Somthing's Happening Here

There are no signs that the Occupy Wall Street movement is going away soon. It has inspired offshoot protests in major and minor cities across the nation, as well as sparking a global outcry. It's tapped into a worldwide vein of frustration and anger with I'm-mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore fervor. The movement has attracted the unemployed, the foreclosed-upon, the laid-off and the uninsured. It's served as a magnet for people of various political stripes, all united in their identification as the 99% who aren't benefiting from bail-outs, or reaping colossal financial rewards by playing fast and loose corporate games. Parents who marched for social equality, participated in anti-war demonstrations, or otherwise lifted their voices against the status quo are bringing their children along for the ride. It's the quintessential teachable moment. Tykes too young to remember they attended will one day tell their kids they were there.

Scenes from the front lines are reminiscent of the late Sixties, complete with cops trying to quell the mounting momentum with tear gas, mass arrests and conflicting accusations of violence on either side. My twenty-three-year-old son went to the Occupy Boston gathering last week. He was surprised at how well organized the event was, complete with job assignments for sanitation and safety & security. Also ongoing yoga and meditation classes. As for the news media's assertion that there was no consistent message coming from the movement, he said, "I think there's been a willful misunderstanding by the media as to the unifying statement emerging from the protesters. It's clear they're against an economic structure that serves the top 1% to the detriment of everyone else." Regardless of the disparate reasons that have drawn the participants into the mix, there is a striking commonality of purpose: We are the Little Guys and we're getting stiffed.

The hue and cry is long overdue. All the talk in the last presidential election about putting the concerns of Main Street over those of Wall Street has amounted to zilch. The average working Joe is still struggling against increasingly insurmountable odds, while CEOs of mega corporations continue to rake in obscene profits. None of the scoundrels have been prosecuted for ripping off the American taxpayer. No one has gone to jail. Jake Tapper of ABC News asked Obama about this fact at a recent news conference. Obama's tepid response on the question of accountability for Wall Street executives was that "a lot of stuff wasn't necessarily illegal, it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless." Well, it's time for those immoral, inappropriate people who've been reckless for so long to answer for their unbridled greed.

We don't know exactly where the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon is going, except that it's growing in size and scope on a daily basis. In viewing photos from the events I came across one that struck me: the sight of a young woman waving an American flag. The movement is rooted in our oldest constitutional traditions of peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and dissent. Any calls on the Right for action to stop it should be met with renewed passion and solidarity. The ignored and shafted have-nots are rebelling. The whole world is watching, again. Something's not only happening here. Something's gotta give.