The “Occupy Wall Street” movement is heading for Toronto and 950 other cities around the world.
In September, a poster in Adbusters magazine called for people to gather in New York to protest against big companies that make a lot of profit.
Although the protest was rather vague and unfocussed, young people came – and they kept coming.
They met in the “financial district” in New York, NY. The financial district is where many big companies have their headquarters, and where many stockbrokers (people who trade stocks) work. It’s where a lot of profit is made. Wall Street is a famous street that defines New York’s financial district.
The young people gathered there, peacefully, camping and holding signs. Some of the signs read, “We are the 99 per cent.” That is a reference to an alleged one per cent of Americans who make a lot of money compared with the other 99 per cent of Americans.
On the Tumblr web page, wearethe99percent.tumblr.com, it says, “We are the 99 per cent. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent… We are getting nothing while the other one per cent is getting everything.”
The protest has hit a nerve with young people. While there is not one specific thing they are protesting, they feel frustrated about what they see as greedy corporations making too much money while “the 99 per cent” work hard and don’t make enough.
The protesters have occupied Wall Street for nearly a month now, with protests popping up in many other major cities.
An “Occupy Bay Street” protest is scheduled for Toronto on Saturday. Oct. 15 protests are also planned for other Canadian cities including Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and Halifax. A website called “United For #Global Change” calls for similar protests on Oct. 15 in 82 countries and 951 cities around the world.
The Occupy Wall Street protest was partly inspired by the “Arab Spring” – the protests that occurred in Arab countries like Egypt, Libya and Syria. Those protests were mainly against dictators and poor living conditions.
This article was updated at 8 a.m. EST Oct. 14, 2011.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Today’s article explains that “The Occupy Wall Street protest was partly inspired by the Arab Spring.” What are the similarities and differences between the protests in the Arab countries and the protests on Wall Street?
Reading Prompt
Have you ever seen people who are protesting? If so, what was their reason for protesting? Do you believe that a protest is an effective way to bring about change? Why or why not?
Primary & Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Grammar Feature: Sentence Length
One of the things that writers do to make their writing interesting is vary the length of their sentences. Writers often change the length of their sentences to keep readers engaged in their writing. As you can imagine, the last thing a writer would want is for their readers to get bored! It sounds simple, but just by changing the length of sentences, an author can make their writing much more dynamic.
Underline the 2 shortest sentences in today’s article and circle the 2 longest sentnences in today’s article.
