Occupy Wall Street

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2020

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2011, the Occupy movement staged demonstrations against financial inequality across the world. The biggest was in New York, where a retired police officer called Ray Lewis became one of the best-known protestors when he was arrested in his old dress uniform. He talks to Robbie Wojciechowski.

PHOTO: Ray Lewis at the Occupy Wall Street protest (Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History from the BBC World Service. History is told by people who were there.
0:48.0	I'm Robbie Vochoski and today we're going back to 2011 to the protest against inequality in New York City which
0:54.9	became known as Occupy Wall Street. I've been talking to a retired police
0:58.5	officer whose arrest at the demonstration made front pages around the world. I had no plans to get arrested that day whatsoever.
1:10.0	It was November 17th, my birthday.
1:12.4	In November 2011, It was
1:15.0	outside the New York Stock Exchange with protesters from the Occupy Movement.
1:19.0	They were demanding a complete overhaul of the financial system which they blamed for massive
1:24.4	inequality in the US and beyond.
1:26.4	Occupy Wall Street, we shall not be moved.
1:30.8	Occupy Wall Street. Well I'm standing there for about 20 minutes. Next thing I know these young people are all
1:39.4	sitting down committing civil disobedience in the street and the police are dragging them away and
1:44.9	arresting them. I see this and it was like one line after another of these young
1:50.6	people they could have been beaten. they did not know how they'd be
1:54.8	physically handled and yet they were willing to take that risk.
1:58.6	The rich banker the bailout funds it'll trickle down like sewage does.
	...

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