海角大神

As Occupy Wall Street聽mobilized for its May Day of global action, many who watched the tent-powered聽movement flower last fall wondered if this day would mark the group鈥檚 spring awakening or offer final聽proof聽that the movement died when the snow fell and the campers went home.聽

Though Occupy鈥檚 initial successes have had a lasting impact on the national conversation and political agenda, analysts say, the movement is still plagued by a lack of focus and faces a struggle to recapture public support.

While solidarity actions have continued sporadically from coast to聽coast for the past six months,聽the kinds of clashes and high-profile media coverage that聽defined the movement鈥檚 first four months have largely stopped.

Activists say their work has just begun.

鈥淲e are most definitely still here,鈥� says David Intrator, a New York filmmaker and musician who says anyone who thinks the Occupy movement has died doesn鈥檛 understand the endeavor. 鈥淲e are here for the long haul,鈥� he says. "We are the Energizer聽bunny of social movements,鈥澛燽ecause the goal is consciousness-raising, not merely creating platforms or agendas.

That larger goal aside, however, he points to what he calls a season of聽progress.

Since its eviction from New York鈥檚 Zuccotti Park in mid-November, Occupy Wall Street has grown into a movement with many centers and many actions, he says.

At least聽10 candidates for office in the fall have formally aligned themselves with the Occupy movement, and former high-level government officials are coming up with ways to create a new banking system, all under the OWS brand, says Mr. Intrator.

The semantics of the movement have clearly influenced the general election, he says, 鈥渆ven forcing Mitt Romney to frame his platform on the idea of 鈥榝airness.鈥� 鈥�

Over the winter, the Occupy movement augmented its strength by organizing on specific topical areas, says Heather Gautney, political science professor at Fordham University in NewYork. These include 鈥渃orporate personhood, equitable taxation, and housing foreclosure (Occupy our Homes),鈥� she says via e-mail.

The movement has also sponsored civil disobedience training in various cities, she notes.聽In New York, for example, she says, 鈥渢hey organized weekly training sessions on nonviolent street tactics; in Washington, D.C., a splinter group, called 鈥榯he 99 percent Spring,鈥� staged a mass civil disobedience training session, attracting tens of thousands of people, including big labor and groups like .鈥�

She does allow that the movement has suffered losses, noting that 鈥渢he movement appears to have lost some traction in opinion polls and the central camp occupations have been almost entirely cleared.鈥澛�

Tents aside, however, the activists are losing the most聽important battle, says Karen Tramontano, a Washington-based expert on government and social movements. 鈥淭hey have lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the public,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is very unfortunate because the issues of fairness and聽income inequality that initially sparked the movement鈥檚 appeal in the public are still very much present.鈥澛�

The fallback is largely a result of the聽group鈥檚 failure to coalesce around clear聽steps forward,聽she says.聽She notes that many Occupy groups have indeed begun to work with existing progressive聽movements in local issues around the nation, 鈥渂ut in the absence of large efforts that many people can coalesce around, it will be very difficult for the movement to sustain any sort of national power.鈥�

Perhaps聽reflecting an聽awareness of a shift in the public appetite for the Occupyers, there have been pullbacks in planning for Tuesday鈥檚 actions, most notably the scrapping of a plan to blockade San Francisco鈥檚 Golden Gate Bridge. Among the main actions planned for the day are marches, strikes, and walkouts.

The Occupy movement is clearly in the midst of an identity crisis, says聽Usha C.V. Haley, professor of international business at Massey University 颈苍听Auckland, New Zealand.

She notes that the Tuesday strikes may well bring people out in support, but 鈥渢hey will also increase irritation as the actions disrupt the daily flow of life and they will tend to brand the Occupyers as troublemakers and聽ne鈥檈r-do-wells.鈥�

Tuesday鈥檚 strikes may well put the Occupyers back on Page One for a moment, says Michael Robinson, executive vice president of聽Levick Strategic Communications聽in Washington, 鈥渂ut the real question they have yet to answer is what do they really want as a group that the public can get behind?鈥