As Occupy Wall Street Grows, Scope of Grievances is Great

Lots of news outlets, from Fox News to The New York Times, have blasted the protesters at Occupy Wall Street for being disorganized, and for not knowing enough about the financial industry or corporate America to persuasively critique them. To some, the movement’s failure to capitalize on Bank of America’s debit fee might count as evidence that such a leaderless, amorphous group is unprepared to make a legitimate case for reform.

“The group’s lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to pantomime progressivism rather than practice it knowledgably is unsettling in the face of the challenges so many of its generation face,” Ginia Bellafonte, a city columnist for The New York Times, wrote last week.

As Occupy Wall Street Grows, Scope of Grievances is Great

David Intrator says he would welcome the Tea Party at Occupy Wall Street: "I think they're concerned about the same things we are."

Of course, the protesters of Occupy Wall Street don’t see it that way. What may look to outsiders to be unregulated anarchy is actually a form of participatory democracy, volunteers at Zuccotti Park said Tuesday. A member of the movement published a proposed list of wide-ranging demands this week. But contrary to reports by Fox News and others that the list represents the unified voice of the protesters, a statement on Occupy Wall Street’s website makes clear that the list is not definitive because it was never “proposed or agreed to on a consensus basis.”

“It’s a completely incoherent laundry list,” says Levine.

Instead of a small committee of people making decisions that could alienate and drive away many in the crowd, some protesters say that despite the laundry list, they ultimately want to welcome as many people as possible into the collective who share the belief that corporations and the wealthiest 1% of Americans hold too much economic and political power. For many, that is the unifying principle.

“It’s a big tent, and that’s on purpose,” says David Intrator, 55, who owns a documentary film company and was walking around the park holding a small sign that read “Harvard Men for Economic Justice.” Intrator, whose film work has included projects by major corporations and banks, graduated Harvard class of ’78.

“I would even welcome the Tea Party to come here,” Intrator says. “Even though I think they’re wrong about the possible solutions, I think they’re concerned about the same things we are, that this country is off course.”

Besides, the week’s biggest financial news story did not entirely pass the protesters by. Josh Benash, a 29-year-old music teacher in White Plains, NY who was at the protest, told us he closed his Bank of America checking account last Friday because of the new debit fee. His cash is sitting in a fireproof safe until he opens a new account at a smaller bank or credit union.

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“I’m not going to pay to use my own money. That’s absurd,” says Benash.

Josh Benash says he took his money out of Bank of America in response to the new debit card fee

But even though Bank of America’s decision angered him, Benash doubts whether the announcement will gain much traction among his fellow protesters.

“The scope of the grievances is so great,” says Benash, who was wearing a “Ban Fracking Now” sticker on the lapel of his coat as he passed out fliers for a labor march.

The process airing grievances in a decentralized environment is messy, and in this case, it has arguably left the movement slow-footed when it comes to capitalizing on big financial news. That said, many of the protesters with whom we spoke seem content with the tradeoff.

“People are confused about what is the intention of this movement,” says Giovanni Almonte, 33, a life coach in Weehawken, NJ who was volunteering at the protest. “But there is also this underlying tension that people want to see a change for the better. They just don’t know what that means yet.”

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All images by Jamie Pietras