WALL STREET SPRING: AMERICANS DEMAND DEMOCRA\ By Saswat Pattanayak =OPINION Like right out of a Charles Bukowski poem, Saswat Pattanayak's vision of unrest in America , alarming, intriguing and hopeful. The Wall street occupations . “Bom hike this Into chis As the chal faces emile ‘As Mrs. Death lavghs As the devators break As political landscapes dissolve As the supermarket bag boy holds college degree” ~ Charles Bukowski Ihe homeless and the Hippies, the socialises and the students, the communists and the ‘commoners the Wall Suect has been occupied for good by the countless human beings cdemandingdignity of life denied to them under American capitalism. Every disenfianchised minority is now decrying the citadel of private capital, greed and monstrosity. And contrary to White House assertions and corporate media verdicts, the defamed Wall Street has been denied a bail-out- by the people of the United States. Braving the NYPD interventions and assaults, seeking solidarity with the otherwise indifferent bystanders, and hoping thatthe collective aspirations ofthe oppressed masies vill nally prevail, thousands of radicals are demanding the revolution - not in faraway Libya or Syria, but right here in the centerpiece 2 eae in New tae City. “hiss the Wall Sweet Spring - a significant demonstration of solidarity among anti-capitalists and class struggle prisoners! ‘WallStreet Springisredical in manners whichhave shaken the foundation of mainstream media in this country. Boch liberal and conservative media have cautiously covered thisuprising, essentially because unlike in the past, this gathering is truly diverse, and phenomenally radical. The revolucionarics are snot cndorsing any simplistic political ploy by a liberal party © gamer support through expressions of politically comrect thetorie. In fact. quite che contrary. A placard prominently reads - mocking the Democrats “Job Creators, my 38s In many ways, "Occupy Wall Street” is reminiscent of the several marches across the country over the past decades. People ftom various sectionsofsociety have gathered to march against police brutality and sociezal inequality. And yer in ant ways itis rather different. The goal today is notto reconcile following legislative changes, bs torevolt to ensure a peoples’ democracy. The march is nor silent. The march is not harmoniously conducted hand in hand wich musical backgrounds. The march today is disparate, heterogencous, ressive of collectve anger and resentment aguinst the ied que: Mao cs cece of de Black Pours tg overcollege campuses, with loudspeakers and radicalagendas; than a pacified demonstration of hopeful placards. Irs not a congregation to reconstruct the capitalistic society i is one that speaks through the voice of the latest victim ‘Troy Davis: “Dismantle this unjust system’. “You Mustbe Asleep to Experienes American Dream”: Long ago, Malcolm X announced how he was experiencing ‘American Nightmare, not American Dream. For several decades his call for the people to literally “wake up” were ridiculed, suppressed and relegated co dustbins of history by the private media enterprises. From Hollywood flicks to CNN headlines, frivolous entertainments were repackaged as news for popular consumprion. Big businesses throvgh advertisements and various forms of sponsorships pushed their agendas for a ferociously vital American economy - an economy where capital would be privately held, with solitary aim for unlimited profits, and where the capital would invariably triumph over the labor. For decades, the American Dream . 0 fictitious and opportunistic claim thar anyone can aelfichly prosper through individual efforts ~ has been demonstrated as the encompassing ideology of global capitalism. The phrase has gained approvals because it has gone unquestioned. Much like he accompanying rhetoric: Democracy. “The dream and the democracy - both arc at stake this time. Inthe past, the masses demanded to restore them. This time, theyare demanding to dismantle them. No wonder, the New York Times failed to deconstruct what is happening at the Wall Steet. “Gunning for Wall Street, With Favley Aim” read the headline on the Times. For decades the mainstream corporate media defined for the people what their aims should be in order that che stacus quo is duly maincained. ‘And usually inthe western world, the protests have invariably taken a reformist shape, because the goals are precisely laid cout, the conversations are ly arranged, and th legislative conclusions draw the final lines. However, this time, itis different, to say the least. It is not jast the Wall Street. It is Occupation United States. Similar “occupation” movements are taking over various cities in she country, almost in away, that itis dificule to fathom the direction they shall take. Many critics of the Occupation are arguing that this movement shall fil because it does not have Norember2011@ KINDLE INDIA [27enon specific goals. For instance, the otherwise liberal Colbert Report ridiculed the ocouption as a mindless gibberish because the humorist found the lack of an articulated goal to be quite unacceptable, Unacceptable, it sure is Protests demonstrations, and marches have traditionally been easy to contain because they tend to address specific issues and have exeremely limited sphere of influence. They usually do not address the syscem assuch because strictly from a pragmatic standpoint, it delays the process of redressal. And from a political standpoint. an attack on the system is a call for dismantling and possibly, overthrowing of an existing political economy - something which is out righty weed by not just che raling das ‘membersof politicsand businesses, bt also by agreat number of citizens who live in class denial ‘War Has Been Brought Home: Occupation movement this time around offersno immediate solution - nor does it harbor much hopes either. If the collectivedemand isto have Obama administration disocate itself and the United States from Wall Street money, the collective intelligence says it is probably not possible. Demanding 2 solution from the very system that needs to be dismantled is a worthless endeavor. And no one knows this bbeveer than the radicals themselves. And yee, what is mach ‘more important is the historical knowledge that revolutions take place not through pessimistic withdrawals, but through constant engagement with all available avenues of protests 28|KINDLE INDIA @November2011 until the status quo is reversed, In our fast-paced, solurion-oriented, just-do-it society, it is quite predictable that many intellectuals and journalists, politicians and diplomats shall continue to question the Viability of movements that offer no concrete alternatives. Buta reflective and critical study of revolutionary theories and unique histories of various progressive movements shall demonstrate that all thac the masses need are a few sparks, and thereis no telling what tums the events will take! (Capitalistic America today appears to be insurmountable. It appears so, because i is depicted as thus through textbooks and newspapers, amidst televised programs and blockbusters. ‘The deep vulnerabilities and classic contradictions of capitalism are deliberately omitted in an effort to celebrate the manufactured notions of freedom and democracy in the western world, But as humanity continues to evolve, and as consciousness of the masses across various oppressed social locations continues to be raised, the protocols are bound to shattet. The people will emerges the leaders themselves. And their collective aspirations - to inhale the air that celebrates human dignity, fe from greed of private accumulations -are bound to prevail Ir’ just a macter of time, And, that clock is ticking today at the Wall Stret. Saswas Pattanayak is an atheist, third-teave feminist, LGBT ally, black power comrade, and academic non-elite based in ‘New York City; and he refuses to give up his association with Kindle.