The birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement soon spawned a worldwide copycat phenomenon including in Dublin, where Occupy Dame Street became the local protest rallying point.

Now that the Occupy Wall Street arena has been cleared by the cops in New York, no doubt similar efforts will take place throughout the rest of the U.S. and likely overseas to bring this phase to an end.

That may be no bad thing. Even the occupiers themselves had become deeply worried about the bad press that was starting to accumulate as deranged persons and criminals mingled with the idealistic youth.

The photograph of a naked woman demonstrator on the front page of the New York Post complaining about some grievance or other showed how trivial the coverage and parts of the protest had become.

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Occupy Wall Street and its various satellites have made their point, and they have certainly been successful in creating a new political narrative and discussion around what went wrong in the economy the past few years.

They now exist as a useful counterweight to the Tea Party movement which had dominated the debate before Occupy Wall Street supporters made their view known form the left.

But the continued protest was hardly likely to win any more sympathy.  Businesses and residents in the area were being badly affected, and the NYPD talked about potential health hazards.

There are a number of area where the protestors can now be effective, but the day of the continued protest had passed.

The mobilization of the Occupy Wall Street movement before the 2012 election must surely be first and foremost on the minds of the organizers.

Next year’s election is surely the most important, with compelling and very different visions for the future of the country on display.

Grassroots activism from whatever quarter or political background is the very lifeblood of politics.

Occupy Wall Street has provided that for the liberal left at a time when their voices had become strangely mute in the face of the Tea Party onslaught.

Despite what has happened at Zuccotti Park in New York, we have not heard the last from Occupy Wall Street by a long shot.

That can only be good for democracy.