Since they were raided by the NYPD in early November and the protesters were forced out of their encampment in Zuccotti Park, the occupy movement seemed, to those uninformed, dead in the water. However, for those truly paying attention to the movement, they knew that it would not just roll over because the encampment was destroyed. And, as 2012 moved on, occupywallst.org and other supporters started to spread the word about a general strike on May 1st, May Day, which has long stood as International Workers Day in over 80 countries.
The call to action was simple: those who support the occupy movement’s message would not go to school or work, and instead, spend time with fellow occupiers, or just with friends and family doing something more worthwhile. What the strike organizers wanted was a day without the 99%. A day where the protesters voices would be heard the loudest.
It was quite apparent throughout the day that the mainstream media wanted nothing to do with this protest. There was very little, if any coverage about the fact that in cities all across the world, regular people were protesting the 1% and the governments that allow them to run amok. occupywallst.org had an excellent live timeline that gave realtime information as to what was going on at several protests all over the world. Personally, when I read this live timeline, I felt good about where the protest was going and felt that a positive message was being spread.
As the day wore on however, news came out of Seattle of protesters clad in all black smashing windows and being violent. The media latched onto this story quickly and it started to spread throughout the internet and television in another attempt to marginalize the movement and state that all occupy protesters are uncivilized and destructive. The real story should have been about a couple of bad eggs who were using the protest as a cover so that they could be destructive. But the media, despite resistance everywhere, is still trying to frame the occupiers as a group of non-driven, unemployed youth. And it fits within a larger scope of a war on youth.
In retrospect, the May Day general strike was probably not as successful as the movement organizers would have wanted. But, in this blogger’s humble opinion, it will act as a jump off point for even more action and more protests taking place as the weather gets warmer and the ramifications of an election with two candidates who are already bought and paid for in Mitt Romney and incumbent Barack Obama.
Post by Chad Favazza.
occupycollege 
I read through the timeline, it was a cool way to give some context to what was happening out in the streets. It was valuable that included it as a link in your post. I think one of the major reasons why strike day was not as successful as the movement organizers would have wanted is that a large majority of the public just doesn’t know about it. Yes, it is due mostly because it is not mediated by large media but then the burden must fall on the organizers. I saw one poster on all of UMass about strike day and, until I read your post, I assumed it was meant only for the campus and not for the larger public. Since we discussed that alternative media is preaching to the choir, and if it large media refuse to broadcast it then there needs to be a concerted effort by the movement itself. Something, anything, poster and flyers in the streets, in major cities across the nation would at least serve to get the word out.