Occupy Salt Lake City was a collaboration that began on October 6, 2011 at Pioneer Park in downtown
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, and has included protests and demonstrations. The protests were based on the
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to t ...
movement that started in New York City on September 17, 2011. The Occupy Salt Lake City mission is to stand in solidarity with those also protesting in Wall Street, the United States, and around the world.
As of June 2012, Occupy Salt Lake City had continued to engage in organized meetings, events and actions.
Background
The protest in Salt Lake City began with two demonstrations in the same day, one starting at 10 am and another at 6 pm. This protest began in front of the Utah State Capitol and marched through downtown by the financial district, passing by the office buildings of Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and the Federal Reserve. The movement in Salt Lake City began with organization meeting at the amphitheater in the downtown Salt Lake City Library with about 80-300 people in attendance. The day of the protest, the Facebook page of Occupy Salt Lake City had almost 7000 followers.
Utah public officials showed support for the protestors rights of peaceful protest and free speech, such as Congressman Jason Chaffetz and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. The encampment was officially evicted by police on November 12 when a homeless man was found dead in his tent due to asphyxiation, from a portable heater, in his sleep.
Cooperation with city officials
City officials faced rumors recently that they would not renew the protestors city permit to camp in Pioneer park. After one of the Occupy Salt Lake City organizers receive a letter from the city, he published a post expressing concern over possible forced removal from the camp location by the city police. However, after discussions with city officials and Occupy organizers, the rumors were proved to be false. The issue was a miscommunication and was quickly resolved. The Chief of the Salt Lake Police Department commented on the issue and stated that there has never been any intention to stop protestors, and has praised Occupy SLC organizers for their great cooperation with the police and city officials. One organizer commented and hopes to avoid any civil disobedience, however, stated that disobedience will occur if protestors were forced to leave.
[Liesik, Geoff]
"Occupy Salt Lake City won't get booted from Pioneer Park"
''Deseret News'', October 20, 2011
Conflicts
There have been some concern over reports about safety in amongst the protestors in Pioneer Park. One protest organizer stated that there were growing internal conflicts when it came to fights between people, sexual harassment, threats, and graffiti.
[ Also, over the last month there was concern over whether or not the protests would get in the way of the local farmers market that is held every Saturday in Pioneer Park.
]
Expansion
The Occupy movement in Utah started to grow in October and November 2011 with a new campsite in Salt Lake City in front of the Federal Reserve Bank Building and new demonstrations appearing in the cities of Ogden and Park City.[Smart, Christophe]
''The Salt Lake Tribune'', November 4, 2011
See also
Occupy articles
* Timeline of Occupy Wall Street
* We are the 99%
We are the 99% is a political slogan widely used and coined during the 2011 Occupy movement. The phrase directly refers to the income and wealth inequality in the United States, with a concentration of wealth among the top-earning 1%. It r ...
Other Protests
* 15 October 2011 global protests
The 15 October 2011 global protests were part of a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the Icelandic protests, the Portuguese "Geração à Rasca", the Spanish "Indignants", the Greek protests, and the Occupy movement. The protes ...
* 2011 United States public employee protests
In February 2011, a series of public employee protests began in the United States against proposed legislation which would weaken the power of labor unions. By March, eighteen states had proposed legislation which would remove some collective barg ...
* 2011 Wisconsin protests
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12
* one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''E ...
Related articles
* Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...
* Corruption Perceptions Index
* Economic inequality
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...
* Grassroots movement
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...
* Income inequality in the United States
* Lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
* Plutocracy
A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any establishe ...
* Protest
A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one.
Protests can be thought of as acts of cooper ...
* Tea Party protests
The Tea Party protests were a series of protests throughout the United States that began in early 2009. The protests were part of the larger political Tea Party movement. Most Tea Party activities have since been focused on opposing efforts ...
* Wealth inequality in the United States
Wealth inequality in the United States is the unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States. Wealth commonly includes the values of any homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments, as wel ...
References
External links
*
Occupy Salt Lake City Oral History Interviews
{{Occupy movement
Occupy movement in the United States
2011 in Utah