On the ten year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, that week’s issue of The Nation reflects on the movement’s signature contributions and lasting influence. The Nation was an early watcher of OWS—devoting not one but two special issues to the movement and its moment. They published Naomi Klein’s speech declaring “this beautiful movement [the] most important thing in the world” and Richard Kim’s profile of the protesters in all of their “audacity”; Astra Taylor on media messaging and Nathan Schneider on the debates that threatened to break apart Occupy. As an organization that believes there are always alternatives—in history, in politics—we celebrate the spirit, energy, and legacy of Occupy.
Occupy Wall Street unexpectedly inaugurated a new wave of protest. The domestic manifestation of a worldwide explosion of digitally networked social movements, it scaled up rapidly, attracting enormous public and media attention. But the protesters were evicted from New York City’s Zuccotti Park and other occupied spaces after only a few months, and Occupy dissipated soon afterward. Some commentators have dismissed it as a meteoric flash in the pan, while others have criticized its “horizontalist” structure and lack of concrete demands.
The past decade has witnessed some of the largest protests in US history, as well as the unprecedented impact of Sanders’s presidential campaigns and the growth in the number of young people (and some growth among older ones as well) who openly support socialism. Would all of this have happened without Occupy Wall Street? We reconnected with original Occupy organizers to explore their political activities since 2011 and to hear their reflections on OWS’s legacy a decade later.
About the Writers
Ruth Milkman teaches at the CUNY Graduate Center and the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and is the author, most recently, of Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat. Stephanie Luce is a professor of labor studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. Her books include Labor Movements: Global Perspectives and Fighting for a Living Wage. Penny Lewis is a professor of labor studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and a co-author of the forthcoming A People’s Guide to New York City (University of California Press, 2022).
Milkman, Luce, and Lewis are conducting an ongoing research project on the long-term impact of Occupy Wall Street, following up on their 2013 study Changing the Subject.
About The Nation
Founded by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has chronicled the breadth and depth of political and cultural life from the debut of the telegraph to the rise of Twitter, serving as a critical, independent, and progressive voice in American journalism.
