Fox News: The Nonsense Zone // Who is behind the Occupy Wall Street movement?

IPS is grateful to Bill O'Reilly for this opportunity to showcase our proud history of public scholarship on inequality, peace, justice, and the environment.

The Institute for Policy Studies is honored to join the long list of respected individuals and organizations that Bill O'Reilly has attacked on his Fox News show. During the opening segment of his May 22 tirade, O'Reilly attacked us for serving as the Occupy movement's "headquarters." He even implied that some central figure is making decisions about what color Occupy "agitators" should wear. These are hilarious claims about a movement that defiantly makes decisions through the direct participation of all of its members, rather than in a top-down process. And that would include fashion choices.

We don't know how O'Reilly and his colleagues cooked up their theories. They didn't bother to contact us before staging this attack. But IPS is nevertheless grateful for this opportunity to showcase our proud history of public scholarship on inequality, peace, justice, and the environment.

We have worked on the issue of inequality for two decades. We host one of the leading web sites for facts, figures and analysis, www.inequality.org. Our annual Executive Excess report [1], now in its 18th year, garners major mainstream media coverage on the growing gap between CEO and worker pay. Recently, IPS was invited to give testimony on this research to the Senate Budget Committee. IPS is also doing a great deal of research on the transition away from a speculative Wall Street economy to a green and demilitarized Main Street economy [2].

IPS researchers were very pleased when the Occupy encampments raised awareness of the growing problems with extreme inequality and how war spending fuels the economic crisis. During his broadcast, O'Reilly claimed that the Occupy movement is no longer about inequality. He's wrong. This movement continues to highlight the great divide between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, and it continues to draw attention to how a casino Wall Street has crashed our economy and corrupted our politics. The Occupy movement has brought these vital issues into dinner conversations across this country.

Starting last fall, IPS conducted workshops on inequality, environmental justice, and ending wars, with Occupy DC. We offered to let them use our space for meetings when the weather was bad or on weekends. Two weeks ago, IPS offered them space in our offices where they are producing an online newspaper called DC Mic Check [3]. SEIU, the dynamic union of janitors and other service workers, has made a contribution to help us cover the costs.

IPS is an independent, nonpartisan, and non-profit organization. For nearly half a century, we have worked with and provided research and analysis to a diverse set of social movements, unions, and others for peace, justice, and the environment. Thank you, Bill O'Reilly, for putting us in the spotlight.

John Cavanagh is the director of the Institute for Policy Studies. http://www.ips-dc.org/

[1] http://www.ips-dc.org/campaigns/tax-d...
[2] http://www.neweconomyworkinggroup.org/
[3] http://www.dcmiccheck.org/

• Category

  News & Politics

[dinahmcclure]

I think this might officially be the worst piece of journalism I've ever seen. I'm glad the folks are IPS are taking this exactly as seriously as it deserves to be taken.

[asaisa121]

O'reilly you are a fact changing piece pf sheizza!!!

You spew disinformation and hate.

YOU are probably the worst example of

a journalist that i can think of

[austin dalton]

i still find it funny when occupy DC had an office, we had a picture o bill O'Reiliy up and it said dear leader.

[Jackie Wilson]

We have only just begun. Keep thinking and saying that, it takes courage to stand up for our rights. It takes none to criticize.

[mrfrednoname]

Occupy is dead. Bye.

[Jackie Wilson]

I have to tell you if Soros is funding us, where is the money. Occupiers are broke, but don't care about money, it is only paper. Soon we will all know it is only paper, maybe we will do what Iceland did, hopefully sooner than later.

[Eric Oliver]

don't know whether to click like or dislike! Love the attention for IPS, dislike the lies from Bill....since IPS posted I'll give it a like--keep up the good work!

[mrfrednoname]

In your response, you confirm orielly is correct. OWS is now acting as a wholey owned part of the unions and is firmly entrenched in the extreme left wing. This and its growing use of violence are why its support is sliding away.

[mrfrednoname]

So soro's isn't funding tides, and tides isn't funding occupy???

[mrfrednoname]

I am sure the cop stabed himself. OWS is a marxist

[Jackie Wilson]

You have to laugh. George Soros just put in millions of dollars into the shale industry, an industry Occupy is fighting against due to the damage to our environment, polluting water systems, and rivers. We are working against ourselves I guess. What a crock at Fox.

[IgnacioAgramonte]

FRUSTATION ABOUT THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND THE EVIL ILLUMINATI.