What started as an encampment by a bunch of disgruntled individuals on September 17 in the financial district of New York City, has spread like wildfire across several nations within a span of 30 days. The “Occupy Wall Street” protest itself was inspired by the Arab Spring and the Spanish acampadas. An idea instigated by the Candadian activist group, Adbusters, it was initially dismissed by the media as a “circus” with a lack of clear message of what the hullabaloo was all about.
Indeed, I too am quite puzzled by this spontaneous spread of “Occupy” protests all over the US and internationally. Who are these people ? What are they protesting for ? What are their demands ? What will happen next ?
Are you as intrigued as I am ? Then let’s find out what we know so far about this ongoing, non-violent, “Tahrir Square” type demonstrations.
Who’s whining ?
To put it very crudely, it all seems like a rag-tag spectacle to me. At the time of writing this, protests were held from North and South America to Asia, Africa and Europe, with over 1,500 events in 82 countries, as part of a global day of action. Occupiers of different ages, races, walks of life, and political beliefs have joined the movement. The mix has grown quickly to include students, elderly people, families with children, construction workers on their lunch breaks, unemployed executives, war veterans, moms, and many others. So, right now anyone to everyone, from desperados to anarchists to socialists to liberals – anyone who wants to moan is jumping into the bandwagon.
Perhaps the most significant message of the protests is the slogan “We are the 99%” – which alludes to the recent trend in the US of increase in the share of annual total income going to the top 1% of income earners. (Of late, the top 1% of the US population accounted for nearly 25% of the total annual income).It is therefore, at its core, the squeezed out middle-class and poor who are leading the cry against an unjust and unfair system, which fosters economic polarization and skews the distribution of wealth towards the super-rich.
What are their demands ?
The most perplexing part of these “leaderless” protests is the amorphous, unclear nature of demands. The participants are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government. But, believe it or not, there is NO official list of demands !
No leader, no clear demands and no particular endpoint. This is certainly a new way of launching a revolution. All one can make out from this bizarre show is that disparate people are coming together with an egalitarian vision of a more inclusive progress.
Amongst the participants at Zuccotti Park (now called ‘Liberty Square’) in lower Manhattan where it all started, there is a collective revulsion against Wall Street’s oozing corruption, unrestrained political power and crony capitalism. The outrage stems from the fact that while the pay cheques of the wizards of Wall Street are burgeoning, ordinary workers continue to suffer from high unemployment and falling real wages. This is despite the fall from grace of the hallowed financial whizkids during the crisis of 2008 starting with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
There is a list of proposed "Demands for Congress" proposed by the website (occupywallstreet.org) which does not entirely represent the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly. People can vote on these demands and also add to the demands. The laundry list so far includes demands such as ‘Return to prudent banking Act’, prosecution of Wall Street ‘criminals’, passing of Buffet rule of taxation, revamp of Securities & Exchange Commission, and limiting influence of lobbyists.
As the montage of demands is being weaved, perhaps there will be different phases and possibly fragmentation of agendas will take place before crystal-clear demands emanate.
What next ?
Though the protests have snowballed into a global phenomena in a fairly short period of time, it is still at a very nascent stage to fathom as to what shape this new animal will take. The current wave does have some left-leanings and shades of socialism, although it is not the Ayn Rand type anti-capitalism per se.
The frustration pouring out into the streets is a direct result of too many people out of work and a very uneven distribution of wealth. It is a true internet-generation protest, very unlike a traditional campaign, where raising more questions than answers, debating internal inconsistencies and taking time to articulate their problem seems to be the new normal. And that is really confounding the defenders of Wall Street, politicians and media persons alike.
Is the “Occupy Wall Street” just a phase or the dawn of a new era ? If the movement is able to build consensus on a coherent set of demands, will we see a change in the way Corporate America conducts itself in the future ? Will there be a more appropriate fiscal operating system on which the economy is run, correcting somewhat the disconnect between the rich and the poor ? Will then the other nations of the world emulate America’s transformed policies ?
Nobody can tell as to where this strange and bewildering movement will lead to.
All I want to say is this - we should not dismiss this fledgling movement, rather we should nurture the democratic awakening which wants to shake a deeply flawed economic system. With so much at stake, we cannot afford the luxury of cynicism.
