The financial crisis that began in 2008 heightened concerns about global inequality. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of those concerns in the United States was the Occupy Wall Street movement. Central to the movement was the claim that the world’s financial and economic systems were designed to advance the interests of the wealthiest 1 percent of the world’s population, leaving the remaining 99 percent to shoulder the costs associated with the further enrichment of the already rich. As you read the movement’s description of what it stands for, ask yourself how and why a movement that was sparked by a crisis in the U.S. financial system evolved into a call for global revolution.

Click here to see “Occupy Wall Street.”

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION