Occupy Wall Street's Tumblr is heart-wrenching
(CBS) - For those of you who are following the Occupy Wall Street protests, we found this Tumblr blog that pulls at our heart strings.
"We are the 99 percent" is a Tumblr blog that has people posting tales of their personal struggles via photo essays. While the more vocal are showing up on the streets of downtown Manhattan, these people are simply telling their stories.
It's a quiet, yet powerful use of blogging to add diverse voices to the cause. Every story is as moving as the next. From middle-aged women who've lost their homes due to mortgage fraud to graduates with master's degrees and PhDs unable to find work to pay off student loans.
Perhaps they can all be summed up best by this statement: "All I want is a roof over my head, food on the table, and the dignity of an honest paycheck. Is that asking too much? I am the 99% [sic]."
The Occupy Wall Street movement began in mid-September as a small group who camped out at Liberty Square in downtown Manhattan. The protesters call themselves the "99 percent," as in they are not the wealthy 1 percent of the country. While the website claims there is no leader, they are organized.
The protesters are using social media in ways that are similar to the Middle East protests last spring, except for one major advantage: this is a free speech society.
Aside from the obvious Twitter and Facebook accounts, protesters have posted Vimeo documentaries, YouTube videos, real-time Livestream videos and Google groups and calendars.
This movement is wired.
We're still not 100 percent sure what kinds of solutions the 99 percent are proposing, but it is fascinating to see the role social media in protests like these. Access to footage on the ground has drummed up interest from all over the country, and even sparked new protests in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
