• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

It has been over two months since Adbusters, a Canadian magazine, sent out a call to protest the inequality of our financial system by physically occupying Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. With a rallying cry of “We are the 99 Percent,” protestors set up camp on September 17th to articulate the deep frustration felt by those who have been affected by an economic crisis manufactured by financial institutions. The protest has since expanded from that single gathering in New York’s financial district to a global movement which has seen over 1000 encampments. Claiming that the camps have created unsafe conditions, mayors across the country have scrambled to dismantle the tent cities, coordinating with local police forces, the FBI, and Homeland Security to plan raids. In the wake of a conference call between 18 city mayors, police have ramped up their efforts and disbanded over a dozen tent cities in the past two weeks, including the birthplace of the Occupy movement in Zuccotti Park. The police action on November 15th took place at 1am in order to avoid media coverage. Activists are still not allowed to set up camp in the park overnight. Meanwhile the LA Times is reporting that some members of Occupy Los Angeles have been informed that city officials want the encampment in front of City Hall dismantled by Monday November 28th. However, LAPD officials and city officials speaking to the Times were not able to confirm it.

Many encampments including Los Angeles have seen homeless people join their ranks and some have speculated that the police action in cities may in part have been prompted by the large presence of transients among the protesters. Rather than diminish the movement, police brutality against the Occupy movement has energized it as people shared images of an 84 year old woman in Seattle being tear gassed, and a video of college students at UC Davis casually being pepper sprayed by a policeman. Added to the police crackdown, temperatures are dropping, prompting protestors to regroup to determine their next course of action. The next few weeks could see crucial decision making about the future of this nascent movement. An off shoot of protesters in New York are now taking their march to Washington DC in a move called “Occupy the Highway.” Many have called for a movement outside the cities into the suburbs in order to occupy foreclosed homes. Others are urging an occupation of schools and homeless shelters which have been shut down by city governments. Occupy movements on the West Coast, including here in LA are planning a major port shutdown on December 12th.

GUEST: Chris Hedges, Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute and a columnist for Truthdig.com, veteran foreign correspondent and author of several books. His latest book is called The World As it Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress

Read Chris Hedges’ latest article here: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_is_what_revolution_looks_like_20111115/