Would OWS be effective? Sustainable? Accessible to the general public? Establishment activists issued an outcry of concern over the message and tactics of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) almost as soon as it started. The answer to these questions is the same as the answer to the question: has anything changed? Absolutely.

Through our direct actions, our occupations, we have changed the international conversation. Two months ago, the country was talking about the need for austerity, not accountability on Wall Street. Now, because of Occupy Wall Street, walking down the street you will hear people talking about the ethics of bailouts, economic inequality, the crisis of deregulation, social justice and direct democracy.

What's more, in every circle, these conversations are moving forward and taking on a life of their own. They are not limited to the space of Liberty Square, and by no means do they rely on it.

Just as the direct action and nonviolent resistance of the 1960s focused the national conversation on the immorality of segregation, and created the political space for the passage of the Civil Rights Act, so, too, has Occupy Wall Street focused the conversation on the rogue thievery of Wall Street. We have created the political space for radical change.

We've also had more tangible successes. In solidarity with the Move Your Money campaign, more than a half a million people moved at least $4.5bn out of the big casino banks and into responsible local credit unions, leading up to 5 November Bank Transfer Day.

Occupiers working with grassroots groups have forged incredible victories, unimaginable less than two months earlier. Just a few days ago, Occupy Cleveland mobilised in cooperation with Ohio labor unions to overturn Bill 5's attack on collective bargaining rights. In Boulder, Colorado and Missoula, Montana, occupiers worked with Move to Amend to pass local resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United and eliminate corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights.

Which leads me to one of our biggest successes: modeling radically inclusive, democratic alternatives to our current system of governance. Nearly every Occupy has found itself plunged into discussions of what it means to speak as "the 99%", and how to address issues of unchecked sexism, racism and class privilege, some of the longest-running issues Americans face. OWS is not free of undue exercise of privilege or exclusion. But here, it shows some of its greatest potential: these conversations were taking place within days of its inception. How many progressive organisations can claim such rapid response on these points?

Still, many of the conversations are initiated by those who have been traditionally marginalised who, in moves of courage, are choosing to do the hard work of challenging that exclusion rather than dwelling in disillusionment.

Thousands upon thousands of people who, a few months ago, were desperate to act, today are more active than we could ever have imagined. We started by reclaiming public space, space for discussion, and moved on to reclaim the practice of direct democracy. But that alone is not our end – it is just the beginning. This is about reclaiming our country from the havoc created by unregulated corporations. This is about the possibility of economic justice for all.

Could we have succeeded more, we the people of the Occupy movement? First, they come to us demanding, "What are your demands?" Then, they come to us insisting, "Where are your solutions?" We have waited our entire lives for this moment. And we could not be more ready to answer these questions. We smile, unphased, and tell them what they already know: "Our demands are too numerous to choose between, and we refuse to do so. The solutions are out there and we have long known what they are."

We have given people well-founded hope that we are unstoppable: another world is possible.

• Meg Wade is an OWS activist