I don’t understand contemporary protest movements. Recently in India, Anna Hazare, went on hunger strike to protest the Government’s hesitation in passing an anti-corruption bill. It last four days before the government caved in and expedited procedures. The protest was huge; India was raptured by this old man starving himself to death. In completely unrelated news, one third of India lives below the government-established poverty line; that’s one third of India that has trouble feeding itself on a regular basis. Oh well.
The latest Occupy (wherever you live even if it isn’t a financial center) movement is ridiculous. Not because “uhh, why don’t you occupy a job instead” or because “uhh, you guys are idiots. capitalism is the only thing keeping you alive right now” or because “uhh, you guys aren’t achieving anything” or because “uhh, you guys are just lonely hipsters who are desperately seeking something to do with your misery of a life- yeah, you went to university, got an arts degree, and now all you have to show for it is how unemployable you are”.
No, I think the Occupy movement is ridiculous because it’s all slogans, good will, and bad blood. It has no aims, no purpose, no raison d’être for its attempt at a coup d’etat. (I’m not sure what this means, but I do an arts degree, so I’m allowed to inaccurately use French to substantiate my points.)
To explain, let’s start with their big thing: “We are the 99%”. What does that even mean? No, you’re not the 99%. 99% of us are not camped outside buildings hoping senior bankers walk in the front door of their buildings (uhh, they park their Mercs underground, guys).
What’s that? You’re the 99% that believes that corporations are screwing us over and hoarding all the wealth? I see. But that still doesn’t explain why you’re now living outside these financial buildings.
What I want from the Occupy Movement and what we finally may see happen in the next week as negotiations between NYC and the protest organizers get underway is less random chanting and more concepts of what to do to fix it. I’m looking forward to this because so far, it’s just a bunch of disgruntled young people attempting to legitimize their own homelessness by camping in inappropriate urban places.
