What started as a movement in New York has spread like wildfire across the globe. The Occupy Movement stands against corporate welfare, corporate greed and corruption in our governments, and for a true democracy representative of her people. It is not a partisan movement, nor strictly ideological. It is a movement to take back what is rightfully ours as citizens, our country–our government free from corporate exploits. It is in fact more global in reach and scope than the 1968 Student Protests. Their scope isn’t narrowed to one specific issue or group, it is a collective message against the indentured servitude and budget cuts citizens have faced for the last thirty years in America and around the world. We are one people divided across borders, oceans, and time-zones, but united in fighting against a failed system and a possibility for what a tomorrow without corporate greed can bring. A day where Wall Street no longer occupies Congress, a day where oil lobbyists don’t block green energy initiatives in the country consuming half of all fossil fuels. A day when politics and politicians are held responsible to their voters, not their financial fore-bearers.
The ties between government and corporations couldn’t have been more profoundly stated than through the lack of prime media coverage in the first three to four weeks of the Occupy Wall Street protests/sit ins. The only sources reporting on it were local papers, bloggers, and Democracy Now. Once the corporate media noted the Occupy Movement, it was initially reported as a violent uprising instead of as a peaceful demonstration, millions strong. Some on the Right have dubbed this movement as ‘anti-capitalism,’ ‘socialist,’ ‘fascist’ and the like. The sad reality is that our American vernacular has fused socialism/fascism/communism as one and the same. The true meaning behind these words has been lost, and people do not understand what the difference between capital and capitalism is. In reality, the current system in America is moving towards fascism, with corporations so closely tied to government and political parties. The Occupy Movement should brand itself as an anti-capital movement. A movement reflecting the drastic shift in economies in the last ten years, from historically being labour dominated, to being capital dominated (banks). All of the protests in the Developed World as of late have been anti-capital movements because of years of decreased labour. From the student protests in London, to the protests in Greece, this current movement has fused all the woes of the last year into one. The world has reached a breaking point, this is our future and our time.
When capital exceeds labour as a form of profit a social movement calling for a change in political dynamics can happen. The famed economist Karl Marx predicted this in the 1800′s. Capitalism needs regulation, without it this happens, without it we are on the brink of a Depression. The reason capital, banks, and the like were regulated in the first place is due to decades of zero regulation leading to the Depression of the 1920′s-1930′s. For America and many other parts of the developed world there has been an era of blatant deregulation followed by increased taxes for some, and decreased taxes for others. This deregulation allowed banks to make risky loans, tantalize the masses, and then call the loans back screaming the whole way to Washington. These same banks were bailed out on the dimes of tax payers with the mantra ‘Too Big to Fail.’ Interestingly, many of these corporations who were bailed out do not pay taxes, instead they take advantage of tax loopholes. Sadly, these banks used their subsidized bailouts not to increase lending to stimulate the economy as promised, but instead to give massive bonuses to their corporate executives while simultaneously investing in US Government Bonds while freezing lending. They were and are earning interest on money lended to them at zero interest, via both the bail outs and direct loans from the Federal Reserve. Banks are currently making all time profits while the serfs continue to have a decrease in their incomes, rising unemployment rates, and an increasing income inequality gap which has forced this movement to conception.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that grow up around {the banks} will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. –Thomas Jefferson
The Occupy Movement is reactionary against years of diminishing returns for some, and lavish lifestyles for the few. We are entering a new phase of serfdom, and have forgotten that history does indeed repeat itself. The causes of the first Depression left our memory, investing in our future has been something we’ve been coerced into cutting. This is our moment, this is our time. For the integrity of our government it is imperative that we be critical of it, and speak out against unethical deeds.
Occupy Wall Street Our One Demand
Alan Grayson on Occupy Wall Street
What will forge the future of our democracies, republics, and governments will be if we are heard as one voice, peacefully melodic, promoting facts not fiction, and speaking out. Like a symphony projecting the same notes with utmost precision. Will those we’ve put in power change the game?
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Author: Martha Molfetas
Martha Molfetas is a graduate student pursuing an MSc in Comparative Politics-Conflict Studies, at the London School of Economics. As an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida she completed an undergraduate dissertation entitled Resource Conflict in the Caspian Sea Basin.
She also worked for an array of different campaigns, like Obama for America and Kendrick Meek for US Senate. She has a vested interest in both American politics and international affairs.
She loves traveling anywhere and everywhere, and just came back from a road trip through the Balkans, inclusive of Kosovo. Martha is a start-up blogger on politics, click here to read more of her writing.
Al Jazeera
