Protest of the 99 Percent

Against rising tuition and for better education, for more jobs and against lower pensions, against capital punishment and police state methods, for a rational environmental policy — the demands are as colorful and varied as the protesters themselves, a growing and therefore very young U.S. protest movement that wants to finally wake America from its slumbers. The crisis has long since eaten deeply into the nation’s middle class; the American Dream has long since been dreamed out, and not just for the 46 million who live below the poverty level in the world’s supposedly richest nation.

The demonstrators chanted, “We are the 99 percent,” referring to that small group of super rich people who continue to get wealthier even in the face of the financial collapse. The power of money dominates a policy that results in Democrats and Republicans engaging in absurd trench warfare over taxes while ever-rising debt levels continue to overwhelm increasing numbers of people.

The frustration and disappointment over the unbridled greed and power of banks and their political stooges is what powers the protests of a more diffusely acting anti-capitalist movement than does any particular political policy or party. But it no doubt encourages these U.S. activists to see similar protests gaining support, particularly from labor unions, all across the nation.