OCCUPY Wall Street is the name of the protest movement that began on September 17 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York’s Walls Street financial district.
The main issues raised by OWS were social and economic equality, greed corruption and the undue influence of corporations on the American government.
The OWS slogan, “we are the 99 percent” referred to income inequality and wealth distribution in the US between the wealthiest one percent and the rest of the population.
The protesters were forced out of Zuccotti Park on November 15 2011.
Shortly after midnight on November 15 2011, the New York City Police in riot gear began removing protesters from the park, arresting some 200 people in the process, including a number of journalists.
A court has ordered City of New York to pay US$360 000 for their actions during the November 15 2011 raid.
After several unsuccessful attempts to re-occupy the original location, protesters turned their focus to occupy banks, corporate headquarters, board meetings, college and university campuses.
It has now been revealed that an internal Department of Homeland Security report warned that OWS protests were a potential source of violence.
The report also stated that, “mass gatherings associated with public protest movements can be disruptive effects on transportation, commercial and government services, especially when staged in major metropolitan areas”.
On December 29 2012, Naomi Wolf of The Guardian newspaper provided US government documents which revealed that the FBI and the DHS monitored OWS through its Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The documents also reveal that the crackdown on protesters was coordinated with big banks on Wall Street.
The FBI used counter terrorism agents to investigate the movement.
Coming to Hong Kong, pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong on September 22 2014, began protesting outside Government offices and occupied several major city intersections to protests against the Standing Committee of the national people’s Congress’ decision on the proposed electoral reform for the upcoming 2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election.
On the evening of September 26 2014, demonstrators breached a security barrier and entered the front plaza of the Central Government Complex, which has been barred from public entry since July 2014.
The police removed the protesters the following day, and the Occupy Central movement announced that they would begin their civil disobedience campaign immediately.
You would think from all the news coverage we are being bombarded with about the on-going protests in Hong Kong, the American media is all for democracy, free speech and the people’s right to protest.
In typical hypocrisy the American media is jubilant that Hong Kong’s young generation is ‘sticking it’ to the Chinese government.
This is the same media which called Americans who took to the streets during the Occupy Wall Street all kinds of evil names, characterising them as malcontents who were swimming against the current.
The New York Times even had a headline which read, ‘Hong Kong Protests are leaderless but orderly’ claiming that the crowds in Hong Kong’s streets are maintaining, “fastidious attention to hygiene and good manners as they rally for democracy”.
This is in contrast to OWS crowds whom it alleged were destroying property, had bad hygiene and littering the nation’s cities.
The White House, not wanting to miss such an opportunity to criticise the Chinese, called on Hong Kong authorities to show restraint.
White House spokesperson, Josh Earnest, said that, “The United States supports universal suffrage in Hong Kong in accordance with the Basic Law and we support the aspirations of the Hong Kong people.”
On Monday, the British government called for the right to protest to be protected and for the Hong Kong protesters to exercise their right within the law.
According to the American media, the Hong Kong police has antagonised and frustrated general public feelings through its alleged use of violence to disperse demonstrators.
While several nationalists’ papers have described the protestors as “radical activists and extremist”, the global media has been claiming that the protesters are disciplined and organised.
The Independent said the Occupy Central “could be the most polite demonstration ever”.
The BBC news said that, “many agree that the world hasn’t seen organised and tidy protests quite like this before”.
For those who followed the OWS protests, this is a real sharp contrast to how the ‘global’ media depicted the protesters.
The media and police were in agreement that the protesters were unruly and destroying property.
In light of revelations that the FBI, DHS and other security agencies were not only monitoring the OWS leaders, but went after them in a bid to scuttle them and label them as radicals who were a danger to the country one wonders why the same has not been said about the Occupy Central movement.
In fact, the media went out of its way to diminish the figures of the OWS, describing them as not reflective of the average American’s sentiment.
It is apparent that protest movements are ‘acceptable’ only so far as they are not disturbing the status quo in America and are aimed at America’s opponents. The solidarity with the Hong Kong protestors by the White House and the British Government are an indication that there could be more to these protests than meets the eye.