After the local unions and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Kanye West have shown their support for the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Ben & Jerry’s, the world famous ice cream company, has become the first big company to join the cause as of last weekend.

“To those who Occupy: We Stand with you” is the slogan chosen by the ice cream maker to show its sympathy and “deepest admiration” to all the people “who have initiated the non-violent Occupy Wall Street Movement and to those around the country who have joined in solidarity”, as is stated on the Ben & Jerry’s website.

In the solidarity statement written by the company Board of Directors, they make it clear that according to the company’s values “the issues raised are of fundamental importance to all of us”, and for that reason they decided to “support this call to action and are honoured to join you in this call to take back our nation and democracy”.

These “issues” are no other than inequity, unemployment, education and political corruption. In their press release, the Board cited the following ground for their support:

The inequity that exists between classes in our country is simply immoral.

We are in an unemployment crisis. Almost 14 million people are unemployed. Nearly 20% of African American men are unemployed. Over 25% of our nation’s youth are unemployed. Many workers who have jobs have to work 2 or 3 of them just to scrape by.

Higher education is almost impossible to obtain without going deeply in debt.

Corporations are permitted to spend unlimited resources to influence elections while stockpiling a trillion dollars rather than hiring people.

They also took this opportunity to remind the American society about their compromises towards the environment, human rights and fair trade, among others: “We have provided support to citizens’ efforts to reincorporate money in politics, we pay a liveable wage to our employees, we directly support family farms and we are working to source fairly traded ingredients for all our products.”

The Occupy Wall Street movement that started nearly a month ago has quietly but steadily grown a following that has inspired similar demonstrations in over 70 other cities, including some in Canada, Great Britain, Greece and Australia.

For the full statement visit their website.

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The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests are still continuing and have now expanded to a second park in New York City, Washington Square Park. Roughly 1,000 protesters marched away from the financial district and headed into the park. After the commotion of the impact the protesters had in Central Park, there are worries the same problems will occur in the Greenwich Village park.

The protesters were blamed for causing environmental damage to Central Park and as a result the park was left in an ‘unsanitized’ condition for over a week. The protests began over three weeks ago and have been going strong ever since, extending out of the island of Manhattan. The protests that originally began in the lower east side of manhattan has now led to 25 cities nationwide.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters for unfairly blaming ‘hard-working’ people for problems facing America. Bloomberg said ‘I don’t appreciate the bashing of all the hard working people who live and work here and pay the taxes that support our city.’

But there has been some support from Washington for the protesters cause, House Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi said “I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen.”

While there has been support from diplomats for the protesters there has undoubtedly been criticism. Herman Cain, Republican presidential contender spoke about the expansion of ‘Occupy wall Street’ and called the protesters “jealous’ Americans who “play the victim card” and want to “take somebody else’s” Cadillac.

Protester Katie White told Toonari Post “All we are looking for is for union workers and college graduates to have equal employment opportunities and for those who have become very wealthy in America to give their fair share back.” When asked about how the media is portraying the protesters she replied;

“All those accusations are false, we are engaged in a peaceful protest and are causing no harm. We are teachers, fire-fighters, plumbers etc not drug-using bums.” Tuesday 11th marched peacefully protested outside Rupert Murdoch’s Manhattan home as part of a ‘Millionaires March’. They chanted outside his home on 59th street ‘enough is enough!’, and ‘Mr.Murdoch pay your fair share!’.

The protest later moved on towards other millionaires homes, including JP Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon and David Koch and Howard Mileston. The ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests have become a symbolic protest of union workers and college graduates fighting for the inequalities of the U.S. These 26 day protests has been captured daily by national and international media.

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More organizations and politicians have begun to speak out about Occupy Wall Street, either in support or to distance themselves from the growing movement. Massive protests raged all over the country on Thursday as more and more cities support the New York City movement.

American Crossroads, the Karl Rove funded PAC, sent out an email to supporters about the protests. “The anti-Wall Street folks just paraded near our building, and we captured some video in case you weren’t able to partake in that joy.

One observation: I counted at least a dozen different causes – anti-Wall Street, pro-gay, pro-Palestinian, anti Afghanistan war, anti-Iraq war, Code Pink, something about farming, unions, generals-lying-and-people-dying, and so on. Some fun signs: “Wake up America we are in CLASS WAR” “Jail Obama” “Voting is a Hoax – Wake Up” A “war crimes” banner with both Bush and Obama mugshots “The military budget is KILLING Washington State!” “Free Bradley” “Stop Cheating Movie Goers” (I’m not kidding – though I assume they were) It reminded me of those World Bank/IMF protests from about ten years ago, where the exact cause was nebulous, and the protests were instead a cornucopia of disparate left wing causes from veganism to anarchy. Like today. Just your generic left wing protest,” the email read.

