In mid-2011, the Canadianbased group Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anticonsumerist magazine Abusters,

proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, address a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.

Adbusters' Kalle Lasn, said:

When the financial meltdown happened, there was a feeling that, "Wow, things are going to change. Obama is going to pass all kinds of laws, and we are going to have a different kind of banking system, and we are going to take these financial fraudsters and bring them to justice."

There was a feeling like, "Hey, we just elected a guy who may actually do this." In a way, there wasn't this desperate edge. Among the young people there was a very positive feeling. And then slowly this feeling that he's a bit of a gutless wonder slowly crept in, and now we're despondent again.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference,

"People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we'll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it

Salon wrote two lines:

FOCUS

Those who want to draft focused demands about the unequal distribution of wealth in the United States; and those who want the protest to remain amorphous(faces of defenses trying helplessly to stop) and to grow through spectacle(witnessed by many and met with wide community approval).

The protest has been criticized for lack of focus and actionable agenda. "The groups lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to progressivism rather than practice it knowledgeably is unsettling in the face of the challenges so many of its generation face Finding work, repaying student loans, figuring out ways to finish college when money has run out."

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the power and influence over government of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and of lobbyists. The participants' slogan "We are the 99%" refers to the difference in wealth between the top 1% and the other citizens of the United States.

The movement has been criticized for having no goals or formal demands.

On October 15, an attendee of "The New York City General Assembly", the governing body of the group, said that demands have been brought up, but "they were shot down vociferously(usually offensively loud) under the argument that demands are for terrorists and that is not who we are.
On October 15, tens of thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in 900 cities around the world.

Protests were largely peaceful, however a protest in Rome that drew thousands turned violent when "a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe" caused extensive damage. Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered in Times Square in New York City and rallied for several hours. Several hundred protesters were arrested across the U.S., Multiple arrests were reported in Chicago, and about 150 people camped out by city hall in Minneapolis.