminatory activism through hostility created by movement directors. However, by the Summer Disobedience School occurring in a spatially-diverse series of parks on weekends (accommodating to those that hold weekday jobs) free of charge, individuals from all walks of life were able to participate, lending a wider variety of perspectives and tactics to action.
Furthermore, the individuals behind Summer Disobedience School created a Facebook page for the initiative (which is still active and can be found here). The page contains details on events, photos from gatherings, and posted articles from the organizers as recently as 2016. This type of digital centralization allowed individuals unable to make the meetings the ability to see what was going on as well as be connected to articles and issues after the meeting series had ended. Considering the newness of Facebook at the time of the beginnings of the Occupy movement in 2012, the group creating a page was a smart utilization of a relatively novel way of organizing and shows their willingness to expand their activism beyond traditional gatherings.
