The death of Occupy Phoenix; movement phases to small groups

Dominic DeCono

One year later.

Oct. 15 marked the one year anniversary of Occupy Phoenix and their largest demonstration in Cesar Chavez plaza that had an estimated 4,000 protesters. Many Americans remember seeing the large demonstration and mass occupations on the news in places like Zuccotti Park near Wall Street and Oakland, California.

Occupy’s movement has been about expressing frustrations with the inept political system and unfair distribution of wealth throughout the country, especially to the working class. Today the movement has changed.

Justine Hecht, a justice-studies student at ASU and a former organizer in Occupy Phoenix, says the movement’s purpose and goals have not changed but the appeal Occupy once had just isn’t there anymore.

“The movement hasn’t gone underground but its lack of organization and its unclear message made the larger part of the movement unsustainable,” she said. 

Occupy’s impact was not solely an American phenomena, it had international implications as well.On the same day Occupy Phoenix held its first major protest, in countries like Spain, Italy, Germany and Belgium, protests were held that had, in some instances, over 100,000 protesters.

“It was incredible to hear about the number of people in these protests who truly felt as frustrated as we did. It’s unfortunate that the movement couldn’t keep find ways to keep people coming back,” she said.

Richard Hoggstein, a student at MCC, believes the movement is dead.”You don’t hear about them on the news anymore and I don’t know anyone involved with them. They are just dead to me,” Hoggstein said.

Occupy Phoenix has held several protests since their largest march on Cesar Chavez Plaza but none of them were nearly as large or long lasting as some of the other protests across the country.

Hecht said part of that has to do with some of Occupy’s inconsistency. 

“I believe some people were turned off from Occupy because the movement had too many mixed messages and directions that the organization wanted to do when I was a member. I had to leave Occupy because it just didn’t address my issues anymore,” she said. 

Although Occupy Phoenix does not have the number of protesters it once had, Hecht is still positive the movement is not dead and has very serious potential.

“Right now it’s become more diversified among smaller groups but it’s still very important to many people. You could sort of compare it almost like Star Wars and the rebellion. The matter is critically important but in small organizations at the moment,” Hecht said.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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