On Thursday, nearly 500 protesters marched in Washington, DC. At one point, the protesters spelled out a giant 99% with their bodies. Hundreds of protesters turned out in cities like Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The mayor of San Francisco Ed Lee issued a statement about the Occupy Wall Street movement growing in his city.

I understand and sympathize with the anxiety and frustration felt by so many in our country caused by a lingering recession and joblessness. That’s why I am doing everything I can to create jobs, get people back to work and make our families stronger here in San Francisco.

I support the spirit of the Occupy Wall Street movement that calls for peacefully assembling to protest and bring national attention to disparity issues in our country.

In San Francisco, protesters are acting within their First Amendment right to free speech and freedom to assemble. While allowing for peaceful protests, we also must ensure that our streets and sidewalks remain safe and accessible for everyone. I will continue to work closely with our Police Chief to ensure San Francisco responds appropriately to these demonstrations.

San Francisco is a city that embraces free speech and freedom to assemble like no other city.
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Police brutality occurring throughout the Occupy Wall Street protests has largely been ignored. Police officers are not likely to be disciplined as their use of pepper spray and baton beating on protesters has increased.

Although the New York Police Department, has not commented on the most recent events, several videos and dozens of reports of police brutality have surfaced after the massive protests on Wednesday.

According to Mother Jones, even the media was beaten by the NYPD. In one video clip, Lieutenant Brian Connolly can be seen beating protesters with a baton.Connolly, who was awarded the Medal for Valor in 2007, struck local Fox Reporter, Dick Brennan, with his baton. Another officer sprayed a crowd with pepper spray for no justifiable reason.

Police also sprayed Fox Photographer, Roy Isen, in the eyes with pepper spray. Another journalist, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange.org, posted videos of himself being beaten. Dozens of arrests were recorded Wednesday, but the exact amount is unknown.

A video recently surfaced of two police officers talking to one another in a crude manner. In the conversation one police officer is heard talking about how he anticipates that things will get violent saying, “my little nightstick’s gonna get a workout tonight.” The officers did not realize they were being recorded. Once they discovered that they were, the officers tried to arrest the camera operator.

According to Mother Jones Magazine, police officers on motorcycles purposely drove into crowds of protesters. Many violent arrests were witnessed by media covering the event.

Also in many videos, protesters that are not resisting arrest at all are being dragged and beaten by police officers.

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As many organizations and politicians begin to back the Occupy Wall Street movement, the protesters are concerned about being gobbled up by an outdated political system. Much like the Tea Party was hijacked by the Republican Party, some Democrats, unions and other groups seek to capitalize on the organized protest.

Despite the fear, protesters are pleased to some some supporters. “We’re very excited to have our union brothers and sisters march on the heart of greed,” Spokesman Patrick Bruner told the Huffington Post on Wednesday before the march. “We don’t necessarily think that the way they’re structured is the best,” Bruner said, referring to unions’ top-down organizational style, “But we believe the 99% needs a voice, and they’re one of the few remaining.”

Others are a little more skeptical of the growing support, especially from politicians. “Obviously we welcome support from anyone,” David Graeber, an anarchist anthropologist, who has been involved in the protests since the beginning in mid-September. “But yes, [being co-opted is] a serious concern because a huge part of our message is our own internal democracy.

The moment you even have a funding base it seriously limits what people feel they can say and do. And a top-down organization will always try to co-opt you. So we have to be very careful and insist people come on our terms or not at all,” Graeber said. Occupy Wall Street operates differently than what Democrats or unions may be comfortable with.

Unions rely on elections, shop stewards, and rigid grievance procedures to correct problems. The General Assemblies in New York’s Zuccotti Park use a consensus model, with decisions emerging from a “progressive stack” speaking order that seeks to ensure “women and traditionally marginalized groups speak before men, especially white men.”

However, unions are excited to back the cause. TWU Local 100 President, John Samuelsen, whose union made headlines after it was forced to bus protesters from the Brooklyn Bridge to prison, said he was happy to lend his union’s support.”Wall Street got bailed out after the recession. American working families didn’t get bailed out,” Samuelsen said at the Wednesday rally.

Samuelsen has been extremely critical of the NYPD’s orders to bus drivers to transport the prisoners. Still, he continued, “these aren’t rallies about police brutality. These are peaceful rallies with working families coming out here to say enough’s enough, we need jobs, we needs jobs for us and for our kids.”

