Friday, November 11, 2011

10 Occupy Movement Websites You Have To Check Out

10 Occupy Movement Websites You Have To Check Out:

occupy movementUnless you’ve been living under a rock, then the odds are pretty good that you’ve heard a little bit about the “Occupy” protests that started in New York City on Wall Street and then spread like wildfire across the country and across the globe.

Frankly, I had nearly given up hope for America, because I was convinced that Americans had finally become too fat, too lazy, and too content with the status quo to take a stand against the rampant corporate greed and corruption.

Now that it has started, it has expanded like mad. Barely a month after the protests were sparked, the Internet has lit up with websites for each of the disparate movements. You’ve probably heard of them – Occupy Boston, Occupy Chicago, and Occupy Oakland are only a few. You’ve also got movements in other parts of the world, like Occupy Vancouver and Occupy London.

These movements make me proud to be a freedom-loving citizen again – taking a stand, hand in hand, with citizens across the world that are tired of greed and corruption destroying lives and communities.

Occupying the Internet

However, I wanted to explore not only those movements taking place in the world, but also the “Occupy” movements taking place on the Internet.

There are actually some very cool “Occupy” websites that have launched since the protests began in October, and I wanted to share a few of them with you. One example we’ve already covered is OccupyTheURL, where you can occupy any website (try it!). The first one is the easiest to share, because it is so simple, but it is powerful because of that simplicity. It’s a website called Occupy George.

occupy movement

Occupy George is filled with informative infographics using American currency. The graphics show the massive disparity between the rich and the poor in the U.S., and how the share of income has changed over time. Some of the facts shared in these graphics are pretty surprising.

Another site that’s actually pretty hilarious is Occupy Occupy Wall Street. When I first saw the site, I seriously thought it was started by rich dudes fighting back against Occupy Wall Street. After watching a couple of the videos, I found myself laughing so hard I was in stitches.
occupy wall street
My favorite part in one of the videos was where one of the guys yelled to the Wall Street protesters, “If you guys keep this up, I’m going to have to give up my cocaine habit!” Satire makes for a brilliant protest tool.

Another one of my favorite sites that’s Occupying the Internet is Occupy the Board Room.
occupy wall street
The folks that run this website accept letter submissions, and then periodically send the executives all of those letters directly. Better yet, the letters also get published right on the website for the world to see.

The next few sites shed light on just how pervasive the Occupy movement is, based on who is actually joining it. The first of those that I was both surprised and pleased to see was Occupy Police.
occupy wall street

The logo of the site reads, “We are the 99%, Protecting 100%”. It’s very cool to see some of the comments at this site, particularly the letters to and from police officers. Once you lose your police force, what have you got left to control the population?

Then of course, there are the Marines, with Occupy Marines (OMC).

occupy wallstreet
The tagline reads, “We will support demonstrators with organization, direction, supply and logistics, and leadership.” Historically, the Marines are always the first to fight. I guess that’s true.
Another group joining forces with the rest of the world in its stand against Corporate corruption are college students, over at Occupy Colleges.
occupy wallstreet
The goal of these organizers is to stage “teach-ins” at colleges around the country, where professors and students all take part in a dialogue about what Occupy Wall Street stands for, and how a dialogue can help to create change.
There are also a few websites that seek to centralize information about Occupy Wall Street and all of the supporting movements across the world. One of those is called Occupy Love.
occupy wallstreet
The name must have been created by the same folks that came up with “Make Love Not War” slogan in the 60′s, but you know, that’s alright. The blog covers stories and events from the heart of Occupy Wall Street, covering speakers that talk there, such as the presentation by black feminist activist Angela Davis on October 31st.
Occupy Boston Globe seeks to become the “Boston Globe” of the Occupy movement, providing news and stories from all protests and actions.

Or, you could go with Occupy Everything, another site that’s trying to collate all events and news from the entire Occupy Movement.

And then, there’s Occupy Together, which is a site intended to be more of an organizational tool, or a central spot where people looking to join the movement can go to find events and meet with like-minded individuals near where they live.
occupy movement width=
No matter what opinion you have of the Occupy movement, one thing that is for certain is the fact that it has grown beyond the realm of simply being a small-scale blip on the radar. It is a global collaboration among a very large portion of the population that has grown tired of the status quo.
It will be interesting to see how things progress as 2012 rolls around, but one thing that’s for certain is that if you want to follow along with the action, make sure to visit the websites listed above.
What’s your take on these sites? Whats your opinion of how the Occupy movement is shaping up on the web? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Image Credit : Shutterstock



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