Saturday, October 15, 2011

Occupy [Insert City]: Global 'Spring' of Discontent or is universal boredom spawning Rebels without a Cause?




An iconic cover of Time Magazine depicting the spirit of the Cold War
Source: time.com



It was about 20 years ago that the Cold War officially ended. For those of you too young to remember the Cold War all you have to know is that it made for some great movies James Bond films. On a more serious note,  I am sure there are history books out there with glossy chapters about how the epic Cold War ended with Western Democracy/capitalism being victorious over the evil menace of Eastern Communism /Marxism. Would anyone have predicted however that two decades later, the mighty machine that is Capitalism would implode into itself plunging the entire planet into an economic crisis of grave proportions? Moreover, would anyone have known that a global spirit of socio-political discontent would engulfing the world leading to people of all ages and walks of life registering their disaffection with Capitalism? 

I must admit it is hard to decide whether the Occupy Movement is a real phenomenon of global popular anger and discontent spurred on by the World Economic Crisis of 2008/2009 and the Arab Spring or just a case of universal boredom spawning masses of rebels without a cause. The cynical view comes from listening to interviews with protesters at Occupy Wall Street on the BBC. Many articulated the fact that the protest had no clear goals or targets and some had joined just for protesting sake.

Until this afternoon, I was under the erroneous impression that the Occupy [Insert City] protests were restricted to the US. This impression crumbled when I came across two notices:

Occupy Den Haag (The Hague)
Google  Translate: This is our land.We occupy our streets, we occupy them. we are here. We are increasing in number

Occupy Amsterdam:

A global movement has indeed been born and you can follow its activities at www.occupytogether.org. I am still yet to decide what it is really about but the words of that popular Buffalo Springfield protest anthem  from the 1960s For What It's Worth are ringing in my ears:

"There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind....."

- Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth (c) 1967

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