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Occupy Wall Street gained some new members on Wednesday as some key significant groups backed their cause. Union workers from Chinatown Tenants Union and the Transit Workers Union joined in, lending some credibility to the movement, which began with some frustrated college students and long-term unemployed individuals.

The liberal group MoveOn.org, and community organizations like the Working Families Party and United NY also showed support and joined Occupy Wall Street. The protests began on September 17 as growing frustration over the state of the economy and spending cuts became too much for some people.

College students flocked to Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan where they have camped out and plan to stay until they see real change. What is being termed the American Autumn is now spreading across the country and enjoying global support. On the west coast, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco are having similar protests.

“We’re really excited that labor is part of the protest,” said Sara Niccoli, spokeswoman for the Labor-Religion Coalition, an Albany, N.Y.-based organization that aims to “do justice” for workers. United NY applied for a permit for the rally on Wednesday so that they could use microphones.

“I think they’re capturing a feel of disempowerment, feeling like nobody is listening to them,” said Camille Rivera, executive director of United NY. “What do you do when no one is listening to you? You speak up, you take action.”

MoveOn.org is planning a “virtual march” on its website by encouraging people to post photos of themselves with the caption: “I’m the 99 percent” – a reference to those people not among the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans and the debate over whether they should be taxed more.

The group’s executive director, Justin Ruben, called the protesters “brave young people” who have successfully inspired others to join them. “From our perspective, we’re protesting kind of the greed that led to the collapse of our economy,” Ruben said. “The fact that these banks aren’t paying their fair share.”

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Occupy Wall Street demonstrations attracted thousands of protesters on Wednesday in the largest day of protests seen yet during the two and a half week occupation of lower Manhattan. Although major media outlets were quiet on Wednesday night, the occupation boosted 15,000 people of all ages, including celebrities such as Michael Moore and Keith Olbermann.

Even though the media initially chose to ignore the growing discontent, Twitter was buzzing with firsthand accounts of the protests. Many protesters reported that police were on in full force, using their pepper spray and zip tie handcuffs on people of all ages, including a 12 year-old girl.

Demonstrators were able to shut down Broadway before the police officers placed barricades up, prohibiting people from entering the street.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio released a statement and video on Wednesday offering his support for the movement, one of the first politicians to speak about the growing occupation.

“To the men and women, young and old who are now occupying Wall Street and Main Streets across the country you are the beginnings of a new America. You are in the streets and you are not alone. Millions support your efforts. We know the present system has taken the wealth of our nation and put it into the hands of the few.

Fourteen million Americans out of work. Fifty million without health care. Millions denied a college education because they cannot afford it. Millions losing their homes. Millions of pensions threatened. Dreams crushed by a system will be dreams rescued by your efforts, your commitment, your dedication to a new America,” Kucinich said during his statement. His speech was inspiring to many.

During a Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, D.C. reporters asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner if he had any sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement. His response was a little too middle of the road, not answering the question.

“No, I feel a lot of sympathy for what you might describe as a general sense among Americans as to whether we’ve lost the sense of possibility — and whether after a pretty bad lost decade … followed by a devastating crisis [and a] huge loss of faith in public institutions, people do wonder whether we have the ability to do things that can help the average sense of opportunity in the country. And I definitely sympathize with that,” he said.

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More than 700 people were arrested from the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City. Demonstrators were arrested when they spread to the Brooklyn Bridge, closing down the traffic for several hours. The occupy Wall Street group had camped in a plaza in Manhattan’s financial district for the last 2 weeks.

Several hundreds of protesters are still camped not very far from Wall Street at Zuccotti Park. The group has staged various demonstrations for the last 2 weeks against the finance industry. Protestors are driven by the wobbly economy and corporate greed.

Occupy Wall Street is a series of ongoing protests in America, originally called for by Canadian Activist group Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti consumerist magazine called Adbusters.

A thick line of people carrying placards were assembled at the police plaza, the head quarters of the New York Police, near Zuccotti Park. According to the groups’ declaration, they are not against the police but aim to express a feeling of mass injustice. According to the group the injustices included are foreclosures, work place discrimination and student loan debt, among others.

The protest blasted-off on September 17, initially with a hand-full of agitated participants who pitched their tents in front of the New York Stock Exchange. In less than 20 days, the  scale and reach of these protests expanded in a massive fashion, reaching Chicago, Boston, St Louis, Kansas City and Los Angeles.

Police arrested around 700 people with charges of disorderly conduct and blocking the public street near the Brooklyn Bridge. Tim Flannelly spokesperson of the FBI said, “At this point we don’t anticipate wider unrest,” but expressed concern in mild tones. FBI and NYPD will deploy and any all resources necessary to control any developments.

