Occupy Wall Street — An Angry Growl towards Vested Interest Groups

The Occupy Wall Street movement has lasted for more than a month since September. What will be the final outcome of this movement? People keep guessing. This is how human thinking works; everything should have an outcome. However, I don’t think that there would be any direct result from this movement due to the lack of a clear list of demands and it is not directed against the government or against a particular policy. This movement has, however, attracted more and more support and elicited more and more intense response, it has spread to many parts of the world.

Thus, how will this movement turn out to be? What will be its historical significance?

In my opinion, the Occupy Wall Street movement has a very important historical significance because it has initiated the precedence of going against the “bourgeois right.”

The bourgeois right, based on theoretical concepts according to Karl Marx, contributes to the inequality of the democracy, reinforced by its legal form. In reality, it means the unequal exchange under the guise of equal exchange. Everyone has his own need and the need is different from person to person. Therefore, there has to be exchanges in order to satisfy their needs. As human exchange develops over time, a form and a carrier which are separated from human arises, that is, exchange of equal value through currency. This form and carrier gradually lifts itself above the exchangers and alienates itself to become a force which dominates exchanges and even socio-economic life.

When this form of exchange and currency rise above the exchangers, every exchange seems to be equal on the surface and everyone involved in the exchange is equal. People exchange in accordance with the rules of equality; they sell their possession and get what they need in return. But in reality, due to the nature of the market, whereby certain things can be used in multiple exchanges while some can only be exchanged once, this type of exchange therefore results in the increase of price difference of the items which can be exchanged multiple times. Those who have mastered the currency and are competent in manipulating it can engage in multiple exchanges, gaining more and more price differences and thus accumulating more and more wealth, while other exchangers can only get the items and the value of them. Hence, this exchange gives rise to the Matthew effect. The Matthew effect means that “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” This is the so-called injustice/inequality under the form of equality. The bourgeois right seeks to maintain such an order; the inequality in rights in the form of equality.

The Matthew effect makes its appearance in the market economy. In market exchange, the laws of supply and demand and exchange of equal value are subject to the law of the Matthew effect. Since World War II, the fact that the U.S. dollar has become the direct carrier and tool of the bourgeois right maintains the status of the U.S. dollar, it has become an important mission and responsibility of the U.S. government to maintain this status.

What resulted from the bourgeois right and the Matthew effect is an increase in unemployment, a decrease in income and an increase in mental anguish. Meanwhile, some are enjoying high incomes as result of the so-called “equal rights”. What the demonstrators of Occupy Wall Street are protesting is the bourgeois right and the Matthew effect, as well as the acknowledgement of their dependence on the order of “equality”; they are not dealing with certain individuals or some specific government and its policies. That is why there is a lack of clear demand on the part of the demonstrators. However, as long as such things as the bourgeois right and the Matthew effect continue to exist, so will those who oppose; the numbers of this group will even increase. Looking at things from this perspective, we can say that not only will the Occupy Wall Street movement not disappear, it might multiply in number and even become a new trend in society.

A similar situation is also common in international relations. As a player that regulates the U.S. dollar, America will spare no effort in striking and harassing any suggestion or countries that seek to alter the hegemony of the U.S. dollar, or those who do not agree to market exchanges carried out in U.S. dollars. They might even resort to military means for interference and destruction.

Based on this observation, whether in countries which the market economy is highly developed or in international relations, the Occupy Wall Street movement is an angry growl of the minority toward the vested interest groups, advocating a more realistic order of vested interests.