The past three weeks have witnessed the genesis of the world’s
newest protest movement…only this time, it’s happening right here
at home.
As the “Occupy Wall Street” movement hurtles into its third
week, hundreds of young people have filled Zuccotti Park in
Manhattan, home to the iconic stampeding bull in New York’s
financial district. Similar protest movements have spread to other
cities including Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. They have staked
their claim to global context, declaring themselves progeny of the
non-violent, nonhierarchical demonstration movements that rocked
the foundations of totalitarian oligarchy across the Middle East
and North Africa earlier this year. A living, breathing
manifestation of liberal economic populism, they’ve erected tents
and hunkered down to wage a forever war against greed and
corruption.
Now pundits are speculating whether America is about to
experience the same sort of youth-driven, socially-networked deluge
of grass roots protests that turned the Arab world on its head. Of
course, in this case, the issue at hand isn’t police state
politics, the suspension of a constitution or a violent crackdown
on peaceful picketers. “Economic inequality” and “political
oligarchy” are the adversaries du jour — and
when all else fails, it’s easy enough to blame the rich and bemoan
the supposed erosion of the middle class.
Somewhere on the way to the stated goals of “taking
to task the people who perpetrated the economic meltdown” and
presidential commissions “to separate money and politics,” our lazy
media decided it was fair and just to christen the protest
“America’s Arab Spring.” How incredibly insulting.
Facile comparisons to Arab Spring insults the real
revolutionaries who braved batons , bullets, and brutal despots to
demand some semblance of democracy and political transparency. The
NYPD aren’t about to gun down a small gathering of hippies and
hipsters, no matter how desperately starved they are to be a part
of an international resistance to the so-called status
quo. Despite this contrived struggle to join the cause,
they’ve been unable or unwilling to express any real demands, other
than scattered stipulations for student loan forgiveness or an
unreasonable living wage.
It’s not like we’re living in Egypt or Tunisia — let alone
Iran, Syrian, or Libya. These new age revolutionaries should
experience protest in a country that isn’t quite so warm and fuzzy
regarding freedoms of speech and assembly. In reality, the only
thing the movements have in common is popular youth protest, bound
by frustration and slackly organized through social media. The Arab
youth had better things to rail against than loan forgiveness on
the debt incurred for a liberal arts degree in “Medieval German
Poetry.”
When it comes to legitimate protest against societal ills, the
Wall Street Occupiers seem to forget that message — which they
lack — is important, and grievance — which they’ve imagined — is
vital. Mandates come in response to legitimate injustice. This
complaint circus is little more than a collective venting session
that lacks the edge and urgency of the Arab protests. For all
intents and purposes, this is a hollow imitation of the real
thing.
I will give them one thing…they’ve reminded us all just how
far Manhattan’s financial district is from downtown Damascus.
