Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising, from Future Hindsight

**Puck** (0:04)
Hey, listeners, this week, we're sharing something special. It's a new podcast series I'm enjoying. From Future Hindsight, Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising. Occupy Wall Street is the story of the improbable becoming possible. In 2008, millions of people were devastated by an economic crash caused by Wall Street greed. But it wasn't until 2011 that there was a mass response from the left. A call to protest went out, and thousands of people responded. They raged against a system that was rigged against them, and they tried to create their own anti-capitalist village in a small Manhattan park. The movement quickly spread across the country, inspiring hundreds of occupations and a new generation of activists. Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising is told through the voices of activists who camped out in Zuccotti Park for almost two months, getting inside the drama of a movement that grew rapidly, felt both transcendent and chaotic, and then violently flamed out.
Occupy! changed the national conversation about capitalism, popularized the language of the 99% and inspired a generation of activists. As we approach Occupy!'s 15th anniversary this September, this series offers a reminder that collective action can reshape what seems possible.
Okay, I'm going to share the first episode with you now. To listen to more, search for Future Hindsight wherever you get your podcasts.

**Mila Atmos** (1:32)
Future Hindsight.
Zuccotti Park is a tiny plaza in Manhattan's financial district, a small rectangle of concrete and granite surrounded on every side by skyscrapers. It's mostly a spot for office workers to smoke a cigarette or eat a quick falafel while they scroll on their phones.
After dark, when the offices have emptied out and the surrounding shops and restaurants are closed, the park gets quiet, even a little eerie, usually. But on the night of November 15, 2011, Zuccotti Park was buzzing with tension and fear. Dozens of tents were set up among the grid of carefully landscaped trees, sheltering about 200 activists. They had come to occupy the park as both a political statement and a social experiment, determined to stay as long as they could. It had been 59 days. But now, as the 60th day of the occupation was approaching, hundreds of police officers began swarming the park.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:48)
All right, is everyone here? To say no, right now, we're being raided at Occupy Wall Street. Please start tweeting as many people as possible, letting folks know Occupy Wall Street is being raided.

**Mila Atmos** (2:58)
As the cops surrounded them, the occupiers had a livestream going. They sent out a call for help to the network of supporters across the city.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:08)
It was the middle of the night, and suddenly phone calls, text messages, like all these notifications. My phone just blew the hell up, and it's like, the park is being raided now.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:19)
We need people now.

**Mila Atmos** (3:21)
Hundreds of supporters began rushing to Zuccotti Park, as the occupiers tried to hold ground.

**SPEAKER_7** (3:27)
The cops are like right in front of us, a wall of cops in riot gear.
They've got the shields, and they're fully weaponized. And we look like a bunch of hippies.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:39)
There's people screaming everywhere, like literally tents are being torn apart with knives. They're throwing people's stuff over their heads as they're going through tents, just throwing them out.

**Marissa Holmes** (3:48)
All my shit's in there! All my friends are in there!

**SPEAKER_9** (3:52)
That's my fucking home!

**Mila Atmos** (3:54)
Supporters began arriving, ready to join what had essentially become a giant sit-in. But the cops had blocked off streets and installed barricades around the park.

**SPEAKER_10** (4:05)
The cab came in closer and closer to Zuccotti. There was police everywhere, roads were blocked. It felt like a war zone. The cab driver was scared, so we're like, don't go any further, we'll get out and walk.

**Nalini Stamp** (4:17)
I was like, let me out. And I ran the rest of the way.
I was trying to get over these things. I was like, how do I climb over this? I was trying to do parkour.

**Mila Atmos** (4:24)
Soon, an enormous crowd of people protesting the raid surrounded the park. They locked arms, blocking police vans, and watching as the police arrested the occupiers.
Tension and rage ticked up.

**SPEAKER_12** (4:40)
Get them back on the fly.

**Mila Atmos** (4:59)
Zuccotti Park was the nucleus of the Occupy movement, the first American movement driven by social media. The Occupiers had slept in the park for almost two months through the rain and snow. They had been infiltrated, pepper sprayed, and made fun of by the mainstream media.
But their message, that the capitalist system was rigged to benefit the 1 percent and exploit the rest of us, that message had resonated from the moment they set up camp in the park.