Lesson: What is Occupy Wall Street (and how will it be remembered)?

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.

1. What do you think about manifestations of civil society?
2. Have you ever participated in any of them? Please, describe your experience.
3. Does your country support or even encourages manifestations in any way?
4. Are there any manifestations going on in your country, state or city right now?
5. Do you like to express your opinions?
6. What do you think is the best way to express one's opinions today? Why?
7. Do you think expressing your opinions, alone, promotes change?
8. Are you aware of any manifestations that have ever taken place where you live? What was(were) it(they) called?
9. Do you think the Internet is a means that cooperates or disturbs the organization of manifestations?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

DT   suddenly

DT   evolves

DT   laws

DT   goal

DT   occupiers

DT   regardless

DT   remaining

DT   wealthiest

DT   increasingly

DT   stagnant

DT   rallying

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

ExpandTranscript:

The Occupy movement grew suddenly and sustained longer than was first imagined. But now that the Occupy movement is shutting down for the winter, what will it be remembered for? One of their main rallying cries is "we are the 99%". It's a reference to this fact. Taking the entire population of the U.S. you will find that merely 1% own nearly 50% of all our wealth and with wealth comes power and more wealth. In fact you will see that the wealthiest 1% of Americans over the last 40 years have grown increasingly wealthier and wealthier, while the remaining 99% stay relatively stagnant. And while the 1% have been gaining more power they haven't always used it for the good of society.
Okay then, regardless if you see this as a problem or not, what remains confusing for some people and plain frustrating to others is that nobody knows what Occupiers really want. Even the Occupiers themselves seem to have different reasons for occupying, making people think that they're just being immature. Movements should have a very clear goal like "let's elect this president" or "let's create these new laws". But the Occupy movement is different. It seems to be saying things like "let's pay attention to this issue", "let's have a conversation", "let's listen to each other, especially the marginalized, and see how we can agree." It doesn't have one charismatic leader but is decentralized. It doesn't have one plain agenda but thousands and thousands of voices connecting together. It is much like the difference between a typical model of top-down power in the way the Internet works. So it seems that Occupy Wall Street is an Internet era movement. You see what most people don't understand is that Occupy Wall Street is not acting like 20th century politics, but instead it seems to be prototyping something new and we will continue to see how it evolves.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs about recent manifestations that ocurred in your country or somewhere else these days. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.

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