ABSTRACT

Occupy Wall Street spawned the even larger Occupy movement, which held protests in numerous cities across the United States and in more than eighty countries. Occupy Wall Street, and the broader Occupy movement, deployed a range of tactics both on the ground and in social media. Occupy Wall Street officially began with the first occupation on September 17, 2011. The protests were intended to take place on Chase Manhattan Plaza in front of the headquarters of JP Morgan Chase, a block and a half from Wall Street but even closer to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Lacking a single demand, the message of Occupy Wall Street became the slogan "We are the 99%." This slogan is based on the idea that 1 percent, which is synonymous with wealthy men, often white, who sit on massive fortunes and corporate empires and have little connection to the everyday lives of the middle and working classes.