Despite their best efforts, at “occupations” across America the protesters are beginning to face the difficulties of running what looks increasingly like a business.
Occupy Wall Street, the largest of the gatherings, has raised more than a $500,000 from donations through their website and on the street. On October 24, the group filed a trademark application for the name “Occupy Wall Street,” but they face competition from two other entrepreneurs who beat them to the punch. The Occupiers plan to use the trademark on merchandise, periodicals and newspapers.
TheDC reported that before the movement even began, protesters discussed profiting from Occupy merchandise on a private listserv. As donations roll in, the movement is starting to look a lot more like the capitalist system many seek to supplant.
Occupy Wall Street’s finance committee released expense reports on Friday, Reuters reported, “saying it had spent $55,000 to date, including $22,000 for food, medical care and laundry and $20,000 on communications systems.”
The glut of donations has caused tension within the movement over how the money should be spent. The movement is also struggling to find a legal identity, since most municipal codes forbid incorporated nonprofits from indefinitely occupying public land. But from the protesters’ perspective, as one Occupy DC flier puts it, “The First Amendment is our permit.”
In Freedom Square, home of one of two Washington, D.C. occupations, the protesters have entered the publishing business. The first issue of the Occupied Washington Post appeared Tuesday, using some of their more than $45,000 in donations. The Occupied Wall Street Journal has been printing since October 1.
Independent entrepreneurs have also taken advantage of the growing movement to sell Occupy-themed merchandise at the protests and on websites such as Amazon and Ebay. And, according to The Fix, medics are treating dozens of drug abuse cases daily, suggesting that at least some drug dealers are doing a brisk business because of the movement.
But the business of occupation is not necessarily a contradiction for everyone, says Jaime Cadle, 37, who has been at the Occupy DC protest in Freedom Plaza since the day it began. The protesters can be loosely categorized into two groups, Cadle said — reformers and radicals, with only the latter calling for the wholesale downfall of global capitalism.
“Reformers are concerned with appealing to Congress, maybe somewhere down the road getting some people into Congress. But they want reforms like repealing the Citizens United decision, or reinstating Glass-Steagall [Act],” Cadle told TheDC. But, “At its core, it’s a radical movement that a lot of people are attaching themselves to. That’s my own distinction because I do come from a radical perspective. I’m turned off by American society, so it’s not saying much that I’m turned off by a lot of language that comes out of this movement.”
“I very much support this movement, but at the same time I know that a lot of people wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t this major economic catastrophe that’s happened.”
“So much of the discussion here is just about maintaining the occupation that I don’t really get a sense of where everybody really is politically,” Cadle added.