"Maybe Occupy Wall Street Wasn't Such A Failure After All" [View all]

Maybe Occupy Wall Street Wasn't Such A Failure After All

by Aaron Taube at Business Insider


http://www.businessinsider.com/reconsidering-the-failure-of-occupy-wall-street-2013-9

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But today is time to reconsider this assessment. While it's true that the loose collection of left-wing protestors has not coalesced behind individual candidates in the manner of OWS' right-wing counterpart, the Tea Party, the movement's success in creating heightened awareness of income inequality and stoking populist anger toward Wall Street is beginning to pay dividends.

In no place has this success been more apparent than the race to succeed Wall Street champion Mike Bloomberg as mayor of New York City. After a Democratic primary campaign that served in large part as a referendum on Bloomberg's three terms as the city's chief executive, the nomination ultimately went to NYC public advocate Bill de Blasio, whose "Tale of Two Cities" campaign focused extensively on New York's widening gap between the rich and poor.

In banging the drum for higher taxes on the wealthy, de Blasio latched on to an anger that may have been simmering, but had yet to catch fire before Occupy Wall Street launched its attacks on the so-called "one percent" two years ago and brought income inequality to the forefront of the national debate.

At a rally leading up to last week's Democratic primary elections, de Blasio supporters chanted "we are the 99 percent!" in a declaration of class solidarity that had not yet expressed itself until OWS gave people a vernacular with which to describe their frustrations and a target at which to direct them.



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