Palestinian Protestors: The New Occupy Wall Street
We all want to feel part of something great
When I met my wife in law school in 2010, my first reaction to hearing she previously worked on Wall Street was: “That’s shameful.”
My young, naive self had no idea what Wall Street firms actually did, but I had heard and read a lot following the 2008 financial crisis. I thought I was an expert. Until I worked at one of those firms a few years later and learned the hard way.
The same was true of many Occupy Wall Street protestors in 2011 when they occupied Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. The group had catchy slogans like “We are the 99%”, but lacked substantive ideas of how to fix that problem. Frankly, many of them (like myself at the time) had no idea about the world of Wall Street and finance.
Wall Street was an easy (and very legitimate) scapegoat in the wake of the 2008 recession, but consider these two points:
The 2008 financial crisis was just as much a crisis of mortgage originators (like Countrywide), government regulators, and other checks in the system (like credit rating agencies - hi Moody’s!), as it was the banks that packaged mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.
Corporate money had just been allowed as “free speech” in elections under the Supreme Court case Citizens United. Still, I didn’t hear about major movements to “Occupy the Supreme Court”, change lobbying laws, or pass a constitutional amendment banning the unlimited use of corporate money in elections.
I make these points not to deride the Occupy Wall Street movement (or my 2010 self), but to illustrate that complex issues like inequality, financial services regulation, and lobbying reform do not have simple solutions. And it’s often not one person, company, or industry that’s entirely to blame.
The same is true with the Israel-Palestine conflict today. The history is complicated. The diaspora and plight of the Jewish people are complicated. The devastation in Gaza is very complicated.
Anyone who argues otherwise is not telling the whole truth, whether intentional or not.
As with the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, the Palestinian protests since October 7, 2023 suffer from the same challenges: oversimplified outrage, isolated groups feeling cheated uniting against a common enemy, financing and training from professional protestors but with no clear end goal, and few who deeply understand the relevant history.
Let’s examine each point.
Oversimplified outrage, both in Occupy Wall Street and Gaza
The majority of the wealth in the United States is still possessed by 1% of the population. The Occupy Wall Street slogan — “We are the 99%” — rings true over a decade since tents filled Zuccotti Park.
It’s easy to blame Wall Street banks after the 2008 financial crisis. But doing so oversimplifies matters. Goldman Sachs and other big banks are not solely responsible for wealth inequality in the United States.
That would give a free pass to the Supreme Court (Citizens United!), financial regulators, antitrust regulators (big banks only got bigger post-2008!), credit rating agencies like Moody’s, and politicians who failed to reform lobbying laws and special interest group influence perpetuating the status quo.
Nuance fails to make good slogans.
The same nuance clouds the Israel-Palestine conflict: two groups with ancient roots on the same land (Jews with ties going back even further), years of oppression under various regimes, strong foreign influence and interference, wars, rejected peace deals (by Palestine), extremism on all sides, and immense suffering.
Again, nuance fails to make good slogans. But show images of dead mothers and children in Gaza and outrage intensifies in one direction, without full context. Show clear evidence of Wall Street greed and suddenly nuance disappears.
The key difference between 2011 and 2024 is the rise of social media. In 2011, TikTok didn’t exist and short-form video was not a thing.
Now, most of Gen Z gets their news from short-form video apps like TikTok. Their sources? Whoever shows up on their For You Page.
Simply look at the degree of content on TikTok promoting pro-Palestinian (or Hamas) positions versus those promoting the Israeli side, and it’s clear people are not receiving a balanced perspective. No wonder so many American politicians want to ban it!
All of this has helped fuel a progressive anti-semitic moment. Similar to how Occupy Wall Street fueled an anti-Wall Street moment. Even though neither Israel nor Wall Street was and is entirely to blame.
Side note: I’m still shocked that Israeli civilians were attacked at a music festival, killed, raped, and kidnapped, but their efforts at self-defense are the primary drivers of outrage. As if October 7th is now an afterthought.
This oversimplified outrage, whether against Wall Street or Israel, gives many protestors an unbalanced and false sense of confidence. It gives them false assurance they understand the issue and that what they’re doing is right.
It’s also a bonding experience.
Isolated groups united against a common enemy
As I discussed in a recent article, many students view the war in Gaza as inextricably linked to issues like policing, gun violence, mistreatment of indigenous people, racism, and even climate change.
