I read Occupy by Noam Chomsky, which is a series of lectures that he gave between 2011 and 2012. The videos above are from the first lecture in the book, which he gave in Howard Zinn's Memorial, an American activist and historian.
Noam Chomsky is a Professor at MIT in America, but he actively supports movements like this an gives talks expressing his ideas.
He did not start the Occupy movement, nobody specifically did, but his Lectures have been used by many people in the Occupy movement as a source of motivation. He talks in his lectures about what changes need to be made and how.
However, a like many people in the Occupy movement, he's not entirely concrete in his knowledge of how. He leaves this for the masses to decide. But is this a strong enough base for the masses to make a difference? In the past change has come about as a result of having a strong leader - Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Although Occupy's way of working is democratic because there is no leader, what way are they going to get their ideas for change heard if they're all saying different things at the same time. The Occupy movement talks about all the things that are wrong with society but there's been no say of how we can change them. Even Noam Chomsky can't answer it and that's what I think makes this movement weak - until it has something or someone that can embody the force of the changes wanted. But, I think that also makes the movement interesting - to see what change arises from it.
From reading this book, I feel like I understand my character's confusion, anger and desperate defensiveness at the child going out to the protest because this protest isn't concrete. They're fighting for many things but don't know how they want those things to be changed.
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