About Occupy Tour NYC

March 17th, 2012 was a particularly dark episode within the mythos of the Occupy Movement. The New York Police Department, at the behest of Brookfield Properties, moved into Liberty Square to break up a jubilant celebration of Occupy Wall Street’s half-anniversary. Dozens were brutally arrested (Cecily McMillian, a friend of the tour’s creator, most notably) With the intent of re-shaping the narrative of M17, in honor of those who were subject to trauma three years before, Occupy Tour NYC would be instituted by licensed New York City tour guide and Occupy Movement stalwart, Michael Pellagatti, on St. Patrick’s Day, 2015.

Originally, there was hesitance on Michael’s behalf using the “Occupy” name for his tour. Being among the foundational group which camped out at Zuccotti Park to protest economic injustice in September 2011, it was not lost on Michael that using the Occupy name would create a degree of controversy understanding very well that “No one person can speak for Occupy”. However, with the Occupy Movement’s physical home base being overshadowed by the 9/11 Memorial and Wall Street itself, in addition to feeling slightly uncomfortable with those conducting 9/11 tours, absent of directly being present for the physical recovery effort, a premonition came upon Michael:

“What were to happen if someone who was never involved with the day-to-day of Liberty Square, in the future, decided to create a tour based on Occupy Wall Street, filled with either wrong information, or third hand information without the context of a true first hand account?”

Being in his second year of licensure, Michael was in a position to prevent such a thing from occurring. Before launching Occupy Tour NYC, Michael would ask as many people that he could ask, and specifically those who he knew who were involved with the day-to-day of the New York Occupy chapter (encompassing both mainstream and the more radical branches of the encampment) with a unanimous answer given: “There’s no one better to tell the story.”

On that premise, Occupy Tour NYC was created. This tour is primarily intended for university groups, professors, and educators wanting to better understand Occupy Wall Street from an insider’s perspective. That doesn’t go without saying that this tour is not also for the general public either, wanting something other than the “standard” white washed New York tourism experience. General public participation is strongly encouraged as well. All in all, this is a genuine experience for genuine people, interested not only about Occupy Wall Street but in how working class New Yorkers live and coexist within the city itself.