Why Occupy Wall Street?

Why are protesters occupying Wall Street? That's hard to answer, because it's a proudly leaderless movement, and process - real democracy in the form of General Assembly - comes before results. It's also hard to answer because the corporate media is mainly interested in "reporting" actions they can smear as violent or crazy.

So what's driving the participants to come - and stay? Kevin Gosztola is liveblogging for FireDogLake. He writes:

Occupy Wall Street... characterizes itself as the 99 percent who will no longer tolerate greed and corruption from the 1 percent

Allison Kilkenny interviewed protesters for The Nation:

I'm reminded of Matthew Prowless, a 40-year-old father of two, who attended the Occupy Wall Street protest, and who is as unassuming of a man as I've ever seen – not someone who would have caught Bellafante's gaze. He wore a baseball cap and stood with his friend by a group of black bloc protesters, who Matthew was eyeing curiously like they were exotic fish in an aquarium.

When I spoke with him, Matthew called the louder aspects of the protest (the black bloc, the "protest yoga," etc.) distractions from the far more serious cause.

"My home has been seized, I'm unemployed, there's no job prospects on the horizon. I have two children and I don't see a future for them. This is the only way I see to effect change. This isn't a progressive issue. This is an American issue. We're here to take our country back from the corporations," he said, adding he fears for the future of the United States where corporations can now spend unlimited, anonymous dollars to elect the candidates of their choices. After the protest ended for the day, Matthew couldn't occupy the park because he had to go care for his two children.

Here's a great video by IvaAsks: