A little kid on a New York street captured global attention last week. He held a placard with the message ‘Where is my bailout?' joining hundreds of people in the ‘Occupy Wall Street' campaign. Perhaps, he might have accompanied his father to enjoy street-side revelry and hence be unaware of the meaning of the message on the placard. He was too young to understand much beyond his X-box games. But people all around the globe, who have suffered in the slowdown, did empathise with his message.
It isn't surprising then that the protests by activists at Zuccotti Park in New York, soon reverberated in several top cities including London, Chicago, Washington, Seattle and Atlanta. Zuccotti Park, which used to be called Liberty Plaza Park, is indeed living up to its reputation. It has, in fact, become a sort of Tahrir Square (Egypt) of the United States, with people refusing to vacate the park despite threats of forcible eviction.
PAID IN FULL
The US, which revelled at and fuelled the Arab spring, is getting paid in kind. Facebook and the Internet are being used to spread the word, network, inform the media and update people on what is happening on the US streets.
What started a month ago as a protest by a motley crowd of environmentalists, liberals, leftists, socialists and those disappointed with the gloomy economy is snowballing into a major campaign. It is spreading like wildfire, drawing support from different cities in the US and elsewhere.
Economists, politicians and policymakers have begun to take serious note of this campaign, though the protestors themselves are still debating their demands.
Sooner than later, the Government might use force or protests might die down on their own. But the writing on the wall is clear. There is simmering discontent across the US against the cushion the corporates and the rich enjoy when the economy is in the dumps, leaving the poor and middle class to their fate.
The ‘Occupy Wall Street' campaign reflects strong hatred against the market manoeuvres on Wall Street. It is no coincidence that the district court a few streets away awarded hedge-fund billionaire Rajaratnam an 11-year jail term and slapped a fine of $10 million for insider trading. Mahindra Satyam too paid a similar amount to SEC (Securities and Exchanges Commission) a few months ago, as it winds up its ADS (American Depository Shares), unable to conform to US regulations after the Satyam founder cheated investors by inflating the numbers.
REASONS FOR UPROAR
Frauds such as these are one of the several reasons for the uproar on New York Streets. Corporate greed, bail-out packages and growing unemployment are some other reasons for resentment. A US protestor has this to say in the popular Website ‘ wearethe99percent ' that is taking an important role in the Occupy Wall Street campaign: “There are poor people because there are rich people making bad choices to ensure that they are the ones remaining powerful and privileged,” comments the protestor. How true! It holds good for us as well. The response of the State and political parties to political and corporate corruption is appalling. While one political leader openly supports his kin involved in scandals, another leader, whose role was suspected, clears himself of the charges. What is worrying more is that the system doesn't have any problem with these leaders. The system is evidently pampering them.
We too had our own Tahrir, though in a small scale, in the form of the Anna Hazare team lately. It too rattled the Government and caught the imagination of the urban middle class. But it only focussed on corruption — just a symptom of a much larger problem. It is foolish to think that people don't understand these issues. They form their own opinions on the unjust and inequitable system that offers them no protection against economic shocks, making it a fertile ground for seeds of discontent. When people start questioning why they don't get any cushion in times of crisis, and investors fail to get any succour, we might also see ‘Occupy Dalal Street' campaigns a la ‘Occupy Wall Street' in India as well. It is just a matter of time.