Protesters on why they joined the movement

Thousands of people have descended upon Zuccotti Park in New York's Financial District since the Occupy Wall Street movement began Sept. 17. The grassroots protest has become a nationwide movement, spawning similar demonstrations in scores of other cities and towns across America.

Chanting "we are the 99 percent," the protesters called out the disparity in political power between the nation's wealthiest 1 percent and everyone else. Some said they have come to the encampment out of curiosity, others from anger, and many because of a growing sense of anxiety about their futures.

Participants interviewed by Newsday voiced common frustrations about disenfranchisement by the political and economic system, and common hopes that the protest, somehow, will bring change. Here are six of their stories:

NATE THOMAS

Nate Thomas, 34, graduated from Washington University Law School in St. Louis in 2008 and owes $150,000 from student loans. After graduation, he worked as a legal researcher but the job only lasted a year. He is now a real estate broker, but doesn't earn enough to pay rent. He now sleeps on friends' couches and in his office.

Why are you here?

"First and foremost curiosity. There is a major event. The whole world is paying attention. But then I was actually quite impressed . . . So, I started coming down here on a semiregular basis. I don't hold signs and stuff but walk around and have discussions with people. I think it's a really good free-speech forum."

What are your goals for the protest?

"I would like to see the overall message to be -- more regulations, serious regulations of financial institutions . . . Keep corporate money out of the political process. And much, much stricter regulations of capitalist entities so that they can't just run unchecked. You can't stop greed, but you can put mechanisms in the place to keep greed from running unchecked."

How and when should the protest end?

"It's better to burn out than fade away. I don't know. I haven't thought that one through. I am here because I am in support of it. And it's an interesting cultural phenomenon to take a part in . . . I don't know exactly what the end game is. I do know there needs to be some cohesive messages that come out of this."

LAUREN NAPOLI

Lauren Napoli, 28, of Patchogue, is a recent Stony Brook University grad "in between jobs" after working the summer on an organic farm in Sag Harbor.

Why are you here?

"I've had a disconnect with the American government and what's been going on with this country for a really long time to the point where I wanted to move out of this country because I was so disgusted. But the truth is that I love this country and I love what it stands for, you know, originally . . . Greed has taken over. Being here, it does make me feel proud and inspired and refreshed for the change, the like-mindedness, that we're not alone, that there are many, many people who feel the same way. The thing I'm the most passionate about is genetically modified foods and getting proper labeling for GMO foods."

What are your goals for the protest?

"To eliminate corporate influence over political and social decisions or issues. Getting the money out of politics."

How and when should the protest end?

"People are talking about staying here into the winter . . . It'll take some sort of recognition from our federal government that says, 'OK, we've heard you. We hear you. We'll work on changing the way that we make our decisions.' As I'm saying it, it's kind of hard to imagine that's the way it'll happen."

CHRIS SILVERA

Chris Silvera, 55, of Amenia, N.Y., is secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, Queens.

Why are you here?

"This is a fresh happening that's taking place. It needs to grow. Labor needs to get deeper and deeper involvement in this movement. The youth have recognized that they have no future and the youth have recognized that they have to begin to take the steps to address this issue now or they're going to face dark times in the coming years. The unemployed have to become employed. I could be unemployed tomorrow. My kid is looking for a job . . . All of us, can be, and are, victims of this economic so-called crisis."

What are your goals for the protest?

"I hope that the protest is going to force the system, this government, to begin to open up and create jobs, public-sector jobs. That somehow we're going to force the banks to begin to make loans, to open up jobs and small business will be able to hire and we'll be able to start to reinvent this economy based on a system of higher wages, higher benefits and the type of America we thought we're going to have . . . We have to get back to that America."

How and when should the protest end?

"Well, everything has an end. But that end should be a defined outcome, and that defined outcome is that unemployment starts to decrease and comes back down to acceptable levels."

MARSHA SPENCER

Marsha Spencer, 56, of Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, is an unemployed seamstress who used to work in theater, movies and TV.

Why are you here?

"I'm here because I have five grandchildren. I want to see things change for the better so they grow up in an America that they can be proud of like I was in the '50s and '60s, because I'm not very proud of it right now."

What are your goals for the protest?

"I'd like to see the tax inequity fixed. I mean, in the '60s, people who made more money than me paid a higher percentage of taxes and that reversed. I'm not saying we have to go back to 'Leave It to Beaver' times or anything like that, but it should at least be equal. If I pay 35 percent, they should pay 35 percent, at least. More would be nice . . . I'd like to see the war end. 'If the war on poverty was a real war, it would be well-funded.' I like that sign."

How and when should the protest end?

"I hope it ends. I mean, the Montgomery bus boycott focused on one thing, and that took 381 days. So I'm hoping it doesn't go that long. It'll take some politicians to actually draft some legislation that will change what's going on, get the money out of Wall Street, away from the government and just stop trying to cut social services."

MIKE AGOTTI

Mike Agotti, 22, of Staten Island, is a sophomore at Baruch College in Manhattan, studying business and real estate. He earns about $200 a week working part-time at a tea shop. He owes about $25,000 in student loans and expects to owe $50,000 by the time he graduates.

Why are you here?

"I am just kind of afraid for my future that I am not going to have a job when I graduate that I am going to be stuck taking odd jobs, part-time jobs, that I am not going to be able to make a living to pay off these loans that I am going to have to pay in just a few short years . . . This semester my loans didn't actually pay enough money for me to get textbooks in addition to my tuition . . . I just feel like education shouldn't be this expensive. We're not even getting anything for it because when we graduate there aren't going to be any jobs . . . It's something that everyone my age is struggling with."

What are your goals for the protest?

"Personally I would like to see my peers and my generation have opportunities for jobs; have a stab at the American dream the way generations past have. We're really unsure. We don't know what the future is going to be for us because right now it seems really uncertain."

How and when should the protest end?

"When things change. And I know that's kind of vague . . . It's something that needs to go on until change happens . . . As long as there are people saying we're sick and tired of this, we want change, the movement will continue."

SONNY SINGH

Sonny Singh, 31, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, a trumpet player, has been taking part in protests for three weeks.

Why are you here?

"From the day I got here I was drawn to come back on a daily basis . . . optimism is something we really, really need right now. There was a lot of rhetoric of hope during the Obama campaign and I think people have woken up from that dream and realize that the reality -- what the administration is doing is not hopeful at all, not in line with our dreams at all. So we're creating our dreams."

What are your goals for the protest?

"In the short term, I hope this movement accomplishes redistribution of wealth in this country. It means there is no rich and there is no poor. In the short term, hopefully that gap can get lessened. But in the long term, I hope this movement can really build an alternative to capitalism. That's ultimately what I am fighting for. I think that this is not necessarily what this movement represents at this point, but I think there are a lot of people in this movement that feel like there really isn't hope for the working class and for people of color in capitalism because capitalism is a system that thrives on exploitations . . . "

How and when should it end?

"I don't see it ending. I don't want it to end. I want it to grow. This specific occupation may end at some point. At some point it's going to be too cold to sleep out here. But the movement is not going to end. The movement is a lot bigger than this park and this city."