While Seattle is no stranger to public protest, the Occupy Seattle demonstration in Westlake Park may be evidence the climate is changing.

Local historian Feliks Banel told 97.3 KIRO FM's Seattle's Morning News not only is this a relatively peaceful protest, the public is able to follow the protestor's goals morph just as fast as they're able to development them.

Critics have blasted the group for a lack of vision, but Banel says it's still pretty early as far as movements go.

"We're only 10 days into Occupy Seattle or something like that. We've turned into a very meta culture where we're talking about 'is this movement a movement yet?'"

Banel points out that much like the WTO protests in 1999, the protestors have many issues they're upset about, but it's clear a handful are rising to the top. He says on the OccupySeattle website, people can vote on what they're most upset about.

"There's anti-drug stuff there, there's stuff about abolishing the constitution, all sorts of radical stuff. The things that have the highest votes are corporate accountability and tax reform. Corporate accountability is hard to legislate. I think it's going to morph into a tax reform movement. That's stuff that you can actually change with legislation," says Banel.

So far, the protest in Westlake Park has been relatively peaceful and Banel predicts it will stay that way. He doesn't believe the anarchists from Portland, once blamed for violence and property damage during the WTO riots, will bother coming north to Seattle. After all, they have Occupy Portland to attend.

"It doesn't strike me as an anti-government movement. It seems more pro-democracy. It's asking people to be more involved in orderly democracy. We're asking for people to get more involved, is what it seems like to me."

Whether the Occupy Wall Street movement develops and grows or if it dwindles out, Banel says one thing is for certain: "These are unprecedented times. The addition of social media and all the things that you can be upset about. There's no shortage of things that anyone can be upset about right now on a global scale."

Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com Editor

You might also be interested in:

• Mayor McGinn on Occupy Seattle: I support the overall aims and goals of the movement
• David Boze: Who are the "99 percent"?
• Photos: Occupy Seattle at Westlake Park
• Dave Ross: The 99 percent tell their stories