Forum Post: Movement or Organization?
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 5, 2012, 2:21 a.m. EST by Courtney
(111)
from New York, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
This is a semantic issue I've been thinking about--do people consider Occupy Wall Street a movement or an organization?
I feel like "movement" implies that we have a stated goal and that when that goal is accomplished and the issues are raised, we will be done. "movement" implies social change, and "organization" is more operational purpose. Organization is more broad.
the way I see it, OWS is a organization that is comprised of several movements(the movement to get money out of politics, the movement to keep people in their homes, the movement to hold wall street accountable for their crimes) ........it might be helpful to break it down into two separate categories, goals and strategies we can pursue with out government and goals and strategies we can pursue that must involve government. Moving our money to credit unions and boycotting the worst corporate offenders are some things we can do with out the government. Ending corporate welfare, breaking up the big banks, ending the wars, these things obviously need to be done through government...OWS must become more political, support certain candidates, issue legislative demands, but at the same time we must nor forget about all the things we can accomplish on our own, both approaches are equally important
good call. I agree.
OWS is now a movement since it lacks a cohesive structure and has an inability to quickly make and implement decisions. It may well become an organization with better structure such as typically found in a worker cooperative. It may even become a NEW PARTY: http://thedragonsteeth.wetpaint.com/page/THE+NEW+PARTY Jim Miller
Movement can simply be people working toward shared ideas. There is no limit on how many ideas or even if those ideals are shared by the entire group. Organization would be more appropriate if the body of people had a particular purpose. OWS is hard to classify because they have for the most part refrained from identifying a specific goal. I don't think it matters much, but whichever word you feel is less specific would probably be the correct one for OWS. To me that's movement.
Tough one. Organization tends to imply interdependency, parts coming together to work as a whole. Where movement implies change in tendency or trend. My feeling is that if the people involved in the movement ever became organized, they would develop goals and achieve them. So, for now, more of a movement than an organization.
First off there is no goals to this movement, the only goal is to occupy, whatever people or groups within the community think or join is there business. Any website or person that sets certain general goals in the over head of the movement is lying.
I'm not sure I agree with that. At least in the case of the New York General Assembly, there are some slogans and statements, "we are the 99%" , the "Declaration," etc., that express why we are here. What I'm saying is that I don't think that once these issues are resolved --i.e., once corporations stop poisoning the water and bribing politicians, we will be done with our work and will be able to just kick back.
For example, there has been a general ethic of distributing food and trying to provide shelter and clothing to people who need it for free. That isn't a stated goal, but it is something that we do that expresses a certain attitude and a certain set of priorities.
I understand what your saying. the occupation was made to bring notice about wall street and the government bailouts of the banks, how the 99% of the community had to pay for the bailouts to the Banks and their investors.
People were outraged yes.
These days OWS is a beacon for political idea's and groups to join and communicate with other 99%ers to talk about their idea's and political manners.
The homeless and poor came into the picture because OWS is a beacon for shelter and a safe place to stay without being ticketed from the city. Many in the homeless community are raising up, helping each other out along with other groups and giving their voice for the first time about the real poverty that exist in America.
isn't it crazy, that in a city this wealthy, you have to go to a protest to get food and shelter.