--- title: Occupy Wall Street 5th Anniversary: 5 Essential Reads description: On Occupy Wall Street's fifth anniversary, take a look back at TIME's coverage of the protest movement and its influence canonical: https://time.com/4484279/occupy-wall-street-5-years/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-16T14:30:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:28:50.491Z article:section: History og:title: Occupy Your Time with 5 Essential Reads on Occupy Wall Street og:description: The populist movement first made news on Sept. 17, 2011 og:url: https://time.com/4484279/occupy-wall-street-5-years/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf115fe5f51ed4b36/6988a5690b72e3250d6eaf13/rtr2s386.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Occupy Wall Street protesters meditate while a sign bearing their twitter handle hangs from a railing in Zuccotti Park in New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Occupy Your Time with 5 Essential Reads on Occupy Wall Street twitter:description: The populist movement first made news on Sept. 17, 2011 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf115fe5f51ed4b36/6988a5690b72e3250d6eaf13/rtr2s386.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Essential Occupy Wall Street Stories  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 16, 2016 2:30 PM UTC  Occupy Wall Street protesters meditate while a sign bearing their Twitter handle hangs from a railing in Zuccotti Park in New York City, Oct. 1, 2011. Occupy Wall Street protesters meditate while a sign bearing their Twitter handle hangs from a railing in Zuccotti Park in New York City, Oct. 1, 2011.Jessica Rinaldi—Reuters  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Sep 16, 2016 2:30 PM UTC _Five years ago, on Sept. 17, 2011, people who identified themselves as part of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement began sleeping in Zuccotti Park in Manhattan’s financial district. Their demands were varied, but they claimed to represent the 99% of Americans who were struggling economically, railing against the world’s wealthiest—”the 1%”—and corporations with too much influence on Washington. Thousands of arrests later, and even after the NYPD cleaned up the park, protests continued nationwide._ **In the beginning:** TIME’s [reporter on the scene](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/09/29/occupy-wall-street-12-days-and-little-sign-of-slowing-down/) described the miniature city inside the public plaza: --- > “” --- **The politics:** The movement got [cover billing on TIME’s Oct. 24, 2011 issu](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2096848,00.html)[e](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2096848,00.html). The story wove in public opinion, which seemed to support the movement at the time, and the progressive agenda of the Obama White House. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) **TIME’s Person of the Year:** The magazine’s recognition of “The Protester” included the Occupiers, as the [magazine](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745%5F2102139,00.html) deemed 2011 an “unprecedented, uncanny year of insurrection”: --- > “” --- **One year later:** Did OWS make a difference? By the fall of 2012, TIME argued that the anger at the big banks prompted them to “backpedal and [abandon their plans](http://moneyland.time.com/2011/10/29/banks-back-off-unpopular-debit-card-fees/) to charge for debit-card use,” while community banks and credit unions gained more customers “at least temporarily.” With student debt reported at $1 trillion, the White House also announced plans to “let former students more easily consolidate their debts at a lower interest rate.” **Other populist movements:** When TIME [profiled](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-runner-up-black-lives-matter/) the Black Lives Matter protesters who were on the 2015 shortlist for Person of the Year, the magazine noted that the movements that followed Occupy chronologically did not necessarily follow OWS tactics: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4484279/occupy-wall-street-5-years/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4484279/occupy-wall-street-5-years/"},"headline":"5 Essential Occupy Wall Street Stories","datePublished":"2016-09-16T14:30:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:28:50.491Z","description":"The populist movement first made news on Sept. 17, 2011","url":"https://time.com/4484279/occupy-wall-street-5-years/","keywords":["Economy","Money","protest","social justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf115fe5f51ed4b36/6988a5690b72e3250d6eaf13/rtr2s386.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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