Panel Focuses on Occupy Wall Street Movement

Around the nation, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been catching media attention as quickly as the tent cities have been springing up.

On Wednesday night, the Americans for an Informed Democracy (AID) brought a discussion about this movement through a panel called "#Occupy Wall Street: Liberal Tea Party?" before a crowded audience in Fulton.

AID coordinated the discussion in an effort to bring an academic perspective of the movement to the student body.

"We pride ourselves with moving faster than other student organizations in bring current political discussions to the student body. [Through this event] we are looking at the Occupy and Tea Party movements from an academic, political science view," said Jayson Joyce, AID president and A&S '12.

AID is a non-partisan initiative that seeks to inspire a new generation of internationalist leaders and promote a United States foreign policy appropriate for an interdependent world. Their mission is to increase global understanding and consciousness by broadening the set of issues discussed in relation to the role of the U.S. in the world. AID's mission is rooted in the fundamental belief that mutual understanding between states facilitates policy cooperation by bringing attention to common ground and collaborative opportunities.

Joyce said a discussion of both the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements speak to the mission of AID.

"We believe this event speaks to the mission statement of AID. AID, as our title suggests, brings current political issues for student discussion. The Tea Party and Occupy movements are both important issues and we wanted to create a panel for student discussion," Joyce said.

Panelists William Mayer, professor of political science at Northeastern University, Kay Schlozman, professor of political science at Boston College, Rich Howell, founder of the Pioneer Valley Tea Party in Massachusetts, and Steven Squibb, an English graduate student at Harvard University who has been volunteering in the media tent of Occupy Boston, spoke of the similarities between the Occupy and Tea Party movements in their respective growth, motivation, goals, and directions.

The Occupy movement began a few weeks ago in New York City, and since has spread to 80 cities and has expanded globally. The New York Times has reported that the movement arose partly due to the reaction of liberals to the summer's debt-ceiling debate, though no cohesive agenda or goals have been articulated by the various groups of people participating in the movement. The Occupy Wall Street movement has since spread to Boston, where over 100 participants have been arrested.

Squibb, who is on the frontlines of the Occupy Boston movement, began his assessment of the situation by clarifying he does not speak for the whole movement.

"I don't speak for the movement. Everyone down there has completely different views," Squibb said.

Squibb said that both the Tea Party and the Occupy movements have their roots in the economic situation. Though they have different responses to the economic situation, converging opinions are beginning to surface.

"There is a great deal of emerging consensus on the left and right. I see that every day. I sit in a tent all day with Ron Paul supporters and there is an emerging consensus of, well, one of the many buzz words they use is ‘keeping Wall Street out of government,'" Squibb said.

Mayer spoke of different common threads between the Tea Party movement and the emerging Occupy movement, specifically the fundamental sincerity inherent in both.