Every social movement I have been involved with, or covering, develops/invents its own language of liberation, its own alphabet, and its own buzzwords, rhetoric and discourse. Here are some of the key words I heard/retained in covering the Occupy Wall Street movement. I am sure there are many words, phrases, and slogans I overlooked, never heard or forgot. Send your favorites to: dissector@mediachannel.org.
These are words that power a struggle and speak to the internal processes that attracted so many to take part, as well as the issues that drive it and the obstacles that face it. They are some of the phrases, terms, sayings and expressions that the occupiers use in their conversations to define themselves and discuss their mission.
A. Adbusters, Anarchy, Arrest, Activist, Action, Anger, Angry, Atrium, Assembly (Freedom of,) Arab Spring, Autonomy, Anonymous. All Night, All Week, Austerity, Autumn Awakening
B. Bloomberg, Billionaire, Banker, Bank Transfer, Bankster, Barricade, Brookfield, Brooklyn Bridge, Battery, Bowling Green, (The) Bull, Bubble Tea, Building 7, Bishop, Burger King (Bathrooms), Bailout, Broke, BOA, Municipal Bonds, Bail Bonds, Bonus, Block, Beginning (As in "The Beginning Is Near.") Become (Your Dream)
C. Capitalism, CEO, Convergence, Corporate, Co-op, Cedar St. Congress, Campaign, Cops, Comrades, Comfort, Confrontation, Community, Courts, Church, Chase, Cairo. Citibank, Contract, Clusters, Class, Color, Caucus, Citizens, Charlotte's Web, Community Board, Courage, Causes (Not Symptoms), Citizens United. Control
D. D17, demonstration, direct Democracy democracy, democratize, Donate, Drumming, Drones, Derivatives, Depression, Debt, Donuts, Downtown, Down With, Deutsche Bank, DC, Diogenes, Duarte Square, Diversity, Dialogic, Discourse, Debate, Dow Jones, Dreamers, Decolonization, Discipline
E. Encampment, Events, Engage, Equity, Everyone, Eviction, Elite, Economic Elite, Economy, Exercising (Our Rights), Egypt, Enacting (The Impossible)
F. Freedom, Fed, (as in End The) Facebook, Foreclosure, Foley Square, Faith Leaders, Fifty Broadway, Front Line (on Broadway)
G. Greed, GA, Garbage, Goldman Sachs, Ground Zero, Generator, General Strike, Guy Fawkes, Global, Guards (as in Brookfield Realty), Grievances, Grannies
H. Hope, Horizontalism, Hand Gestures, Hacking, Habeus, Hugs, Hypothermia, Health Care, Not Hedge Funds, Homeland Security, Halal,
I. Internet, Info, Infiltrator, Inequality, Injury, Insurgency, Indignados
J. Justice, Judge, Jobs, JP Morgan
K. Kitchen, Kettling
L. Leaderless. Labor. Legal, Love, Library (as in People's), LiveStream, Lower Zuc, Liberty Square, Liberty Street, Lehman Brothers, Loans, Leverage, Libertarian, LAPD
M. Mic Check, Money, Mickey D (Toilets), Movement, Mobilization, March, Media, Medical Tent, Motorcycle Cops,, Meditate, Mohammed Bouazizi, Men's Holding Cell, First Precinct, Matrix. Militant, MF Global, Metrocard
N. Now, Nurse, Nonviolent Training, NYPD, NYFD, NDAA, N+1, National Lawyers Guild, Ninety Nine Percent, Native Americans
O. OWS, Occupation, Occupy, OccuPie, Occupy Times Square, Occupy Broadway, Occupy the Holidays, Occupy Thanksgiving, Occupy Christmas, Occupy The Hood, Occupy The Barrio, Occupy The World, Occupy Our Homes, Occupy The Dream, Occupy Buildings, Occupy Workplaces, Occupy 2.0, Outreach, O40 (Organizing for Occupation), Overthrow (The Courts), Oakland, One Percent
P. Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, Public Space, Peace, Peaceful. Protest, Pepper Spray, Police, Police Foundation, Poster, Press, Parks. Personhood (Corporate), Privatization, Point of Process, Predator, Precarity, Plunder, Private Army, Profit. Port, Public Safety, Poverty (as in growing), Profiteering (as in Growing), Pressure, Populism, Plutocracy
Q. Queer, Question,
R. Revolution, Re-occupy, Righteous, Restraining Order, Rage, Raid (as in police Raid), Ratings. Reverend Billy, Reclaim Democracy, Riot Squad ("Take Off Your Riot Gear, There's No Riot Here")
S. Speech (As in Free), Strategy, Security, Symbols, System, Sanctuary, Sustainable, Spies, Surveillance, Struggle, Stock Exchange, Sign, Solidarity, Subways (A,C,N,R,1 2 3 4,5), Sanitation, Sleeping Bag, Starbucks (Toilet), Sothebys, Social Media, Spokes, Spokescouncil, Sixty Wall, Student Loans, Shutdown, Sell Out, Spring (and the Hope Of Renewal) Supreme Court
T. Truth Telling, Tidal, Thermal, Thematic, Tactics, Trust, Tarp, TARP, Twitter Tumblr, Trinity, Traders, Tents, TV Trucks, TURU Truck, Toilets, Tombs, Tunisia, The Commons, T-Shirt. Turning Point, Think Tank, Troy Davis
U. Unemployment, Unity, Unions, Up Stream, Union Square, Unleadership, UC Davis, UFT
V. Victory, Veterans, Vegan, Vegetarian, Videos (You Tube)
W. Wall Street, workers, Web Site, Workgroup, Welcome Desk, White Shirt, White Collar Crime, Wikileaks, Washington Square, Winter, Weird Red Thing, Walk (To Washington), Whose Street? (Our Street), "Walmart for Rats" Media (Putdown of Zuccotti Park), Wachovia, We Are Everywhere, We Are The 99%, War (No More)
X. Xhale, eXtraordinary
Y. Youth, You Cannot Evict An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Yippie, Yippie Museum
Z. Zuccotti Park, Zephyr the Therapy Dog At Medical Tent
Written as a birthday present for Bea, an Occupier Supremo.
News Dissector Danny Schechter writes the newsdissector.com blog. His new book is
Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street. His latest film is Plunder The Crime Of Our Time (plunderthecrimeofourtime.com.) Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org