Protests that began last month near Wall Street in New York have now spread to other American cities. The Occupy movement differs from the Tea Party movement. Tea Partiers blame big government for the country's economic problems. Occupiers blame big business. One young activist puts it this way.
MAN: "I feel like the middle class has been almost completely wiped out now. Now, you have got the bottom class and the top class."
男子:“我觉得中产阶级现在已几近被完全消灭。现在只有底层阶级和上层阶级。”
Susan Arnett came from California to attend an Occupy DC rally in Washington on Thursday.
来自加州的苏珊·阿内特(Susan Arnett)周四参加了“占领华盛顿”示威活动。
SUSAN ARNETT: "It is about the war. It is about the corruption. It is about the greed."
阿内特:“这次示威活动和战争、腐败、贪婪有关。”
Many protesters said they were inspired by the Arab Spring movement and protests in Europe.
Lourdes Parallobre of Miami says she is about to graduate from a university and owes twenty thousand dollars in student loans.
迈阿密的Lourdes Parallobre表示,她即将大学毕业,欠了2万美元助学贷款。
LOURDES PARALLOBRE: "I have an endless amount of friends who have master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and are working in restaurants. And I am terrified that is going to happen to me."
The protesters marched to the United States Chamber of Commerce and denounced the business interests that the group represents.
示威者游行到美国商会声讨该组织代表的商业利益。
WOMAN: "They are sitting on two trillion dollars in profits right now, corporations are. Their taxes are at their lowest level in fifty years. Our unemployment rate is at nine percent."
The marchers also stopped outside the White House. Inside, at a news conference, a reporter asked President Obama about the movement.
示威者还停留到白宫外。在白宫里的一场新闻发布会上,有记者问及奥巴马总统对这次运动的看法。
BARACK OBAMA: "Obviously I’ve heard of it. I’ve seen it on television. I think it expresses the frustrations that the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street, and yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place. So, yes, I think people are frustrated, and the protestors are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works."
(SINGING: "Wall Street is full of clowns, Wall Street is full of clowns.")
(唱道:“华尔街到处是小丑,华尔街到处是小丑。”)
Occupy Wall Street protesters have camped in New York’s financial district since the middle of September. Police have made hundreds of arrests for blocking traffic.
On Wednesday members of labor unions and community groups joined the demonstrations.
上周三,工会和社会团体成员也加入了这次示威活动。
SPEAKER: "They said they needed to rescue Wall Street and the Big Three automakers to stimulate the economy and that meant jobs. Three years later, there is still no jobs!"
The rally included truck drivers, teachers, nurses and transportation workers.
集会中包括卡车司机、教师、护士和运输工人。
Protesters say the wealthiest one percent of Americans control too much of the nation's wealth. The protesters say they represent the other ninety-nine percent.
示威者表示,美国最富有的1%控制了太多的国家财富。示威者表示他们代表了剩下的99%。
Jason Ahmadi, an organizer, says the movement’s demands are still a work in progress.
组织者之一的贾森·艾哈迈迪(Jason Ahmadi)表示,这次运动仍在发展中。
JASON AHMADI: "Everybody is coming here for their own reason, and we're still shaping unity, and we're coming together, but we're also constantly growing. So it's very difficult to, you know, to make a claim about a demand of the ninety-nine percent."
He notes some of the other cities where protests have taken place.
他注意到了发生示威活动的其他一些城市。
JASON AHMADI: "You know, occupy Los Angeles just happened the other night with three hundred and fifty people, I hear. In San Francisco, in Boston, in Chicago. A lot of us are, you know, inspired by things going on in North Africa, in Spain, in Greece, in London. So, you know, I think this is really something I'd like to see as a global movement that's starting."
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Alex Villarreal.
Contributing: Selah Hennessy, Dan Robinson, Jerome Socolovsky and Carolyn Weaver