On the 17th of September people started to gather on Wall Street in New York City. They called themselves the Occupy Wall Street movement and, according to their website, were protesting against the greed of the wealthiest in the world. The stock exchange acted as a symbol. The protests grew and although the media did not seem interested at first, more cities in the United States started sympathising.
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The protesters in New York and later in other cities, came from all backgrounds, colours and believes. Normal people. People on who the financial crisis had a serious effect. They either lost their houses, their jobs or even their families and now came together to stand up as the 99% against the 1%.
In other cities the sympathisers chose the same name for their protests and soon Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy San Francisco, Occupy Aspen and many others were born. A serious movement emerged and it would soon go global.
The so-called 1% did not seem to care so much. Footage of protesters at Wall Street showed bankers on the balcony, sarcastically toasting their foaming champagne glasses, laughing and having a great time.
For many people in the Netherlands it was the first time to hear about Occupy when on the 15th of October the movement set sail for Europe. 1500 people came to Amsterdam that day and now, five days later, protesters are still camping in front of the Amsterdam stock exchange. At least 100 tents stand side to side on Het Beursplein and more people are coming.
But in Amsterdam the die-hard crew is certainly different from New York. These are not the people that lost their jobs, not the homeless because of the crisis or the once who lost their families for economical reasons. Here we see the usual suspects. Young people with long hair, even younger people with dreaded hair and baggy trousers and Southern Europeans who came rolling out of a squatter house in the city. Among these young people there are the lost ones. The protesters of the sixties. Middle aged men and woman with the effect of heavy smoking engraved in their skins, walking through the campsite with a recovered pride on their faces.
But although the crowd is different, they surely are as persistent. They are on a mission. But what mission?
A problem well known to all Occupy movements is that every single soul on the battlefield has a different reason for being there. There is no leader, no shared ideology, nothing to fall back on if you don’t know the answer to a journalist’s question. A professional protester knows that this is a thing to avoid when you stand up against something serious, but it seems Occupy started a bit too spontaneous to have a holistic vision that tackles these beginners’ mistakes.
They grew sympathy at first. Their general goal was one many could relate too. Maybe it was even appealing for a second. But what their lack of leadership will do to their credibility and thus their backup from society is yet to be discovered.
