ABSTRACT
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a movement waiting to happen, yet to most people’s surprise, it sprang up almost spontaneously in the heart of the world capitalist empire, the country with the most entrenched and politicized corporate and financial power, the largest military budget and presence around the world, the most effective corporate media propaganda machine, and a political culture that is deeply antagonistic to collective action and solidaristic public policies. Yet it is not so surprising that it happened in the United States. Since the early 1970s corporate power – especially financial power – had been growing exponentially, resulting in the ripping apart of the regulations that had kept it in check since the Great Depression. The result has been the growth of enormous inequality and deepening poverty, high unemployment, the purchase of democracy by the highest bidders, and a ravaging of the environment. It is precisely these conditions that gave rise to OWS.
