Will be published in UVU Review
Tuesday, November 8th the group, Occupy Provo and various UVU Professors will be answering questions from UVU students in regards to the nationwide movement of Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Provo is a group that has branched off from Occupy Wall Street and consists of mainly college students who are in the active pursuit of making change to help Americans have better lives. “This movement, it’s message, and it’s demands are simply shouting back to us the very values that we already have,” said Dr. Minch, Director of Peace and Justice at UVU. “We need to get over that fear which keeps some of us from hearing our own values presented back to us. I think that's the heart of the issue.”
Dr. Minch further explained that The Occupy Wall Street Movement is a battle of social and economical classes. He said that the movement was about our values as people and that everyone deserves a decent life.
“In contrary to UVU, the people at the forefront of this are college students. The bill is going to come due. If things don’t change dramatically, people your age are going to have a very diminished life,” said Dr. Minch. “This is the first generation in American History, where you will not have a quality life as good as your parents. I hope we are wrong about that, but that is the widely held view of things.”
The Occupy Wall Street movement kicked off their first protest September 17th, 2011 in New York City. Through using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, The Occupy Movement has since then, spread dramatically to various cities across The United States. However, most stories that are making mainstream news are stories which discuss violence, arrests, and demonstration lock-downs.
“The government themselves are putting so much effort into trying to silence us and trying to silence the message,” said Tyler Galovich, a head volunteer for Occupy Salt Lake. “Our main point in which we all standby is we want corporate money out of the government. All we want, is there to be a regulation.”
The Occupy Wall Street Movement’s ultimate concern is that the government is putting profit before people. Protesters across The United States have chanted, “We are the 99% and you are the 99%.” When asked the difference between the 99% and the 1%, Occupy Provo explained that the 99% are the people who mostly make up our country and the 1% are those that make over $8 million dollars year in The United States.
“If you don’t know what the movement is about, if you disagree with us, if you are for the movement, whatever your stance is you should come and initiate a dialogue with us. Go to the source and get the information.” said Jessica Burnham, spokesperson of Occupy Provo.
When asked why students should care about this movement, Dr. Minch responded, “They should care because their future and their children's future are imperiled.”
Dr. Minch suggested that students who are interested in the movement can come to the Occupy Provo discussion this Tuesday in the library or by getting involved in the movement in Salt Lake or Provo.
The Occupy Provo group has general assemblies at 7:00 o’clock each night at the Broiler Express on 1620 North 200 West Street in Provo, Utah. The meetings are organized and are conducted parliamentary style. Occupy Provo also has a facebook page that is updated regularly.
There will be a discussion about the Occupy Wall Street Movement this Tuesday, November 8th on UVU campus in the library auditorium at 2:30 PM. There will be a panel of professors from UVU, including Dr. Minch, and they will be answering any questions that students may have in regards to the movement.
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