Since Occupy began, detractors of the movement have continually rolled out the same lazy questions and criticisms. Often these relate to a lack of concrete demands or aims despite the messages of social, economic and environmental justice – amounting to the pursuit of greater equality – being easy to comprehend.
By now, anyone who has cared to listen should understand what Occupy stands for, but some still mistakenly think a social movement should be about providing answers, when in reality starting a debate, influencing media discourse and creating a platform to begin putting together new ideas is the first step to coming up with solutions.
At just four months old Occupy is still an infant in social movement terms, but already we have had tremendous success in shifting the zeitgeist and raising awareness about the key issues. Here are some facts about Occupy’s media impact:
- In the first two weeks of November, over 9% of front page news in British papers was related to Occupy or broader questions of inequality.Over 54 Comment is Free pieces and 96 news articles on Occupy have been published by The Guardian.
- The Tobin tax is now supported by most European heads of state (except Cameron)
- Occupy websites have close to a million visitors a month, vastly outranking all other progressive movements.
Thanks to Helmut Anheier for supplying some of this information.