Events are planned in New York City today to mark the two-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. On September 17, 2011, thousands of people marched on the financial district, then formed an encampment in Zuccotti Park, launching a movement that shifted the conversation on economic inequality. At an event Sunday, organizer Justin Wedes reflected on the lasting impact of Occupy Wall Street.
Justin Wedes: “I think it’s exciting, what we’ve seen, in terms of Occupy’s effect both inside and outside of the political system. We talk a lot about the street protests, we talk a lot about the police, and those are important issues, but we’ve also seen the effect of Occupy as high as Congress. We have Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called herself in many ways the ideological ‘Mother of Occupy’ in the most important and influential committee in the Senate, the Senate Banking Committee. You have mayors all across the country who marched with Occupy, who are now standing up for underwater homeowners, like in Richmond, California. You have the foremost frontrunner for the mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, the only mayor who said he would not have shut down Occupy. So, I think we are seeing a new kind of social movement today that’s having an effect within the political system without necessarily entering into it by traditional means.”
