Last Saturday, prior to the thousands-strong march of Wall Street protestors attempting to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, which ended in some 700 arrests, the first edition of The Occupied Wall Street Journal hit New York City’s streets. Within three days, all 50,000 copies had been snapped up and distributed by volunteers throughout the five boroughs, leading to another print run Tuesday ahead of the paper’s second edition, which comes out Friday.
The Journal, a 4-page weekly broadsheet funded entirely through online contributions at Kickstarter.com, is the latest manifestation of a social media-driven movement that is growing in real body numbers and gaining national momentum at alarming speed.
Since the occupation began in Liberty Square in lower Manhattan on Sept. 17, dozens of cities across the U.S. have gotten into the act, setting up occupied encampments in places as diverse as Denver, Omaha, Kansas City, Boston and Birmingham; Philadelphia, Austin, San Diego, Tampa and Salt Lake City.
Initially portrayed in the media as a rag-tag band of young underemployed activists protesting without any specific demands, Occupy Wall Street has touched a national nerve because it embodies something far more potent, and obvious: a voice for the 99 percent of Americans whose interests are not being served by the corporate elites that govern Wall Street and Washington.
For the complete story at New America Media, go here.
Michael Levitin, managing editor of The Occupied Wall Street Journal, is a former SF Public Press editor and reporter.
