Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Occupy Wall Street

I want to believe in the Occupy Wall Street movement. At first I ignored them, but lately I have been paying more attention. What they are trying to do is exactly what needs to be done - an uprising of the people, the hard working, ain't got no money and no future even though I work two jobs people.
My gut tells me this will never succeed because they are going up against the very people who own and run this country. Very powerful people with absolutely no conscience. People who do not care about the fate of this country or its citizens.
But I'm not sure. Voters in Wisconsin just rolled back the absurd laws that destroyed union rights. Voters in Mississippi defeated the life at conception ballet. I think maybe people are starting to fight back.
There is a huge amount of anger in this country and it is ripe to tap into something like the Occupy Wall Street movement. Frightened homeowners, unemployed and under employed people, people whose retirement has been raped, might get so frustrated that they decide to fight back. That is beautiful but the whole thing has to be focused. Matt Taibbi in a Rolling Stone article came up with a list of five demands that the movement should focus on. They are excellent. My favorite one suggests changing the way bankers get paid. Instead of paying bonuses up front to these greed-heads "for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later," Taibbi suggests that "if you make a deal today, you get company stock you can redeem two or three years from now." That way you are invested in your company's financial health instead of raping it for immediate wealth at the expense of investors. Think these assheads would go along with that?
People sitting in front of tents banging on drums, dancing and singing will only attract derision. We've been there before.
The baby boomers rose up a generation strong and pointed fingers at the government and corporations and protested the Viet Nam war and racial and gender prejudice. Their rage was 100% justified but they also painted their faces, wore flowers in their hair, took drugs openly and encouraged sexual experimentation. There was nothing wrong with any of this except for the country it was being done in. The United States is juvenile in its moral judgements; we are teenagers, the rest of the world are adults. I was blown away by what my generation tried to do and I have always believed that it could never happen again.
The Occupy Wall Street movement began on September 17 in Liberty Square in Manhattan's financial district. In less than two months it has spread all across the country and has supporters around the world. This gives me hope. There have been revolutions, civil war and uprisings, major and minor protests in 17 countries in the Arab world since December 18, 2010. The same tactic used in the Arab world - the Arab Spring approach - using civil resistance to protest and using social media to organize, communicate and raise awareness, is being used in the Occupy Wall Street movement.When people are oppressed they will fight back and its a new world, baby.
In the Occupy Wall Street website there is a list of criticisms of our social, political and economic systems which are dead on. In the economic section they cite a "general degradation of the employer and employee relationship" and point to the tinkering with pension plans, paid sick and maternity leave, outsourcing of jobs, and the reliance on part time workers to avoid paying benefits and overtime (which is exactly where I am at).
I am disturbed by the violence and arrests in Oakland, Denver, Portland, and Boston. We saw that  in the sixties as well. The financial elite will use every tool at their disposal to fight back when challenged, and with no conscience, nothing is off limits. Think Kent State.
Financial injustice and the oppression of the working class has been status quo in this country for too long. I would love to see a successful uprising that turns America on its head. But I'm not sure. I am cautiously optimistic but I have been burned before.
If I didn't live in an arctic zone I would be out there with my shoulder length hair, poetry, rage and Matt Taibbi's demands fighting along with you. I fervently hope something comes of this. The power brokers in this country need their asses kicked.

No comments:

Post a Comment