Personal Reflection

I think that the Occupy Wall Street movement was not going well at its first
anniversary. Due to different aspects of different groups of protesters, they did things
differently to celebrate the anniversary. Many were arrested on disorderly conduct charges
and some celebrated the anniversary peacefully. Although they have the same purpose, which
is to get equality to the majority of the Americans, they were not being clear about their
movements.

Comparing to the Otpor movement in 1998, the protesters had a clear goal and they
had the same idea and aspect of the movement. However, for the Occupy Wall Street
movement, some people broke the law, some protested peacefully, and some were arrested.
These differences led to the misunderstanding of what the protesters of the movement wanted
to be done and the way they did things to achieve their goal. This made me feel disappointed
with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The news stated that a large number of protesters camped out across a tourist
attraction. Some people would think that it is a good idea to acknowledge the tourists about
social inequality in the United States as well as attack the government by decreasing the
number of tourists. Nevertheless, I think that the key to success in this movement was the
connections of small groups with the same idea and goal. Instead of acknowledging the
travelers and attract huge crowds to expand the movement which can lead to more
disagreement among the protesters, the existing groups of protesters should come to an
understanding to adjust their ideas, aspects, and purpose that they can demand from the
government.

On the anniversary, more than 200 people were protesting outside banks and financial
district. In my opinion, this is more effective than protesting at the tourist attraction. This is
because corruption, greed, and the influence of corporations on the government from banks
and the financial services sector were what led to the unfairness in society in the first place.
Therefore the voices of the protesters can be heard by the ones who were capable of changing
the situation. Nevertheless, issues occurred when the protesters blocked the roads and parked
their cars on the streets during the protest. Citizens who were not involved in the movement
had a hard time living and traveling during the time. It is possible that the situation could
create hate towards the protesters.

A positive public opinion is an important factor in almost every movement. A group

of protesters in Sanfrancisco celebrated the first anniversary of the movement peacefully.
They held demonstrations without breaking any law. Therefore, none of the protesters were
arrested. I agree with the method of this protesters’ group because they did not cause any
problems to the environment and to the citizens who lived around the place. Therefore, the
protesters were not hated by the citizens. In addition, they could even gain more support from
these people.

Almost 200 protesters were arrested on the anniversary and many of them were
willing to. If the number of arrests is high, it is more likely that the issue that happened there
will be reported on the news. It is a way of acknowledging the people of America to rise up
and support the movement. However, I disagree with the method of these groups of
protesters. Technically, police have the authority to arrest people only when they break the
law. This means that more than 180 protesters broke the law on the day. Therefore, the event
also expressed that these people were nothing but thugs.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/almost-200-arrests-in-nyc-as-occupy-wall-street-marks-first-

anniversary/