After a volatile day of protests and nearly 300 arrests, Occupy Wall Street rang in its two-month anniversary with a show of force across lower Manhattan on Thursday. The “Day of Action” saw Occupy Wall Street organizers trying new tactics: a roving protest model; continuous, decentralized direct action; and disruptions to New York City that reach beyond the boundaries of downtown’s financial district.
...The leading occupiers are spinning the eviction (from Zoccotti Park) as creative destruction, a way to refresh and revitalize a movement that had grown stale and claustrophobic. Amid reports that the recent spate of police raids were nationally coordinated and federally planned, organizers hope to boost coordination themselves — from Oakland to Albuquerque. The new message: Leave the parks and take to the streets; occupy offices, bridges, subways, and Ivy League schools.
....But even as the protesters talk about roving further afield, Thursday's protests were still concentrated downtown: Zuccotti Park, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Given the eviction, this is harder to justify. Not many of the traders and bank CEOs that inspire so much ire among the protesters actually work on Wall Street these days. The New York Stock Exchange, site of Thursday morning's opening protests, does virtually all of its trading electronically; the few remaining blue-jacketed traders are mostly visual props for CNBC. The major banks are all headquartered in midtown, Manhattan’s real business district. The hedge funds are in Greenwich. The new tactics may never hit pay dirt if they remain clustered around Occupy's former stronghold in Zuccotti. In other words, Occupy Wall Street may need to forget about Wall Street.
Don't stop now. Learn more at http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/can-occupy-ditch-wall-street-for-new-tactics-fresh-territory.html
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