The Grievances or the list of demands for what they are staging a motion in America are numerous and varied. First they call for the smashing of the iconic bull at Wall Street, second, they raise their voice for the establishment of a universal care center, and third they want congress to pass the Tobin tax, and  for political transparency.

They have other peripheral demands such as free college education, living wage income, billions in spending on infrastructure with immediate effect, and a racial and gender equal right amendment.

Protests to some extent represent, in much broader terminology, that much has to be done to eliminate abrupt feelings of insecurity and lack of confidence in the system; even so, there needs to be some logic used, and a number of discontented people is necessary at this stage, especially where peoples attitudes’ towards the Obama Administration is key to his survival in the coming elections in 2012.

If we consider some radical and some less-radical changes, as proposed by the Occupy Wall Street Group, time is still left for the Obama administration to act, if it believes in doing so. There is less than a year to win over the hearts of this society that has been wounded by economic calamity and to regain solidarity with the people’s beliefs that might save the ship from sinking.

Critics to this motion or event particularly doubt about how  pervasively these demonstrations can move forward. Most of them say a leaderless movement will end soon, and even the presence of stars in the event might not potentially blow a whistle in ears of the administration.

Nevertheless demonstrations on a mammoth scale in different parts of the nation might well do the trick to at least move the stone, if not shift it completely.

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Saturday, hundreds of protesters who have gathered in New York’s Zuccotti Park since September 17 marched through the streets. Over 700 protesters, including some members of the media, were arrested as Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked the Brooklyn Bridge, snarling traffic.

Police zip tied protesters and loaded them into city buses to transport them to police stations. The protesters received tickets and were released. The protests, which have been harshly criticized by much of American media for being unorganized without demands, are gaining traction.

The protests are spreading throughout the United States like wildfire. Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco all have their own protests taking shape. On Wednesday, college students are organizing a mass student walkout on what is being deemed America’s “Day of Rage.”

On Sunday, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate economist and professor at Columbia University, visited the large group. During his informal teach-in, Stiglitz points out that New York City does not allow the use of a megaphone or microphone without a permit. “The fact that you are not allowed to use a megaphone on a Sunday is outrageous,” Stiglitz says.

“We have too many regulations stopping democracy, and not enough regulations stopping Wall Street from misbehaving.” Despite the growing noise from protesters, most politicians, including the President, have been silent on the discontent. White House spokesperson Jay Carney was asked on Monday about the president’s reaction to the protests.

“I’m sure he’s aware of it because he follows the news,” Carney said of Obama’s familiarity with the movement, during a briefing. “To the extent that people are frustrated with the economic situation, we understand.” The movement is getting some more support. Mainstream media devoted more serious news time to the protests, even interviewing some leaders of the group on Monday.

Union workers from all over the country are supporting the cause and plan to take part in a march with Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday. The New York City bus drivers, who helped to transport the arrested protesters to police stations, stated they would not help out with any future arrests.

Workhouse Publicity, a Chelsea-based public relations firm, sent unsolicited emails to members of Occupy Wall Street offering to spread the word about the ongoing protests, The New York Daily News reports.

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The occupy Wall Street protesters have been dismissed by most media outlets. As the group begins their third week of occupation, media outlets are unable to ignore the growing chants any longer. The media’s main outrage with the group has been that they are not organized or do not have a list of demands.

Although, I am not sure the Tea Party events have a list of demands either, but the Tea Party protests with far fewer people get far more coverage and political attention. And they say we have liberal media in America? The protesters at Wall Street have begun to organize and are making a list of demands. The media asked, the protesters answered.

The group released a declaration for occupation on Friday, stating in part that the movement aims to “express a feeling of mass injustice.” The injustices include foreclosure crisis, work place discrimination and student loan debt. The occupation, which has enjoyed a smattering of celebrity endorsements, received some larger supporters on Friday.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka embraced the global occupy Wall Street protests. Asked about the ongoing mass protest in New York’s financial district, which has begun to gain support from major unions, Trumka said Friday morning: “I think it’s a tactic and a valid tactic to call attention to a problem.

Wall Street is out of control. We have three imbalances in this country—the imbalance between imports and exports, the imbalance between employer power and working power, and the imbalance between the real economy and the financial economy. We need to bring back balance to the financial economy, and calling attention to it and peacefully protesting is a very legitimate way of doing it.”

Hailing the power of street protests to shift the dialogue, Trumka said, “I think being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometimes the only recourse you have because, God only knows, you can go to the Hill, and you can talk to a lot of people and see nothing ever happen…”

More local unions have supported the movement, including a transport union, which has over 38,000 people. The movement has also started to gain attention worldwide as countries in Europe express similar outrage over the growing income inequality.

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