Remember, the American Revolution started with a single event of dumping 342 chests of tea at the Boston Tea Party. Closer home, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 started with the mutiny of just one foot soldier, Mangal Pandey. Small incidents, big aftermath.
Endpiece : The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality – Andrew Jackson
Indeed, I too am quite puzzled by this spontaneous spread of “Occupy” protests all over the US and internationally. Who are these people ? What are they protesting for ? What are their demands ? What will happen next ?
Are you as intrigued as I am ? Then let’s find out what we know so far about this ongoing, non-violent, “Tahrir Square” type demonstrations.
Who’s whining ?
To put it very crudely, it all seems like a rag-tag spectacle to me. At the time of writing this, protests were held from North and South America to Asia, Africa and Europe, with over 1,500 events in 82 countries, as part of a global day of action. Occupiers of different ages, races, walks of life, and political beliefs have joined the movement. The mix has grown quickly to include students, elderly people, families with children, construction workers on their lunch breaks, unemployed executives, war veterans, moms, and many others. So, right now anyone to everyone, from desperados to anarchists to socialists to liberals – anyone who wants to moan is jumping into the bandwagon.
Perhaps the most significant message of the protests is the slogan “We are the 99%” – which alludes to the recent trend in the US of increase in the share of annual total income going to the top 1% of income earners. (Of late, the top 1% of the US population accounted for nearly 25% of the total annual income).It is therefore, at its core, the squeezed out middle-class and poor who are leading the cry against an unjust and unfair system, which fosters economic polarization and skews the distribution of wealth towards the super-rich.
What are their demands ?
The most perplexing part of these “leaderless” protests is the amorphous, unclear nature of demands. The participants are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government. But, believe it or not, there is NO official list of demands !
No leader, no clear demands and no particular endpoint. This is certainly a new way of launching a revolution. All one can make out from this bizarre show is that disparate people are coming together with an egalitarian vision of a more inclusive progress.
Amongst the participants at Zuccotti Park (now called ‘Liberty Square’) in lower Manhattan where it all started, there is a collective revulsion against Wall Street’s oozing corruption, unrestrained political power and crony capitalism. The outrage stems from the fact that while the pay cheques of the wizards of Wall Street are burgeoning, ordinary workers continue to suffer from high unemployment and falling real wages. This is despite the fall from grace of the hallowed financial whizkids during the crisis of 2008 starting with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
There is a list of proposed "Demands for Congress" proposed by the website (occupywallstreet.org) which does not entirely represent the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly. People can vote on these demands and also add to the demands. The laundry list so far includes demands such as ‘Return to prudent banking Act’, prosecution of Wall Street ‘criminals’, passing of Buffet rule of taxation, revamp of Securities & Exchange Commission, and limiting influence of lobbyists.
As the montage of demands is being weaved, perhaps there will be different phases and possibly fragmentation of agendas will take place before crystal-clear demands emanate.
What next ?
Though the protests have snowballed into a global phenomena in a fairly short period of time, it is still at a very nascent stage to fathom as to what shape this new animal will take. The current wave does have some left-leanings and shades of socialism, although it is not the Ayn Rand type anti-capitalism per se.
The frustration pouring out into the streets is a direct result of too many people out of work and a very uneven distribution of wealth. It is a true internet-generation protest, very unlike a traditional campaign, where raising more questions than answers, debating internal inconsistencies and taking time to articulate their problem seems to be the new normal. And that is really confounding the defenders of Wall Street, politicians and media persons alike.
Is the “Occupy Wall Street” just a phase or the dawn of a new era ? If the movement is able to build consensus on a coherent set of demands, will we see a change in the way Corporate America conducts itself in the future ? Will there be a more appropriate fiscal operating system on which the economy is run, correcting somewhat the disconnect between the rich and the poor ? Will then the other nations of the world emulate America’s transformed policies ?
Nobody can tell as to where this strange and bewildering movement will lead to.
All I want to say is this - we should not dismiss this fledgling movement, rather we should nurture the democratic awakening which wants to shake a deeply flawed economic system. With so much at stake, we cannot afford the luxury of cynicism.
Remember, the American Revolution started with a single event of dumping 342 chests of tea at the Boston Tea Party. Closer home, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 started with the mutiny of just one foot soldier, Mangal Pandey. Small incidents, big aftermath.
Endpiece : The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality – Andrew Jackson
