Among the criticisms and “observations” of the Occupy Wall Street protests put forth by the corporate, bloviators are:
they have no leadership,
they have no specific focus,
they have no clear demands
and it's completely chaotic.
That is, in fact, all true and it's the real strength of the movement.
My reason and opinion below the orange squiggly thing.
“Leaders”? Leaders become the face of the movement and the movement, in turn, is defined by them – at least in the perception of the general population and that promoted by the MSM. As a consequence the movement could fail if the leadership “fails”. And, that failure could be fabricated or engineered by the opposition to the movement.
It's rare to see a single individual successfully lead and maintain a movement that brings about widespread social or economic change (and that's not necessary good change). The last positive societal change with an identified leader I can recalled was the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King.
The anti-war protesters of the late 60's and early 70's were instrumental in the ending of the Vietnam war. They were not the single force, but they brought about the public opposition to the war. The movement had no single leader.
Focus? There is no specific focus because there are many grievances and the thrust of the movement is not toward a single issue. The movement is for change in a system that allowed the crashing of the economy, the enormous gap in wealth, the lack of oversight and regulation, the waste of lives and and money in unnecessary wars, a nation where large parts of its infrastructure is on the verge of catastrophic collapse, no decent jobs and a Congress that is for sale to the highest bidder and has some of the dumber than dirt individuals among its members in my memory…...the list goes on.
Demands? That's a simple answer. Change the dysfunctional system to one which benefits all the population and the nation not just the wealthy and become a nation that leads rather than one that tries to coerces and dominate the rest of the planet.
Chaotic? Without some chaos in a society change will never occur. It is in the soup of chaos that new insights, new ideas, new solutions and new art arises.
Societies that are rigid, stratified and controlling can not adapt to change and will ultimately fail – the USSR is a recent example. On the other hand societies that are in complete chaos are also failed states – Somali is evidence of that.
But all vibrant societies that have found the balance between the extremes are stable, productive, inventive and progressive societies; societies that allow the freedom to explore new ideas and places appropriate restrictions on those that confuse freedom with license to do any thing they want.
Our society is becoming increasingly more rigid, stratified and controlling, and works in the interest of the wealthy and powerful. Elites that have little or no contact with those “beneath their station” except for the toadies that surround them and, with rare exception, have no empathy with their “lessors” or sympathy for them. Basically, most fit the definition of sociopaths.
They confuse their monetary worth with their personal worth.
WTF do those people want?
FIX THE FUCKING SYSTEM !
I think that's what they want.