One could also argue Occupy was a colossal failure, since it not only failed to produce any lasting policy changes, it diverted a lot of energy and resources that might have gone into something designed to actually achieve something. But at least we no longer have to hear from whiny Occupiers that they alone are the agents of change in this country and that everyone else must stop and let them lead.

They were young people who refused to put their faith in the ideology of non-violent resistance despite it's very successful history of making real change by giving hope.

@3, the problem with modern liberalism is that it measures success by talking about things. Us liberals used to point at sweeping policy changes that brought the grip of corporate power to their knees as the measure of our success.

Now just by talking about the possibility of a higher minimum wage or making it a little easier to buy corporate controlled/run medical insurance people declare victory. So yeah, OWS could be seen as a failure

You also have to understand that Occupy was considered enough of a threat to the corporate state status quo that there was a paramilitary police assault laid upon it in multiple states (In NYC, funded in part by the 1%). Not surprised that people gave up on the movement or maybe took it further underground.

With some of the actions by fast food striking workers and the forclosure blockages, I have to agree with Wedes in that the impact of Occupy, rather than being a failure, is still a work in progress.

@3 and @5 - I agree. The question is not "was it worth it?" but "was it the right approach at the time?" An ineffective civil rights bill would have been "worth it" and "better than nothing" and "conversation-starting," but it would have been extremely shitty compared to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, which gave blacks almost immediate relief from the American reign of terror.

So that's a tough comparison, because it was basically an evil apartheid regime that LBJ brought to its knees, and you can't expect anything comparable when it comes to these issues. But you should expect something, something more than a discussion.

(Obamacare is a real accomplishment and shouldn't be dismissed, but OWS had jack shit to do with Obamacare.)

I read that 2010 was the low point for college graduate employment.

So, you can guess that the reason for Occupy was the inability of the system to absorb a lot of smart kids who proceeded to mau-mau the money changers until they got what they wanted. Marketing jobs. Now they can work their way into the 40%.

What they left behind were the poor working class comrades who took it all seriously. Fools! But thanks for loaning me those smokes while we bonded on the plaza for a few days. See you when...well never. But you'll be hearing my about IPO...shortly.

@7, Obamacare was an accomplishment for the medical insurance companies. Now they have several million more people that have to be covered by them. That's why the day the decision was handed down by the SCOTUS upholding the ACA insurance stock went skyrocketing in price. One word for Premara, Regence and the others KA-CHING!!!!

I guess that's what you get when your grassroots political party isn't funded by the Koch bros.

#6
"You also have to understand that Occupy was considered enough of a threat to the corporate state status quo"

No....no it wasn't. At all. By anyone except the people in the 'revolution'

And they were fooling themselves.

My experiences with Occupy caused me to have serious doubts about democracy, or at least that kind of structure of democracy. It was a reality check that a lot of people on the left really just want to go live in a seminar and not deal with the greater population, or you know, actual work beyond sloganeering and intellectual masturbation. The backstabbery was nuts level too both inside and outside Occupy.

I remember the night at SCCC when Dominic Holden had to talk people out of storming The Stranger offices. [Interesting side note: the person who initially suggested that about eight months later had their apartment raided by a SWAT team looking for "anarchist materials"]

Being a legal observer at the SEIU protest when they converged on the bridge with Occupy Seattle was something I will always remember. But, boy what a difference in demographics and strategy, and the size that organized labor can still put out impressed me considering organized labor's diminished status over the last thirty years.

Bottom line, the ball was dropped, the financial system is as dangerous as ever, and as Matt Taibi would suggest, we are at a worse risk now than we were prior to the crash.

But hey, maybe not all in vain considering that 80,000 vaguely related, and some would say contradictory, pet political causes received ample attention. So, the tree of death still exists, but we got plenty of people hacking away at the branches. Yay?

Many persons organized through Occupy to assist people harmed by the huge storm Sandy. They did tremendous work over months, at times and places meeting needs that government systems were missing altogether. This was a tangible accomplishment of a network of motivated people, which continues to be a resource for our society.

Occupy was a leaderless movement with vaguely defined, nebulous goals, and absolutely no plans for achieving anything. They seemed to think that camping in parks, and creepy chanting was somehow going to do something.

@17: Right. I couldn't cover everything, but Sandy relief was definitely an achievement, one that even the New York Times acknowledged.

@18: Wrong! Try again.

http://harpers.org/archive/2013/03/the-f…

So Ansel, how did you like that meth tent anyway?

they kept "Wall Street" and politics in the conversation together. that was tight

they picked a fight with the strongest opponents in the world and they lost. we've mostly been losing since 73. we will lose many more times. it's worth the tries

I can't attribute causation but the unions seem to be way more interested in the grassroots, lately. There's been union-motored agitation through statutory and electoral channels for improved wages, for instance