PROTEST/ A Walk Down Wall Street: Notes from the Epicenter of the American Occupations

Yesterday, curiosity drove me once more to Wall Street. It's been the site of protests now for more than two months. But in spite of my visits there, it has been hard to put pen to paper about it. The more I tried to put my finger on the meaning of the protests, the more my reactions came up mixed: on the one hand, it’s refreshing to finally see people choose action over apathy; but on the other hand, it’s discouraging that the protesters have still not managed to clearly say what they're all about.

If Occupy Wall Street had taken place in Europe, I wouldn't even have been interested. There every autumn brings out protests against something or other. But here occupations make headlines because they're rare; protests almost never happen. This is one of the few times in recent decades that people are demonstrating about something that has nothing whatever to do with unjust wars or abortions (the only two themes that have seemed capable of driving the American masses to the streets recently).

In fact, in this case, there doesn't seem to be much of a theme at all. There are no political pretensions, no messages.

So I went back yet another time to Zucotti Park to have a conversation or two, and maybe get some answers. On my way, I ran into a couple of policemen, and asked one of them about how many people were protesting. He told me he couldn't speak to me, but the other, lowering his gaze, told me there were no more than two hundred (the park is very small - 10,000 meters square, according to Google).

And who are these two hundred people? As I entered the park, this was the scene: the middle of the open area was dotted with small groups of young squatters, mostly dressed in black with their hair dyed in bright colors. For the most part, though, the crowd seems to be made up of young whites who give the distinct impression of that upper middle class set who are raised with computers and the conviction that they will find a high paying job out of college.

The camp is well organized. The occupants are divided into zones featuring tents, stalls for distributing food, an area for restrooms, bins where used books and clothes are exchanged, and a reception area for the press where spokespeople are ready to answer questions. Computers and cell phones are available all over the place, to keep the protesters well connected with the world outside.

I looked around for some kind of flier or pamphlet. Nothing. There's no list of complaints, no proclamation of purpose. At the press table I asked a spokesperson why, and he proudly replied, "We don-t need them."

The protest has a website, however, where one can find manifestos that lack manifesto, like this one, the first posted on the site. The manifesto is entitled "A modest call to action." What revolution in history has ever begun with a mushier title: A modest call to action? Everything about it is done unobtrusively, as if to say "we don't want revolution, we don't want a new ideology, it's just that the world isn't working out."