Who is behind ows

In March, the House passed the most pro-union bill in decades—the Protecting the Right to Organize Act—to strengthen labor protections, expand collective-bargaining rights, penalize employers who violate labor laws, and weaken right-to-work laws. By framing the populist economic message that thrust anti-corporate lawmakers such as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Ocasio-Cortez into the electoral spotlight, Occupy Wall Street arguably did more in six months to move American politics to the left than the Democratic Party was able to do in six decades.

Which raises the question: Could Sanders and his political revolution have been possible before Occupy shattered decades of silence about income inequality? Not likely. Although the transition never happened, Occupy achieved something perhaps even greater. Operating independently of the Sanders campaign, the group created a horizontal model for voter engagement by inviting volunteers across all regions and demographics to help the Sanders phenomenon spread in the distributed, decentralized format of a social movement.

We gave away the keys. Photos: Occupy Wall Street spreads worldwide. When I interviewed Evan Weber for my book about Occupy and its legacy, he agreed that the movement played an essential role in igniting a new progressive era—one that might finally be on the verge of achieving transformational social, economic, and electoral reforms. Occupy also reshaped the U. As people gravitated to Occupy encampments, teach-ins, and demonstrations across the country, that energy easily transferred into the fight against climate change.

Occupy prompted a grassroots anti-fracking movement that pushed cities, counties and states to enact bans on the controversial drilling process—from Athens, Ohio, to Mendocino County, California, and in states like New York and Maryland.

President Obama has responded to the growing pressure by mandating new carbon cuts for power plants, signing a first-ever emissions-slashing deal with China, and vetoing a Republican measure to push through Keystone although his decision in May granting permission for Shell to drill in the Arctic struck many as a disturbing reversal of his climate promises.

When it comes to money in politics, Occupy also drew mainstream attention to the corrosive influence of wealth on the political process. That helped spur a nationwide movement as 16 state legislatures and more than U. The message has resonated on both sides of the aisle, as presidential candidates from Clinton to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham call for a new era of campaign-finance reform to remove big money from electoral politics.

The student-debt crisis is another magnified arena where the Occupy protests shouted first and loudest—and in which serious policy shifts are now afoot. None of that happened. Occupy Wall Street, at least in its physical manifestation, came to an end in the early hours of November 15, , when police raided Zuccotti Park. In the days and weeks to come, some protesters would linger, and Occupiers would take their activities elsewhere.

But by and large, the movement was viewed as over — and as a failure. New York City fast-food workers walked off the job in protest for higher wages a year after the first Occupy protests. It was orchestrated by a number of community and civil rights groups, including New York Communities for Change, a community coalition and an early public backer of Occupy. Fight for 15 claims that it has won raises for 22 million people.

It is now a mainstream position for many Democrats. Occupy has also played a part in pushing forward the conversation around student debt. Millions of students had turned to the hope of higher education to lead to economic success, only to be left with thousands of dollars in debt and few well-paying job prospects. For-profit colleges seemed to be actively scamming students and the government. Former Occupiers also launched Strike Debt! The plan behind the Rolling Jubilee was simple — and smart: Organizers raised money to buy delinquent debt that financial institutions often sell for pennies on the dollar.

Instead of trying to collect that debt, they forgave it. Alumni from that went to the Debt Collective , a union for debtors that has helped students launch debt strikes, such as former students of the now-defunct for-profit institution Corinthian Colleges.

The attention the Debt Collective drew to the issue of student debt, including for those who took out loans to attend institutions that were fraudulent or broke the law, resulted in millions of dollars of loan forgiveness. It propelled regulations to protect student borrowers against misleading and predatory practices. Gazette, said of the movement.

The conversation around debt right now — and specifically student debt — is front and center. Sanders in campaigned on a message of free college, and the majority of the Democrats running in the presidential primary back the idea or something similar. Calls to break up the big banks and bring back Glass-Steagall, a Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking but was repealed in , have roots in Occupy as well.

She started holding teach-ins about the law and eventually became part of a group called Occupy the SEC. That group sent a more than page comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on the Volcker rule , a regulation included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that bars banks from conducting certain investment activities.

Some of the movements that grew out of Occupy Wall Street were more directly similar, like Occupy Homes, an effort to try to help Americans hit by foreclosures and evictions during and after the crisis, and Occupy Sandy, which helped communities affected by Hurricane Sandy after it hit the East Coast in the fall of Occupy was also a launching pad for several people who would go on to become influential figures on the left.

Berger is one of the founders of Momentum, a group that trains organizers of social movements. Berger is also one of the founders of If Not Now. Much of his work is focused on the importance of social movements speaking to broader audiences and avoiding just talking to themselves. They contend that the richest 1 percent of Americans have amassed vast fortunes while being taxed at a lower rate than most people. He urged the Obama administration to take bolder action, either by recapitalizing or nationalizing the banks and forcing them to lend at attractive rates.

His advice went unheeded. The Hungarian-American was an early supporter of the election campaign of Barack Obama, who will seek a second term as president in the November, , election. Aides to Soros say any connection is tenuous and that Soros has never heard of Adbusters. Soros himself declined comment.