Occupy! Your guide to the international Occupation Movement of 2011

The ultra-rich have us by the throats and they’ve had us by the throats for a long, long time. While the rest of us suffer through a worldwide economic crisis, the people at the top are just getting richer. In a 2011 study, the richest 20% of the country had 85% of the privately held wealth. For the rest of us, nothing’s getting better: the state is closing schools and libraries, rolling back social services, shutting down bus lines and state parks.

But an international movement has sprung up to challenge the foundations of our global system of corporatism and greed. It’s a protest movement qualitatively different from any that has come before, a uniquely 21st century form. It’s a movement without party politics. It’s a movement inspired by the advances of communication that have allowed us to function without authority, allowing every voice to at last be weighed truly as equal. It’s a movement that doesn’t bring a list of demands to the powers that be but instead suggests that we can build a different society.

The wealth that it takes to get us out of this mess is right in front of us—we know because we are the ones who created it. We designed and built the cities. We # y the planes, crunch the numbers, grow the food, write the software, and do everything it takes to keep this society running. All the wealthiest do is sit there and watch their money make more money.

The wealth is right in front of us and yet they tell us there isn’t enough to feed us, to educate us. They’re lying. Maybe they’re lying to themselves, maybe they’re lying to us—it doesn’t matter. They don’t matter. We don’t need them.

We are the 99% and we are more powerful than they’ll ever be.