I found this refreshing video regarding the Occupy movement on the Adbusters website. The overwhelming negative bias toward the movement by U.S. national news media has been masking the voice of those with valuable reasons for being involved. News sources have been calling people involved “kids without jobs”, “violent protestors”, etc. This video shows what I believe the core of the movement is all about. Hopeful, tax paying, employed, smart people standing up for their rights together. Their hope is that the 1% of people who get tax breaks, bailouts, perpetuate corporate greed and the world wars would see how these actions affect the other 99% of world. It seems that getting the attention of the 1% would be the first step, but unfortunately the requests are being ignored, scoffed at, and slandered.
I realize that many arguments could come from this type of writing but I decided to write it anyway. It’s so easy to put up a quick sentence online and not voice a thought out opinion. It has been a personal goal of mine to try to write articles about things that I am thinking about. I have such a hard time finding articles that I can relate to. I guess that’s why I am writing this. It seems that news sources have been heading in a direction where slang words are used, unimportant information is documented and it masks meaning and depth into stories. I’m not saying that no one writes good articles anymore, or at least ones that I like, but I am saying that they are hard to find. My hope in writing this is that the few people who actually read it might consider doing a little bit more research and explore whats happening in the world right now.
I feel that the arrests and voices of the more dynamic activists are important, but those stories are for a different time. I wanted to share a little bit of what has been on my mind regarding the connections between the U.S.’s hope for change and President Obama’s lack of concise response to the Occupy movement. It’s not just the U.S. Occupying spaces, currently there are more Occupied sites in Europe than in the U.S. and as it grows to hundreds of thousands of people the message seems to be the same worldwide; stop corporate greed and it will start the process of eradicating injustice. So far President Obama’s response has been short comparing the movement to the Tea Party. This statement seemed a bit peculiar, I actually see it much differently. I see the Occupy movement as a change campaign similar to the presidents but with a more direct message.
The movement has been criticized for not having a message but the message seemed loud and clear from the start. Occupy Wall St. was just as simple as that. Since Wall St. is a U.S. financial institution for corporate greed why not stand outside of it and protest it. It was the place where the movement would start. Just occupy with a simple message. “99% have 1% of the wealth and 1% have 99%, what do you think about that?” It just started last month and it seems that this criticism from the small handful of major news sources that were willing to touch on the subject spoke too too soon. The movement’s wikipedia page has been developing and a recent announcement calls for a 1% “Robin Hood” tax on all financial transactions and currency trades worldwide. The Adbusters website states that this 1% tax will be enough to fund every social program and environmental initiative in the world. Just 1%.
During President Obama’s campaign for presidency he expressed that the U.S. needed change, and we needed to believe in this and hope that change would happen. The change he spoke of included more jobs, tax breaks for those who make less than the median income, well funded education systems, higher taxes for the rich, etc. All the stuff that we really need. He got my vote. For being such a powerhouse for hope and change he hit a wall. His most consistent opposition has been a Congress strongly defiant against his bills for change. His plans for health care, tax relief, etc have been passed off by Congress as “too much spending” or “the taxes are two high for the upper class.”
I am baffled that President Obama and Vice President Biden have held off on responding to Occupy protests, considering that they too are feeling the frustration from bureaucracy. Not being able to reach these goals is detrimental to seeing what can happen when their vision of change is implemented. They have fought for change like they said they would and have won a few bills in Congress. including the repeal of the don’t ask don’t tell policy and help keep medicare available. We understand that it’s not going to be easy to get those tax hikes for the rich.
Waiting isn’t new for voters, but patience is not a voters strong suit. We are used to getting a lot of promises and our experience is it will take a long time or it may never happen at all, but at least we figure if we vote for someone who cares about issues we care about that we’ll have a better president than what the alternative could have been. This time around things have been a bit different. President Obama started a fire for change and if he’s not going to bring then it’s time to figure something else out. Occupy not only has the answer for that in protesting corporate greed, it becomes much deeper than that. In the meantime people have been taking the Presidents message for change into their own hands, what else can you do? It’s been gradual, and I think for a while it seemed that people gave up, but there is no proof of that considering the grand number of people fighting injustice through the Occupy movement. Occupy is set to see an end to the opposition that holds back the 99% from having the right to afford to get an education, to have a voice in seeing the end to global wars, it gives everyday low and middle class people a voice in the decision making process in the world. It seeks to end the opposition that is stopping President Obama from reaching his goals and more.
Maybe I’m giving the president more credit than he deserves, he is a politician, maybe the reason why he doesn’t respond to this movement is because he is in the 1%, or his investors are the 1%. For whatever reason I have a hard time judging him. I want to believe that he wants to end the wars, help the poor. I want to believe in the change that he believes in but Occupy just seems to cut right through that, and end to all injustice starting with corporate greed.
The Occupy movement hopes to find cures injustice. Watching politicians pass the power torch back and forth only to change their predecessor’s law’s perpetuates the major problems world. During the last election this country was pretty much 50/50 on the issues. That’s a scary thought. Occupy seems to be bringing people together in a way that has been seen in my lifetime. I believe that the Occupy movement is a fresh new option where the people have the voice to request the change, rather than voting and waiting. Occupy doesn’t just stand up for some injustices but it hopes to tackle all injustice by refocusing the power holders to see what they have done and give them the option to really change. It will take sacrifices on the 1%’s to end their greed grip on world trade and finance but there is so much that can be better if they do. This is the key that opens the door to see an end to injustice, worldwide.
Elections are coming and we still haven’t heard from the president. My hope is that he can formulate a positive response to the questions that the Occupy movement is presenting to him soon. A president cannot ignore a movement with hundreds of thousands of people worldwide saying the same things. All of these things seem like they would resonate with President Obama, at least based on seeing his debates before he won the election. Occupy will continue to grow with smart, employed, tax paying voters that care deeply about seeing an end to injustice the U.S. and the rest of world. The things that they want are definitely things I want to. How about you President Obama?
Reference Links:
http://www.adbusters.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street
http://robinhoodtax.org/
