About the riots

Gabriela Lazr

[About the riots]

It all started with the Egyptian riot, where thousands of young individuals occupied the Tahrir market in Cairo.Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that started on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattans Financial District, has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally and fights back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement aims to fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future. There are a lot of factors producing a protest movement, in which we can include: poverty, social tensions, relative deprivation, discontents. To these causes we can also add the circumstantial causes, like temperature, selection of targets, the presence of law forces.In the 1960s, sociologists and psychologists concluded that a protest movement begins when peoples expectations had rised, because their satisfaction level also increased, therefore the same level of living wasnt enough for them. James C. Davies illustrated these hypothesis in the J curve theory.Even if they have a decent life, people perceive, by comparison, that they are disadvantaged, so they start protesting: they demand higher salaries, lower taxes. The difference between what individuals think they deserve and the possibility of society to give them their always rising demandes(once a luxury fulfilled it becomes a necessity) generates the riot of the masses. We can say that the events occurring in USA influenced the recent protests in Bucharest. They have similar but also different demands. For example, the Romanians also request the demission of the president and anticipated elections, better laws, all in all not only economical goals, like the Americans, but also political. Like the OWS movement, the Romanian riot also spread all over the country, making people to go out in the street to shout their discontents. A big influence have the circumstantial factors also. The good weather helps people to be persistent in their behavior. Researchers concluded that in 60% of the riot cases, the weather was favorable for the protestants.The Media and the spread of social networks has a very important role in the propaganda for the protests. Nowadays, through Twitter, Facebook its easier to plan a meeting, to convince people to participate, the social influence being easier to be applied.