The common enemy for many Palestinian protestors is not just Israel, but the entire system that permits and promotes oppression. Ethnocentrism, colonialism, imperialism — all of these academic terms get thrown around for this reason when protestors talk about Gaza.
Add the fact many protestors are college students who lived through pandemic isolation and are entering adulthood with prospects far worse than their parents, and understandable why they’re so angry.
Similarly, Occupy Wall Street protestors included many young people who felt screwed by the system following the financial crisis, with high unemployment and oversaturated job markets (everyone had gone to graduate school!).
At least we millennials had a good window to buy a home at low interest rates, something Gen Z can only dream of today.
The bottom line—Gen Z and others struggling to make ends meet feel isolated and cheated against a common enemy system. That enemy is not Israel, even if that’s the initial target.
It’s really about the failures of capitalism and democracy. It’s really, in fact, about burning the current system to the ground.
Moreover, it's a bonding experience and a chance for the privileged to feel they're doing something meaningful, potentially directed by others.
Organized, trained, and financed by professionals
The Wall Street Journal ran a revealing piece last week about how the Palestinian protestors on U.S. campuses have received a lot of support in their efforts to make their voices heard. And not just from anyone.
Many have received training and financing from professional protestors.
The National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) has existed for decades and has more than 300 chapters across the United States. The group helped organize many of the college encampments and building occupations nationwide.
There have also been “Resistance 101” trainings at places like Columbia with guest speakers from groups like the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (a group that celebrated the Oct. 7th Hamas attack on Israel).
These are the types of professional protestors who argue that “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas.” These are the professionals on the front line of defending Palestine.
Put people like this on a college campus and watch them leverage student anger over the violence in Gaza. Dead babies. Women covered in blood. Destroyed cities in Gaza.
Young people who are not well-versed in Israel and Palestine’s complicated history make for impressionable targets.
The same was true with Occupy Wall Street. Professional protestors (from Canada!) got involved and helped to organize and train the protestors who ultimately camped at Zuccotti Park.
It begs the question of whether the protestors would have still carried out some of their more extreme actions had they not been influenced by experienced activists.
Many protestors lack a deep historical understanding
This, for me, is the biggest problem.
In both the Occupy Wall Street and Palestinian protests, too many people chant the catchphrases (e.g., “We are the 99%” and “Globalize the Intifada”) without fully understanding their history and implications.
This becomes clear when asking what they want their protests to accomplish. Occupy Wall Street never articulated a coherent and consistent vision. They identified a problem, blamed one industry, and flailed at promoting solutions.
The Palestinian protests have argued for a ceasefire and divestment of companies that support Israel’s military. The ceasefire point, however, is temporary. Unless Hamas, Iran, and any other Israeli adversary is willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist and self-determine its future peacefully.
So long as Hamas exists in Gaza, Israel faces existential threats every day. This is why a future attack on Rafah (one of the last Hamas strongholds) is almost guaranteed.
In terms of divestment, even if all American universities pulled their endowment funding of any defense contractor or company supporting Israel’s military, it would hardly have a material impact. The contractors and companies would survive and the war machine would keep spinning.
Any long-term, sustainable solution in Israel (as with Wall Street) demands an appreciation of history. How did we get here? What are the root causes of the problems we’re experiencing today? Who can make a difference in solving them?
With issues so complex and wide-ranging, it will take more than Israel agreeing to a ceasefire or Wall Street agreeing to cap executive compensation at a certain level. It will take wholesale changes from every stakeholder to make a difference.
Hamas must return all hostages safely and soundly.
Structural changes are required to get money out of American elections.
Companies and wealthy individuals must pay their fair share in taxes.
These points sound straightforward, but they’re extremely difficult in practice. With complex issues, the most obvious solutions are often the hardest.
This is why I predict the Palestinian protests, like Occupy Wall Street, will generate noise about real problems but will continue to lack a clear focus on viable solutions.
Read more at The Political Prism, a new Medium publication celebrating diverse political viewpoints in a balanced, thoughtful, and objective way.
Free Speech Hypocrisy at Elite U.S. Universities by Johnny P
The Protest Movement is Lost by Alexander Ziperovich
The Complex Dynamics of Political Organizations by Ansh Pyura Verma