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Oct 18 2011

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What the 99% wants

'From Tahrir Square to Times Square' reads a statement from Occupy Wall Street organisers, as they draw parallels between the Arab Spring and the American Autumn. A look at how the fringe movement has turned global and even planning a 'run' on Wall Street banks.
According to its own website statement, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) takes its inspiration from Arab Spring and from the thousands of Middle East citizens who rose against their dictators in a peaceful way to take back their country and their freedoms.

Now 'Occupy Wall Street', a fringe movement conceptualised by a not-for-profit anti-capitalist magazine Adbusters, has turned beyond their wildest dreams into a global movement with its own strong momentum, numerous affiliations and as a megaphone for the collective voice of the unheard.

Camping outside a park near Wall Street, the protest movement has now gone global. Nearly a month after the first tents were set up in New York's Zuccotti Park (which was also once called Liberty Plaza Park), similar protests have emerged in Tokyo, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt, Dublin, Toronto, Vancouver, London and Hong Kong among others, although admittedly with varying degrees of success and participation levels.

Critics argue that the protestors don't have a clear message, that their demands are muddled and their focus hazy. They have even been labelled as hippies, and drug addicts and 'people who have nothing better to do.'

Well of course they don't have anything better to do - a majority of them are unemployed and disenfranchised.

But it perhaps it's refreshing to see that they are not all on-message. Unlike the Tea Party, which comes with its own neatly-phrased press releases and communications machinery, the grassroots movement is organic, carrying on its shoulder a cross-section of complaints and the voices of many who can't get a word in edgewise amid the din of mainstream media.

They are the great unwashed - the environmentalists, the socialists, the unemployed and yes, the odd drug addict, no doubt. But the movement also features scientists and economists, scholars and senior citizens who worked all their lives to wake up to the American dream, only to find it turn into a nightmare.

"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions," state the organisers on the occupywallstreet.org website. "The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of non-violence to maximize the safety of all participants."

These 99% are complaining about not being heard, while the 1% have gotten richer since they were bailed out, and there are murmurs of a second round of bailouts for that singular per cent.

The 99% are asking for their own bailout, or at least to stop bailing out the 1% at their expense.

With unemployment levels in the United States hovering at 9.1% and in double-digits in many European states, many feel the need to step out of the comfort of their mortgaged homes they can no longer afford and join the movement.

Early days

Despite their best efforts, though, the movement remains in its infancy although it is gaining momentum. And, as we saw in Rome, it can also turn violent.

To date however, Wall Street has ignored the protests, but OWS organisers are trying to hit the banks where it hurts to get their attention.

One such initiative is 'The Bank Transfer Day' movement, primarily aimed at the big banks, especially Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The Bank Transfer Day mission statement on its Facebook notes:

"Together we can ensure that these banking institutions will ALWAYS remember the 5th of November!! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions to non-profit credit unions on or by this date, we will send a clear message to the 1% that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices."

November 5 is a notable day among those with a rebellious bent, as it is Guy Fawkes Day, oddly named after the man who was caught trying to blow up the House of Lords in the U.K. in 1605.

While the Bank Transfer Day movement is planning a far less incendiary effort, it hopes it will certainly turn into some kind of financial fireworks.

The movement has more than 44,000 'attendees' on its Facebook page and growing. But unless the 44,000 participants are all millionaires and can draw substantial sums from their accounts, they will not create much of a dent on the banks' deposits, according to an analyst.

Still, it is the thought that counts.

The movement is being acknowledged from official quarters too. President Barack Obama, clearly with an eye on the 2012 elections, has publicly stated he is sympathetic to the OWS cause.

Interestingly, Oliver Stone - the man behind the movie Wall Street and its sequel, and who coined the now-immortal phrase that best describes Big Banks: greed is good - has said he is on the protestors' side.

"I'm rooting for them, I love what they stand for, I think there are many good things that might come of it, but it's no Egypt," Stone told The New York Times. "They got a long way to go, these kids."

Still others such as the CEO of Citibank, Vikram Pandit, and General Electric chief Jeffrey Immelt have also expressed their sympathy for the protestors.

While it is too early to define the movement, it has certainly taken its inspiration from the Middle East. But unlike the Middle East movements which were far more mature and rooted in deep-seated grievances that were festering for decades, the OWS movement is a hatchling.

It is also perhaps a bit unreasonable with many protestors foolishly stating they want to completely dismantle capitalism. But just look at what they are up against: an equally stubborn, unreasonable 1%.