Part 1 (1/2)

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

Edited by Sarah van Gelder

FOREWORD

FRAN KORTEN

Late on Friday, October 7, 2011, I received an e-mail that set me on fire It was from Steve Piersanti, president of Berrett-Koehler Publishers He asked if YES! Magazine would be interested in publishi+ng an ”instant book” on Occupy Wall Street

Since our founding in 1996, YES! Magazine has explored alternatives to corporate domination We've covered efforts to create food justice, reform health care, build local economies, and solve the climate crisis Our board chair (hts on how to transforain we've seen powerful interests associated with the 1 stop the needed changes

So when a s out in a park just blocks from Wall Street, we took notice YES! editors Brooke Jarvis and Christa Hillstro articles on the htful he had seen

We were i a book-and producing it fast We foundor disrowing number of people interested in this movement understand its import Staff at Berrett-Koehler, which has published many books on themes related to the movement, felt the same way

Sarah van Gelder, executive editor of YES!, quickly assembled articles to 1) feature voices froes capable of shi+fting our society's wealth back to the 99, and 3) show the power of social e And then the production an

We decided to write in a voice that recognized that we, too, are part of the 99 Stafftime at Occupy Seattle Susan Gleason and Sara Kirk were shi+pping copies of the ”New Livelihoods” issue of YES! to Occupy groups Sarah van Gelder was interviewed about the er to donate book royalties to the movement Berrett-Koehler offered five hundred copies of the book to distribute to Occupy sites

We are grateful to the authors and photographers for their quick responses At YES! Kelly Shea with help froned the book Jaround in Zuccotti Park) provided valuable edits Jessica Lind-Diamond, Christa Hillstrom, Derek Hoshi+ko, Rebecca Nyaowski, Dee Axelrod, Melinda Monroe, Connie Walton, Julie Katana, and Doug Pibel edited content and assured its accuracy Sa Sharon Booth producedPibel, Madeline Ostrander, Valerie Schloredt, and Tracy Dunn-produced our fifteenth anniversary edition on schedule despite the extra demands of this book All the while, YES! staff and interns kept our progra Rod Arakaki, Audrey Watson, Gretchen Wolf, Jing Fong, Michael Winter, Paula Murphy, Bridget McCarthy, and Neil Cresswell

At Berrett-Koehler, Steve Piersanti provided wise guidance and unflagging enthusiasues were a dream to ith Mike Crowley, Dianne Platner, Rick Wilson, Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Kristen Frantz, Katie Sheehan, Cynthia Shannon, Marina Cook, Zoe Mackey, Courtney Schonfeld, David Marshall, Bonnie Kaufn and production work, helped prepare and disseh rateful for theour societies to benefit the 99 And I feel blessed to ith a re forth a positive vision of the possibilities that lie ahead

Bainbridge Island, Washi+ngton

October 31, 2011

Fran Korten is the publisher of YES! Magazine

INTRODUCTION:

HOW OCCUPY WALL STREET

CHANGES EVERYTHING

SARAH VAN GELDER

”We fail to understand e should have to pay the costs of the crisis, while its instigators continue to post record profits We're sick and tired of one injustice after another We want huain

This isn't the kind of world ant to live in, and it's ho have to decide orld we do want We knoe can change it, and we're having a great tinados, whose occupations in cities throughout Spain helped inspire Occupy Wall Street So happened in September 2011 so unexpected that no politician or pundit saw it cos in Europe, sparked by a challenge froazine to show up at Wall Street on Septeed by veteran New York activists, a few thousand people gathered in the financial district of New York City At the end of the day, some of them set up camp in Zuccotti Park and started what became a national-and now international-movement

The Occupy movement, as it has come to be called, named the source of the crises of our ti the 1 are clai the world's wealth for the their ith our governments This is a truth that political insiders and the media had avoided, even while the assets of the top 1 reached levels not seen since the 1920s But now that this genie is out of the bottle, it can't easily be put back in

Without offices, paid staff, or a bank account, Occupy Wall Street quickly spread beyond New York People gathered in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Atlanta, San Diego, and hundreds of other cities around the United States and claiht of we the people to create a world that works for the 99 In a matter of weeks, the occupations and protests had spread ide, to over 1,500 cities, fro, involving hundreds of thousands of people

The Occupy Wall Streethoe, the 99, see ourselves The shame many of us felt e couldn't find a job, pay down our debts, or keep our ho Millions now recognize that we are not to blae meltdown, or for a tax systeoverne in an all-out effort by the super-rich to get even richer

Now that we see the issue clearly-and now that we see how many others are in the same boat-we can envision a new role for ourselves We will no longer be isolated and powerless We can hold vigils all night when necessary and nonviolently face down police We are the vast et active, we cannot be ignored Our leaders will not fix things for us; we'll have to do that ourselves We'll have to make the decisions, too And we'll have to take care of one another-provide the food, shelter, protection, and support needed tooccupations, bad weather, and the hard work of finding consensus e disagree

By naed the political discourse No longer can the interests of the 99 be ignored The movement has unleashed the political power of millions and issued an open invitation to everyone to be part of creating a neorld

Historians may look back at September 2011 as the time when the 99 awoke, named our crisis, and faced the reality that none of our leaders are going to solve it This is the moment e realized ould have to act for ourselves

The Truth is Out: The Systens at the Occupy Seattle protest reads: ”Dear 1 We were asleep Noe've woken up Signed, the 99”

This sign captures the feeling ofour ways of life, our aspirations, and our security slip away-not because we have been lazy or undisciplined, or lacked intelligence and ed the system to enhance their oer and wealth at the expense of everyone else

Critics of the movement say they oppose the redistribution of wealth on principle But redistribution is exactly what has been happening for decades Today's economy redistributes wealth from the poor and rew 275 percent between 1979 and 2007, according to the Congressional Budget Office For those in the botto those twenty-eight years

The governh tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, and bailouts for giant banks and corporations These entities also benefit frohts, and countless other licenses to use common assets for private profit Corporations shi+ft the costs of environe to the public and pocket the profits Taxpayers bear the risk of global financial speculation while the payoffs go to thoseprofits to provide jobs and produce needed goods and services, the 1 put their wealth into ers, acquisitions, and overnoes on and on: Tax breaks favor the wealthy, global trade agreericultural subsidies favor agribusiness over faet sanctioned ets squeezed

The people who go to work producing things we need-thepoor-pay the price for all this Speculative profits act as a drain on the economy-like a hidden tax This hidden tax is one of thehas been slipping

This lopsided division of wealth corrupts governovernood reason With the 1 co out overnment has become a source of protection and subsidies for Wall Street No wonder there isn't enough es, taking care of veterans and retirees, much less for the critical transition we need to y future

The syste to try to name them all This is part of the reason why the Occupy movement hasn't created a list of demands The problem is everywhere and looks different fro the protesters all see out of reach Talk to people at any of the Occupy sites and you'll hear stories of people who play by the rules, work long hours, study hard, and then find only loage jobs, often without health care coverage or prospects for a secure future

And many can find no job at all In the United States, twenty-five iven up looking for work Forty-five percent of those without jobs have been unemployed for more than twenty-seven weeks Some employers won't hire anyone who is currently unemployed Meanwhile, the cost of health care, education, rent, food, and energy continues to rise; the only thing that's falling is the value of homes and retirement funds