The end of "Occupy"?

Walking down the sidewalk these days, it’s not uncommon to hear people ask each other what happened to Occupy Wall Street, in the same way they might ask, “What ever happened to so-and-so from way back? She had so much potential.” The answer is almost always that the person never reached the level others had believed she would — that she’d failed and was now a waitress at the diner in the town she’d never left. That’s not exactly what happened to Occupy Wall Street, but it’s close. The movement didn’t fail, but rather fell short, stalled, and is now battling internal obstacles as preparations for a second phase get underway.

Just as millions of Americans banked on Obama’s “Change You Can Believe In” rhetoric four years ago and thought he could erase eight years of damage overnight, some people thought Occupy Wall Street could create instant change. And now, six months after the movement began, it’s clear that a lack of organization caused it to plateau. Protesters chose to gather before figuring out what they wanted and decided to organize themselves around parks rather than issues. They aimed their anger at unrealistic targets instead of tackling specific issues, amassing simple wins, and building a following based on a track record of success.

Todd Gitlin, a professor at Columbia University and author of Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street, said things might have played out that way for any number of reasons: a refusal to acknowledge leaders, a failure to demand complete nonviolence, and even an inability to control the media’s portrayal of the movement’s intentions. “They now have a very serious problem of maintaining momentum and developing some kind of structure, which is conducive to next steps, and they’re not there,” he said. “And they might not be able to get there.” But Gitlin, a former leader of the 1960s activist group Students for a Democratic Society, acknowledged that Occupy Wall Street is still nascent, and that movements go through this as they seek to mature, though sometimes die in the process.