Great depression Quote by Thom Hartmann
““the Occupy Movement flared up and began setting up tents in public parks all around the nation, from New York City to Chicago to Seattle. But it actually happened exactly eighty years earlier, when the nation was drowning in President Hoover’s Great Depression, and not President Bush’s Great Recession. These settlements weren’t called “occupations” at the time, they were called “Hoovervilles.””
About This Quote
Source Article: The Occupy Movement, 2011, analysis of historical parallels
The passage draws a parallel between modern Occupy protests and 1930s Hoovervilles, emphasizing that similar grassroots movements arise during economic crises regardless of era.
In simple terms: Occupy mirrors past protest camps during depressions.
Key Takeaway
Learn from past movements to inform current activism.
Themes
economic crisis
protest
history
social movements
Mood
critical
analytical
Type
historical
political
When to use this quote
- community organizing
- policy advocacy
- public space usage
- historical education
Key Concepts
political economy
urban sociology
grassroots organizing
Questions to Reflect On
- What lessons from Hoovervilles apply today?
- How do modern protests differ from past ones?
A Different Perspective
It may oversimplify distinct political contexts and motivations.
![“The crisis [the Great Depression] discovered a great man in Franklin Roosevelt...None too soon he has carried America forward to the second stage of democratic realization. His New Deal involves such collective controls of the national business that it would be absurd to call it anything but…” quote by H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/772/h-g-wells-1122_absurd_the-crisis-the-great-depression-discover_120950.jpg)
![“World War II was really unusual, because America was in the Great Depression before. So the war did help the US economy to get securely out of this decline. This time, the war [in Iraq] is bad for the economy in both the short and long run. We could have spent trillions in research or education…” quote by Joseph Stiglitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/860/joseph-stiglitz-1351_america_world-war-ii-was-really-unusual-because_156000.jpg)
