Occupy Wall St. Increasingly Locked Into American Exceptionalism
By Jay Janson
22 November, 2011
Countercurrents.org
There is something pathetic, embarrassing, selfish, ingrown, about the American exceptionalism observed in Occupy Wall St. themes focusing entirely on Wall Street's economic injustice to Americans while Americans in uniform continue their 65 years of mass murdering innocent citizens of poor nations, nations that have already having suffered centuries of brutal Wall St and European occupation and exploitation. No OWS movement in the six Muslim nations being devastated by US military, "so Wall St. can maintain "unjust predatory overseas investments!" Latino Americans have marched to OWS with these words of Martin Luther King held high, to no avail.
Occupation Wall Street is intensely targeting solely US stateside economic injustice and ignoring the issue of its cause, imperial wars.
On the first Saturday of April, morning, afternoon and evening TV NY 1 video newscasts showed large placards and signs with quotes from Martin Luther King's sermon, Beyond Vietnam a Time to Break Silence carried by Latino residents of Washington Heights during their 11 mile march down to the Occupy Wall Street encampment.
At times, the camera focused in on one sign to fill the whole screen with:
"CAPITALISM FORGETS LIFE IS SOCIAL" MLKjr
As the camera panned the colorful sidewalk parade of marchers, viewers caught glimpses of bold black lettered quotes on glistening white pasteboard held high in the air:
KING CONDEMNED US WARS AS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
"ALL US WARS are for maintaining UNJUST PREDATORY OVERSEAS INVESTMENTS",
"SILENCE IS BETRAYAL"
"EVERYONE MUST PROTEST"
"HOTTEST PLACES IN HELL FOR THOSE MAINTAINING NEUTRALITY"
While participating in the march myself, I was struck by the enthusiasm the largely Dominican crowd showed for King's messages exhorting popular condemnation of US Wars. An obvious explanation immediately came to mind. Though most were too young to have heard much about national hero Martin Luther King having been outspokenly anti-US-imperialism during the last year of his life, they all would certainly be keenly aware of the brutal history of the bloody 1965 US invasion of their Dominican Republic homeland.
That bombardment, invasion and months long US sniper slayings of Dominican patriots was to prevent their beloved elected president, unacceptable to Wall Street interests and therefore also the US State Department, from being allowed to govern. Popular President Juan Bosch had been deposed by a military junta seven months after taking office, but two years later the greater part of the Dominican Armed Forces rebelled and would have reinstated him in office but for the crimes- against-humanity intervention of violent Americans in uniform serving Wall Street interests.
Two years later, King could no longer be silent and agonized over his previous silence during so many similar US wars in poor countries obviously mean to maintain "unjust predatory overseas investments."
"King Called US Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World!"
read a 5 by 4 feet sized placard carried by an elderly dark complexioned Latin American. This was the bold large type newspaper headline seen everywhere on April 5, 1967 . I remember coming down to my hotel newsstand on my way breakfast and seeing this phrase spread across the front page of all the European papers in a dozen languages.
Dominicans and Latin Americans would also remember the island's long occupation by US Marines from 1916 to 1924 ordered by US President Woodrow Wilson.
By contrast, American born Occupation Wall Street organizers, have never experienced death and destruction by hails of flying metal fired from ground and sky in their United States homeland, and have never witnessed heavily armed foreign troops patrolling the streets of their cities.
Surely, most of these up dynamically creative young Wall St. Occupiers, feel compassion for the millions upon millions of third world poor that have grieved over loved ones "fallen into to harms way' of invading US Military Forces. However, these Occupy Wall Streeters, who we appreciate for their idealism to reform America, apparently feel it is most important for the growth of the Occupation Wall St. movement to attract that vast bamboozled and ignorant TV addicted population that is gung-ho supporting of US Wars. By this line of thinking, these hundred million war supporters will be turned off and away by such anti US wars slogans using the Martin Luther King quotes that the Washington Heights Latinos weighed in with on New York TV.
Occupation Wall St. direct action leaders organize protests around every possible theme of Wall St.'s economic injustice toward Americans even though they surely realize they themselves, at the same time, are just as responsible for the mass murder, mayhem and exploitation ongoing in six Muslim nations, as is that gung-ho patriot segment of the American population that has accepted this need for Wall Street imperialist capital grown since the US invasion of Korea right through the destruction of Libya . (Perhaps the more savvy OWS participants can be said to be more responsible, for they being aware of the disinformation and war promotion perpetrated upon the unwary multitude by Wall Street owned mass-media, should be the first to protest and educate the misled.)
But, they manage to put aside for now all that slaughter of innocent millions in a third world already impoverished by centuries of colonialist-imperialist-capitalist 'investment' exploitation.
There is something pathetic, embarrassing, selfish, ingrown, about American exceptionalism observed in Occupy Wall St. themes focusing entirely on Wall St. economic injustice to Americans while Americans in uniform continue their 65 years of mass murdering innocent citizens of poor nations, nations that have already having suffered centuries of brutal White Wall St and European occupation and exploitation.
Direct action organizers of OWS have on occasion explained to this journalist that the issue of American wars is just not an attractive issue for the majority of Americans, while American economic suffering (for lack of money) is.
As an American who has lived the better part of his life in nations that were bombed by America, it is more than just disturbing. I can understand that presently the average American, disinterested in the fate of non-Americans, will not accept giving priority to what Americans are doing to the rest of the world over what Americans are doing to themselves, unless reeducated. This is what Martin Luther King was doing when they shot him in the head: reeducating Americans to their moral corruption, their fall for the materialism and selfishness promoted on TV and elsewhere in commercial media along with rather pathetic and easily discernible lies justifying US wars in poor countries.
What one hears in defense of the absence of Martin Luther King style condemnations of the dozens of past wars and covert attacks on poor nations, condemnations of the present wars and covert attacks and condemnations of future wars and attacks openly being planned is, "it's not an attractive issue. Americans can be reached only on issues of their own personal financial difficulties now understood as economic exploitation by Wall Street. Focusing on Wall Street's wars on humanity as more urgent than Wall Street injustice toward Americans would prevent the or hinder the growth of the OWS movement among the huge part of the population that is still pro US wars present past and future.'
Globally, greater mankind watching satellite TV has long become used to an attitude of American exceptional-ism (fascist?), and US disinterest in a relatively insignificant destiny for the non-American population of a US dominated planet Earth.
Most appropriate to this article's discussion, was a sign carried by a middle-aged Dominican lady that capsulizes King's teaching that these wars for overseas investments brought economic injustice and poverty home to the streets of the United States.'
"MURDEROUS WARS ON the POOR THERE
BRING INJUSTICE & POVERTY HERE at HOME"
The signs were made and distributed by the International Campaign for Awareness of King's Condemnation of U.S. Wars and the "unjust overseas predatory investments they are meant to maintain."
http://kingcondemneduswars.blogspot.com/
Right now Occupy Wall Street is building a movement to remove injustice and poverty in America. That this will reduce America's need for foreign wars that create infinitely more massive pain, suffering, injustice and poverty abroad remains to be seen.
An earlier version of this article was published by OpEdNews, Wednesday, November 16, 2011 under the title: Occupation Wall St. Targets Stateside Injustice Not its Cause: Imperial Wars
Jay Janson, 80, is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer, who has lived and worked on all the continents and whose articles on media have been published in China, Italy, England, India and the US, and now resides in New York City. Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his. GlobalResearch, InformationClearingHouse, CounterCurrents, DissidentVoice, OpEdNews, HistoryNewsNetwork, are among those who have published his articles.
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