Occupation

An occupation, as an act of protest, is the entry into and holding of a building, space or symbolic site. As such, occupations often combine some of the following elements: a challenge to ownership of the space involved, an effort to gain public attention, the practical use of the facilities occupied, and a redefinition of the occupied space. Occupations may be conducted nonviolently, or with varying degrees of physical force to obtain and defend the place occupied. Occupations may be brief or they may extend for weeks, months or years. In some cases of long-term occupation, the term protest camp may be applied, although occupation often connotes the use of space without permission or in defiance of governmental authority.

Notable protest occupations

• The 1968 Columbia Student Strike.
• The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
• The 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by American Indians.
• The 1969 occupation of City College by a group consisting largely of Black and Puerto Rican students that demanded and won open admissions at CUNY.
• The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in England which began protesting the placement of nuclear-armed cruise missiles in 1981.
• The 1936-37 GM Sit-Down Strike, in Flint, Michigan.
• The February 2008 occupation of Symphony Way by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers after the largest home invasion in South Africa's history. Residents have occupied the main thoroughfare for 1 year and 9 months.
• The wave of Student Occupations at universities across the UK in early 2009 [1] [2].
• The flux of student occupations at universities in New York City over the 2008-9 year, including NYU and the New School.
• The 2009 UC Santa Cruz occupation of a Graduate Student Commons [3][4].

Major forms of occupation as protest include

• Sit-ins
• Sit-down strikes
• Peace camps conducted on disputed territory, e.g. at Camp Humphreys

This activism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e