Project Report

I. Project title: Occupy Boulder Examined

 URL: http://occupyboulder.coloradodjlabs.org/

II. Members:

    Kristin Noguera (grad) - kristin.noguera@colorado.edu

    Chelsea Long (senior) - chelsea.long@colorado.edu

    Alex Patterson (senior) - alexander.j.patterson@colorado.edu

    Michael Kerner (senior) - michael.kerner@colorado.edu

III. Division of Labor:

    Kristin Noguera - wrote content, built map, design input

    Chelsea Long - wrote content, took photos for homepage, edited photos

    Alex Patterson - designed, built and maintained the website

    Michael Kerner - shot and edited video, interviewed sources

IV. Resources:

    Google Maps

    Occupy official websites

    Occupy social media sites - Facebook, Twitter

    Vancouver Courier

    New York Times

    http://coupmedia.org/occupywallstreet/occupy-wall-street-official-demands-2009

    Adbusters Media Foundation   

    Anonymous activist group website

    Infowars.com   

    YouTube

    opensecrets.org

    HTML, XHTML and CSS by Elizabeth Castro

    Flickr

    Google blogs/Blogspot

V. Strengths of project:

    Clean, simple web design

    Interesting sources for video interviews

    Good content material

    International relevance - movement growing

VI. Weaknesses of project:

    Local movement not very large, infrequent events

VII. Lessons Learned:

    Group worked well together - good balance of knowledge areas from each person

    Website design takes a lot longer than it seems

    Occupy Boulder people aren’t the most timely of people. Nearly every event was delayed from the prospective start time.

    It’s nice to have a balance of broadcast and news/ed majors in your group!

The Issues

Hey guys!

Here's what I've found for the Issues tab...I sent Alex an email but I don't know if he got it, so here:

Occupy Boulder – The Issues

One of the most frequent criticisms of the Occupy movement is that protestors don’t know what they’re protesting over. Because the movement is so broad, it has attracted anyone with something to say. But without a central issue, critics say the movement is disjointed and unlikely to last. Here, we look at what it’s all about.

Financial Inequality

Financial inequality is the basis for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protestors wouldn’t be the 99 percent without it. That’s because the 99 percent/1 percent motif that’s grown so popular is based on financial inequality. The claim is that the wealthiest 1percent of Americans make, and have, as much money as the rest of the citizens of the United States. This percentage has been contested – with [http://the53.tumblr.com/]many claiming the percentages are closer to 47 percent of the wealthiest Americans to 53 percent of the rest.[http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html”]Other sources say it’s closer to a 10 percent/90 percent split.

Another large source of protest is the current level of student loan debt in the nation. This is a popular issue because many of the protestors are college-aged, and because many of the protests are being held on or around college campuses.[http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/how-worrisome-is-student-debt/]The New York Times found two thirds of college graduates who borrowed money hold an average debt of $24,000 upon exiting college. The number is higher for those who attended graduate school, in some cases reaching an excess of $100,000. It’s also conflated with a limited job market and a high unemployment rate, which forces grads to pay either the minimum – just the interest – or none at all on their college loans. Occupy protestors are demanding a payment pan that benefits students, or a loan forgiveness program.

The unemployment rate is one of the more contentious issues, as well. Early in the occupation,[http://www.mediaite.com/online/traders-from-chicago-board-of-trade-dump-mcdonalds-applications-on-occupy-chicago-protesters/] Chicago traders threw McDonald’s job applications on the protestors. Those who disagree with the protestors usually tell them to “get a job.” Currently at [http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_19460605] 8.6 percent, the unemployment rate’s continued to hover around 9 percent – leaving 14 million Americans jobless. That number is lower in Boulder, with most[http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.co_boulder_msa.htm]recent numbers showing a 5.9% unemployment rate. But for a community with a high cost of living, being unemployed in Boulder is hardly an easy feat.

Corporate influence

In addition to the outcry for a more equal job market, Occupy protestors want to see a shift in priorities – from corporations back to the American people. This is clearly an important issue, after Boulder citizens [http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/11/corporate_personhood_boulder_occupy_wall_street. php] voted 3-1 in favor of Question 2H, which states that corporations should not hold the rights of individual citizens, or be protected by the Constitution as such. Occupy protestors all over the United States hold the same view – corporations should not be considered people.

In fact, these protestors hold the view that the greed and corruption on Wall Street is perhaps the biggest problem of all. They see the bailouts of major automobile companies, banks, and corporations – while the citizens themselves receive higher taxes and a continuing unemployment rate – as unfair. “Stop corporate greed! Start respecting human need!” and “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” are chants frequently heard among Occupiers. The protestors even held a [http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2011/11/04/will-bank-transfer-day-really-change-anything/ ]"Bank Transfer Day,” in early November, urging protestors and supporters to switch their money from large banks to smaller credit unions.

Environment

Though the movement began as a financial one, it was quickly entangled with environmental issues happening around the same time. A continued fight to battle climate change and to phase out traditional energy sources in favor of renewable ones is now a mainstay of Occupy protests. There are two issues that have been currently seen in the news as a result of increased awareness: the Keystone XL pipeline, and a technique known as “fracking.”

The Keystone XL pipeline is a proposed underground line for transport of shale oil, harvested from one of the largest tar sands deposits in the world, in Alberta, Canada. The pipeline would travel from the tar sands in Canada through the United States, down to refineries on the coast of Texas. After major protests, like[http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/06/ten-thousand-turn-up-for-largest-yet-keystone-xl-protest/]encircling the White House with people, President Obama put a halt on the project until a more accurate environmental report could be assessed.

Fracking, on the other hand, is still being protested and debated. Its official name is hydraulic fracturing, and it’s a process that forces chemically-laced water into wells to release gas. It’s controversial because the chemicals are then theoretically able to get into the water supply. Residents near heavy fracking sites have reportedly been able to set their tap water on fire. Combining forces with the Occupy movement, fracking protestors [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9RBPGL80.htm] continue to fight against the process.

Developing issues

As the movement continues to mature, new issues have emerged. Police brutality and the use of pepper spray are becoming priorities as police forces move in to move Occupiers out. Liberal use of pepper spray on the UC Davis campus, shown in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4] this video garnered attention from all sides, wondering if it was justified or necessary. Brutality has also been recorded in the Occupy Oakland and Occupy Wall Street protests, taking the form of pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas grenades. It’s become a major issue in the news and on the streets.

I don't have foreclosure fraud, or anything from the background, but I'll look into those!

Background

Sent shorter version of background to Alex for that tab:

Occupy Wall Street began on Sept. 17, 2011 in New York City’s Zucotti Park. The movement is an ongoing series of leaderless, grassroots demonstrations to protest economic inequality in America. Their slogan, “We are the 99%”, refers to the gross wealth of the elite 1% of the population and the rest of the country’s citizens. They are fashioning the movement’s revolutionary tactics after the “Arab Spring,” an uprising against police corruption that began in Tunisia in 2010 and subsequently spread to many other countries. The small group of  protesters in New York has grown to thousands in over 70 major cities and 600 smaller communities in the U.S. Over 900 cities worldwide have since followed suit.

The Canadian anti-consumerist activist group, Adbusters Media Foundation, sparked the onset of the protests in mid-July of 2011. Adbusters emailed a mass memo to its magazine staff proposing a peaceful demonstration against corporate greed on Wall Street in New York City.

In an interview with the Vancouver Courier, the magazine’s senior editor said, “[They] basically floated the idea in mid-July into our [email list] and it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world, it just kind of snowballed from there.”

The activist Internet group, Anonymous, helped to spread the word, urging their followers to descend on the financial district of New York in peaceful protest. They encouraged citizens to set up camp on Wall Street until corporations were held accountable for their unlawful actions. They claimed that American corporations, mainly the six major banks of the world, had robbed the majority of American citizens of jobs, income, opportunity, and even health, in order to amass more of their personal wealth.

 

Again, anything after this on the original can be used for the issues tab.