In Hot Topics posts, UConn experts comment on current events and issues unfolding in the news.
The Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York City on Sept. 18, and has now expanded its reach to dozens of cities, towns, and college campuses across the country, as well as international cities including Rome, London, and San Jose, Costa Rica. On Nov. 1, more than 15,000 protesters marched in Oakland, Calif., and police used tear gas to disperse crowds.
The movement comes to Storrs today, when a group of students, faculty, and staff will hold a teach-in under the banner of Occupy UConn from 1 to 3 p.m. in front of Homer Babbidge Library. Also, the Greater Hartford Chapter of the UConn Alumni Association is sponsoring a panel discussion on the Occupy movement on Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the University’s Hartford campus. The panel will feature Jeffrey Ogbar, professor of history and associate dean for the humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
On Oct. 19, Ogbar published a commentary on the movement in the New York Times. Below are excerpts from the article.
“The Occupy Wall Street movement, with its cross-section of activists (including ‘1 percenters’ like Russell Simmons), reflects an impulse of empathy for everyday people who are hurting under a system that has increasingly awarded more to those with the most, while the poor are forced to do less with less. Many of the Occupy activists have expressed great anger at the increasing bifurcation of wealth in the United States. But whether this movement, or any, is more durable when it develops out of a visceral anger is hard to tell …
“History is full of examples of people who are drawn to a single movement for a host of reasons. There are some who were attracted to the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s because of visceral anger at having a loved one die because a white hospital refused to treat him or her, or because the daily indignities of racism (denied voting, jobs, etc.) were too pressing for the spirit. But anger cannot be the driving force for a durable struggle.
“Movements and people are complicated. People must also be motivated by profound notions of the good that can come from struggle. Love, empathy and compassion must also energize. …
“Anger alone can open one to policies and tactics that are less about freeing the oppressed and more about punishing the oppressor. While punishment may be cathartic on many levels, it may or may not bring freedom for the oppressed any faster. Ultimately, it can shift the gaze away from what the movement can do for your people, but toward what the movement can do to the other. …
“In the end, it is the compassion for justice that precipitates anger, but it is the empathetic impulse that inspires the people to remain committed to any movement. Anger alone cannot do.”
