Occupy’s 6-month anniversary rally - Dozens arrested:

“This is our spring offensive,” said Michael Premo, 30, of New York, who identified himself as a spokesman for the movement. “People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It’s important for people to see we’re back.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/18/us-usa-occupy-wallstreet-idUSBRE82G0FC20120318

Occupy Wall Street: Jimmy Carter Casts Movement As ‘Relatively Successful’…

…because they focused national discussion on wealth disparity despite lacking leadership and a unifying set of goals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/occupy-wall-street-jimmy-carter_n_1281163.html

300 arrested in daylong Occupy Oakland protests

The movement is still not dead. Saturday’s protests — the most turbulent since Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment in November — came just days after the group said it planned to use a vacant building as a social center and political hub and threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/29/300-arrested-in-daylong-occupy-oakland-protests-786054029/

An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to “stop using Oakland as its playground.”

Famed author Chinua Achebe on the Occupy Nigeria strikes

In an interview, Nigeria’s premier novelist Chinua Achebe says that corruption is the root of the current fuel-strikes crisis, and that the only way to set Nigeria on a democratic path is for Nigerians to select better leaders, and to punish those who “steal from the state.”

Professor Chinua Achebe currently teaches at Brown University as the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies. He is the author of the globally acclaimed novels ”Things Fall Apart”, “A Man of the People”,” Arrow of God” and “Anthills of the Savannah”.

Excellent article…
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2012/0111/Famed-author-Chinua-Achebe-on-the-Occupy-Nigeria-strikes

Burn! Split! Invest! Occupy Wall Street organizers left with decisions about how to spend their remaining $300,000

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083845/Burn-Split-Invest-Occupy-Wall-Street-organizers-left-decisions-spend-remaining-300-000.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Over the past three months since the Occupy Wall Street protests began, the movement raised a whopping $706,855.91 through online and personal donations… They’re throwing around some rather interesting proposals on how to spend the $300k remaining in their treasury!

Here’s a look back at the money raising machine side of the Occupy movement…

Police militarization is now an ingrained part of American culture:

Disturbingly, America’s police departments have been moving toward more aggressive, force-first, militaristic tactics and their accompanying mindset for 30 years.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radley-balko/police-militarization-use-of-force-swat-raids_b_1123848.html?page=1

Outraged by the Occupy crackdowns, some pundits and political commentators who paid little heed to these issues in the past are now calling for a national discussion on the use of force.

FINALLY…the elusive answer to what those pesky Occupy Wall Street people want. And it comes from an unlikely place…Kaitlyn Ridel, Assistant News Editor for the University of Dayton’s student newspaper online edition:

The main goal of the Occupy Wall Street movement is to put pressure on government and on society in general to make it unacceptable for banks and large businesses to have an influence on politics. That’s the main goal.

They also want this: “What Occupy Wall Street is advocating is more employment and economic justice,” said Aaron Adams, a senior political science major and legislative aid for the Dayton City Commission office. She says it is important to understand the economic context of the movement in order to make an opinion about it.

“It is not about whether you agree or not, it is [about] understanding why they are protesting,” he said. “People have gambled with our money, and ruined the hope for the American dream.”

The movement aims to fight back against the “1 percent” of the richest Americans allegedly controlling the economy, according to the group’s website.

I think that’s a great summary.

Just a few major “Occupations” still going on around the U.S. Activists are already changing tactics and warning of a winter of discontent, with rallies and marches every week.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/raids-wall-street-protesters-shift-tactics-15060328#.TtdVLFZa8dU

The camps may bloom again in the spring, organizers said, and next summer could bring huge demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions

Is the Occupy movement slowly loosing momentum?

Occupy protesters wear out welcome in L.A., Philadelphia — Wall Street protesters in Los Angeles defied the mayor’s early Monday deadline to vacate their encampment near City Hall, with about 1,000 flooding into the area as hundreds of tents remained standing as they have for nearly two months.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-27/Philadelphia-Los-Angeles-Occupy-protest-evictions/51427214/1