Nightmare On Wall Street
By Radha Surya
12 October, 2011
Countercurrents.org
Overnight the face of political action and political dissent in the United States has undergone a transformation. Prior to the springing up of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, one had little choice except to believe that the views of constituents with shallow pockets actually mattered to the political elites in Washington DC or in state capitals. The activist groups busied themselves with mounting petitions and gathering signatures whenever executive or legislative branches of government were setting the stage for inflicting a further injustice or atrocity on domestic or foreign populations. In the era of online activism, members of left or liberal groups became accustomed to receiving a barrage of email requests to contact their Congressional representative when politically volatile issues were on the anvil. The politically engaged functioned willingly or unwillingly in a context where the trappings of democracy were treated as the substance and media-driven elections dominated by corporate money were staged at regular intervals.
The death knell is now being sounded for the kind of political resistance which has claimed the time and energy of activists without having any influence on US foreign or domestic policy. The best that can be said about such actions is that the spirit of dissent was kept alive. The collusion of corporate and political elites ensured that the wars that were being waged at home and abroad flourished. But now the winds of change have started blowing. Suddenly the older and safer forms of political activism--the intermittent street demonstrations, the façade of interaction between constituents and their so-called representatives in state and federal legislatures, the periodical campaigning in national or state elections and related forms of participation -- are looking as outdated as the steeple-crowned hats worn by the Puritans. With the audacious occupation of Wall Street continuing to gain momentum in the city of its birth and inspiring sympathetic occupations across US cities and towns, cynics and skeptics have been forced to sit up and take notice. Many defeats ago they had given up on any hope of meaningful social change. They are still reluctant to place their faith in what may yet prove to be a mirage. Nevertheless some among them have started wondering if the financial behemoth—that rapacious monster which decrees who shall live and who shall lead a slavish existence –has begun to quake in its expensive shoes.
OWS did not emerge from a vacuum. The rebels of September 2011 have drawn inspiration from the Arab Spring as well as the protests that rocked the mid-western states in February-March 2011. But unlike its mid-western precursor, OWS has avoided the pitfall of restricting itself to a relatively narrow agenda. By virtue of its self-definition as the revolt of the 99%, the Wall Street Occupation has zeroed in on the nerve center of the economic system that generates the inequality that radiates out from the charmed center of the 1% and becomes ever more brutal and oppressive as the distance from the mid-point grows greater. Ironically the financial sector’s preeminence—the very attribute which was once its greatest strength--has made it vulnerable to attack. A consolidated target is far more exposed than one which is dispersed. Ultimately they are all accountable to Wall Street--the armaments industry which battens off profligate military spending by the US government, the health insurance giants that ensure that 50 million Americans or a sixth of the population go without healthcare and force further millions into bankruptcy and the oil companies whose greed for profit is intensifying ongoing climate catastrophe. This list could go on.
Initially the political establishment like the rest of America was taken by surprise. In the third week of OWS, President Obama finally took grudging note of the ongoing protests. He acknowledged that the frustration of the protesters was justified. But it was clear where his real sympathies lay when he intoned as follows: “…we have to have a strong, effective financial sector in order for us to grow.” Well said Mr. President, one is tempted to respond. And to ask--Would you then concede that a healthy financial sector should not prey on the population at large? That it is criminal to evict millions from their homes and render them homeless? That the system should serve the interests of the majority and not devote itself to the enrichment of the 1% which has appropriated 25 percent of the national income? Despite belated recognition from the stalwarts of the Democratic party—President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and others—OWS seems to have little interest in the elites who were brought to power by a mendacious political process. This is to be expected. It is well known that Wall Street’s munificence gave President Obama the keys to the Oval Office. An observer who was present at the OWS marches in New York noticed that President Obama’s name was all but absent from the plethora of signs that were on display. Such disdain for the failed institutions of electoral politics may not be entirely unwelcome. The staffers on Capitol Hill and the Presidential office, the interns and the volunteers, will heave a sigh of relief. They know that OWS is not about to deluge them with a flood of petitions and letters.
We live in heady times. Old illusions like the belief in the fundamental egalitarianism of American society are being shattered. The emergence of OWS has been accompanied by commentary that has highlighted stark facts regarding economic inequality in the US notably ownership of 25% of the national income by the top 1% and of 85% of the national wealth by the top 20%. The basic statistics are easily grasped and their implications are inescapable. This vital information has been made to emerge from the mists of obscurity. For this we may thank the brilliance of OWS’ signature rallying cry, we are the 99%. The politically disengaged sections of American society can no longer shut their eyes to the vicious wealth gap that exists in America. The tenacity of the young people who have rallied in Liberty Plaza and across the US has given new life to the concept of distributive justice. Out of the blue, socialism that hitherto much reviled economic system has ceased to be anathema to a significant number of Americans. OWS’ ability to survive the first round of assaults from the foot soldiers of the financial elites is a victory in itself.
No longer does it seem hopelessly naïve to think that meaningful change is coming to America. The struggle for economic justice has been launched in a decisive way. At last one may dare to hope that at least some of the worst obscenities of the economic system will be eliminated--the denial of healthcare to the needy , the encumbering of students with loans that will shackle them for decades of their working lives, the taxation system that burdens the poor and favors the wealthy and so on. The intoxicating idea of revolution has filled the air. However it is too early to tell if a fundamental transformation of the political system lies ahead. At this fledgling stage in the OWS uprising, the outcome belongs in the realm of speculation. One thing however is for sure. This time Wall Street went too far. The financial behemoth should have been more generous with the crumbs that were flung at those who were not invited to the feast. At the very least Wall Street should have ensured a sufficiency of low paying, mind numbing employment that would have kept the economic periphery from identifying and rising up against the source of oppression. Ironically the Wall Street strategists failed to do the strategic thing.
Radha Surya has an academic background in English Literature and Library and Information Science and holds a computing job at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
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