Is Wall Street a repeat of Bastille?
Adeela Naureen
Labelled by Fox News as Anarchist movement the Occupy Wall Street is more than what meets the eye. “The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching”; this was the loudest slogan repeatedly raised by common people gathered outside the Wall Street in the historic movement. Michael Moore described the current mood in New York as the beginning of a new wave of liberty, democracy and civil disobedience against those who have stolen the future of common American people. Yet, the new wave of protests has not been covered objectively by the mainstream American media; well, they always do that, since they are the mouthpieces of Corporate America, which is the biggest hoax of democracy on this planet.
The American public is fed up on many accounts, poor economic management, exploitation of the capitalism, long war in the Middle East and AfPak region, and the growing distrust of the three ‘Ws’ - White House, Wall Street and Willing connivance of Corporate America. It may be interesting to have a look at the slogans enchanted by the protestors on the Wall Street, which include “End the Federal Reserve”, “Enough is Enough”, “Just because we can’t see it does not mean it is not Happening”, “I can’t afford a lobbyist”, “I am the 99 percent”, etc.
Another major thing happening in the US is the call for collective action by a website, the Anonymous. Individuals and groups are appearing in public as Anonymous, wearing the Guy Fawkes (orchestrator of the Gun Powder Plot in 1604) masks popularised by the comic book and film V for Vendetta. According to Wikipedia, “Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a group initiating active civil disobedience and spread through the Internet while staying hidden, originating in 2003 on the image board 4chan, representing the concept of many online community users simultaneously existing as an anarchic, digitised global brain. It is also generally considered to be a blanket term for members of certain Internet subcultures, a way to refer to the actions of people in an environment where their actual identities are not known. In its early form, the concept has been adopted by a decentralised online community acting anonymously in a coordinated manner, usually toward a loosely self-agreed goal, and primarily focused on entertainment. Beginning with 2008, the Anonymous collective has become increasingly associated with collaborative, international hacktivism, undertaking protests and other actions, often with the goal of promoting internet freedom and freedom of speech. Actions credited to Anonymous are undertaken by unidentified individuals, who apply the Anonymous label to themselves as attribution.”
Hence, in the absence of critical analysis of the situation by mainstream USA’s media, it is important to view the sentiments of American people from the open source media like YouTube and Twitter. On October 6, Mr CTL remarked on a website, PoliticusUSA, as: “The NYPD are at war with the protesters, and the war is continuously fuelled by the ‘donations’ from the Wall Street banks, like the recent $4 (something) million from J.P. Morgan. I suggest you all play Deus Ex Human Revolution. That game will show just what is happening. These protesters need to hold onto their pickets till the end, and keep violence away. With the sheer amount of the 99 percent in NYC and around the country, one spark can set a flame that will burn down this country.”
DNIDIA 4 suggested the following agenda on a website: “(1) Sever the agreement between the government and the Federal Reserve, and begin printing US dollars based on our collective assets as a nation. (2). Investigate 9/11, bring war profiteers to justice. (3). Force all officials who so obviously violate the Constitution, as routine daily business out of office. (4). After the treasonous criminals are out organising a constitutional convention so that war profiteering and manipulation to enslave us can never occur again. (5). Direct Participatory Democracy. (6). Universal HC.”
Another important trend is the development of liking for Republican Congressman, Ron Paul. He has come out with a revolutionary agenda, calling for an end of the long war and end of Federal Reserve, both targeted at the US Military Industrial Complex. The Occupy Wall Street movement and Paul have lot of commonality in taking up arms against corporate America.