page_title: Reactions to Occupy Wall Street
section_title: Authors and academics
hierarchical_section_title: Reactions to Occupy Wall Street / Political response / Other notable responses / Authors and academics
caption_attribution_description: English: Naomi Klein on Thursday, Day 21, of Occupy Wall Street. Klein led an open forum at the event.
context_page_description: The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations garnered reactions of both praise and criticism from organizations and public figures in many parts of the world. Over time, a long list of notable people from a range of backgrounds began and continue to lend their support or make reference to the Occupy movement in general.
  Domestic political responses have been both positive and critical, from the President of the United States to the 2012 presidential candidates.
  International responses have come from the Egyptian protesters of Tahrir Square, Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Chinese state news agency, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and many others. Most international responses have been supportive of the movement, while some, such as former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair have criticized it.
context_section_description: Kate Pickett, coauthor of The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, said in The Guardian that "Few doubt that it was the actions of the rich and the super-rich, the 1%, that created the crisis. But sadly, debate has not yet been translated into action ... This is why we need the Occupy movement and the staunch actions of the trade unions – why we need protest and demonstrations and activism."
  Canadian writer Naomi Klein has spoken at the protest several times. Writing in the New York Times she said she is "delighted" that OWS has not given in to issuing a list of demands. "This is a young movement still in the process of determining just how powerful it is, and that power will determine what demands are possible. Small movements have to settle for small reforms: big ones have the freedom to dream."
  Professor and author Cornel West addressed the frustrations that some critics have expressed at the protest's lack of a clear and unified message, saying, "It's impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We're talking about a democratic awakening."
  Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig who has called for a Second Constitution of the United States agreed with the demands of OWS protestors but felt that too many demands generated "noise"; he called for clarity.
  Philosopher Slavoj Žižek gave a speech on Wall Street in which he expressed support for the protests saying, "They tell you we are dreamers. The true dreamers are those who think things can go on indefinitely the way they are. We are not dreamers. We are awakening from a dream which is turning into a nightmare."
  On November 15, when police closed the park to overnight use by the protesters, Chris Hedges, who has been participating since the onset, wrote in his weekly column that he believed that through a rigid adherence to nonviolence and a verbal respect for the police, the movement would continue to move forward to see the realization of its goals. Author Barbara Ehrenreich, in response to the dismantling of the occupations, stated that "One of the appalling things here is that there are so many Democratic mayors involved in these crackdowns or in Bloomberg's case, someone who is seen as a liberal."
  Over one thousand authors have announced their support for the movement via "Occupy Writers", an online petition that states "We, the undersigned writers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world." The initiative began when Jeff Sharlet e-mailed Salman Rushdie to suggest a petition for writers who support Occupy Wall Street, and signatories range the spectrum of literary genres and academic disciplines and include Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Neil Gaiman, Daniel Handler also known as Lemony Snicket, and Alice Walker. The site also features original work from the writers expressing their take on the Occupy movement.
  Authors and academics supporting include professor of economics and best-selling author Ravi Batra, anthropologist David Graeber, Stéphane Hessel, Nobel Prize–winning economists Paul Krugman, and Joseph Stiglitz, Jeff Madrick, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and professor of economics Richard D. Wolff.
caption: Naomi Klein leading an open forum on October 6
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