Author Reflects on Occupy Movement’s Influence on Harvard

Author Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky ’07 discussed on Tuesday evening the Occupy movements of 2011, and its influence on social movements.

Speaking at the Kennedy School to an audience of students, staff, and local residents, Gould-Wartofsky reflected on his own experience participating in and writing about the movement, saying he believes the “moment” changed the way Americans perceive issues of class, race, and inequality.

“Occupy was not a social movement, but rather a point of unity between multiple social movements with distinct issues and interests,” Gould-Wartofsky said.

Gould-Wartofsky gave an overview of Occupy’s history and significance, applying lessons of its influence to more recent social movements, such as Black Lives Matter and Fight for $15, a campaign for a higher minimum wage. According to Gould-Wartofsky, the recent revival of income inequality in public and political discourse can be attributed to the legacy of Occupy.

“The ‘one percent’ was a language that could bring class politics back into mainstream discourse without alienating American publics in the process,” Gould-Wartofsky said, referencing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign as an example.

Gould-Wartofsky argued that the influence of Occupy translated far beyond electoral politics.

“This is going to be more than one election cycle, and this is going to have more than a diffuse impact on the individual preferences expressed on secret ballots in periodic elections,” Gould-Wartofsky said.

He also drew upon his own experience with activism as an undergraduate at Harvard.

“Before 2011, we very much saw ourselves as a militant minority, who were fighting the good fight with some of our allies, employees and workers on this campus, very much in minority spheres, and almost accepting and embracing that role,” he said.

Kennedy School lecturer Timothy P. McCarthy ’93, who moderated the discussion, emphasized the role that campus activism, at Harvard and elsewhere, can play in changing views on inequality.

Referring to Harvard closure of the gates of Harvard Yard during the Occupy Harvard movement, McCarthy said he has never seen the University react in the way it did then.

“There was something about Occupy Harvard, a little piece of this Occupy moment, that was so threatening to the institution, that it literally excluded its members,” he said.

Edward B. Childs, a chef in Adams House, attended the discussion because of his interest in Occupy’s significance. Childs is also a chief steward of the Harvard dining hall workers in the Local 26 union of hospitality workers.