The ongoing Occupy demonstrations have me hopeful. Maybe this is the start of something many of us had hoped for, but thought unlikely if not impossible.
I have not yet joined my own community’s Occupy movement to find out first-hand what motivates individual protesters, and what objectives they have in mind. Instinct and observation tell me the motivations and goals are varied, and that a unifying statement is hard to put into words. Maybe the phrase “we are the 99 percent” is the best way to say it at this point.
Anger. Frustration. Determination. Hope. Optimism.
A movement like this isn’t born out of comfort and satisfaction, but it also can’t be sustained without hope that it can make a difference.
So much has been said and written about the young movement already. I encourage you to read this piece in AlterNet, whose headline is also the title of this post. I don’t think anything or anyone speaks for a diverse group of protesters, but this article gives an excellent insight into the mindset of someone who feels both the frustration and hope that are necessary for the Occupy movement to achieve lasting success.
