Ten years ago this month, the story goes, a few dozen activists squatted in Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street. Three years had passed since Barack Obama declared “the audacity of hope”; now came the autumn of despair, fury and hand-painted placards. (“THIS IS THE 1ST TIME I’VE FELT HOPEFUL IN A VERY LONG TIME.” “Am I dressed too nice so the media doesn’t interview me?” “TEAR DOWN WALL STREET GREED BEFORE IT TEARS DOWN THE WORLD.” “I’LL BELIEVE CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE WHEN TEXAS EXECUTES ONE.” “SCREW US AND WE MULTIPLY.”) They set up tents, and a kitchen, and Wi-Fi for blogging and livestreaming, and congregated for meetings wherein anyone could speak up and the crowd would repeat, phrase by phrase, what the speaker said (they called this the human mic) and, to signal agreement, wiggled their fingers instead of applauding.
