I attended the Occupy Wall Street teach-in at Queens College on Thursday, November 18th. The teach in provided some background information on the Occupy Wall Street movement, such as its start date, which was September 17th, and the founders of the movement, Ad Busters. The teach in did not provide very useful information on what the movement is moving towards; what are its goals, how does it plan to achieve them, and what need to change in society today? The teach-in mainly focused on activism as a whole, and how to become and activist. After leaving the teach-in I was just as confused as I was before attending. “99%”, “disenfranchisement”, “lay offs”, and other terms are being thrown around without being explained. After doing some research on my own, I discovered that the Occupy Wall Street web site outlines a list of accusations against corporate America. These claims include illegal foreclosures, perpetuating inequality, unjust bailouts, and criminal activity abroad. So its clear that this is an anti-corporate movement nostalgic of the 1960’s hippie movement.

Similar to the hippie movement of the 1960’s, Occupy Wall Street is seeped in artistic practices such as painting and music. Rolling Stone posted an article explaining Occupy Wall Street’s relationship to art. “[…] on any given day in downtown Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street protestors can be witnessed huddling around guitarists or poets as they articulate the grievances of the crowd through song and verse.” Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, artist Wolf Geyr, and even musician Kanye West have shown up in Zuccotti park to show their support. There is even an exhibit in the old JP Morgan building of all of the visual art inspired by the recent event of Occupy Wall Street. With such an emphasis on art, it’s a wonder how Occupy Wall Street reconciles the long standing relationship between corporations and art. Numerous museums have been founded by philanthropists, such as The Rubin Museum by Donald Rubin, a big player in health insurance companies. Andrew Carnegie, the steel industry tycoon himself said the charity is best invested in public works, especially in the arts. He founded Carnegie Hall, one of the mot recognizable attractions of New York. Even Tom Morello’s band, Rage Against the Machine, which built its musical career on leftist anti-corporate rants, was sponsored by a sub-company of Sony Music. The park that Occupy Wall Street stood in is owned by Brookfield Office Properties, who allocated the park to public use. Although corporate America may not be completely innocent, the contributions it has made to the arts alone raises eyebrows when under scrutiny from such an artistic crowd.