Why ordinary Americans are angry with Wall Street?

Today as I write this words New York City is witnessing the largest ever popular protest against Big Business and Finance Capital. The Occupy Wall street movement is gaining momentum and spreading to other Cities of USA. What are they protesting against?
“I did everything I was supposed to and I have nothing to show for it.”
The above statement reflects the general sentiment of the thousands of protesters blocking roads in New York today. The failed American dream is pushing more and more people into debt which no Government is ready to write off or help to re-pay, while the US treasury funds were liberally used to help big business to tide over its crisis several times in recent years. Those Companies which were bailed out by public money is showing big profits now but the US economy is in a bad recession.


We are the 99 Percent


One of the main fuel for this protests is the personal stories of hundreds of Americans depicted in the website 'We are the 99 Percent'.


Here are some examples.

Lost my job in 2006. Sold my home and moved in with my 87-year-old mother.

Worked temporary jobs on and off for over 5 years with little or no benefits.

Cancer survivor. Need medical care. Can’t afford health insurance.

TOO YOUNG TO RETIRE.

Watching my retirement funds and savings shrink.

Moved to Mexico to get medical care. Rent a room and live on $250 a month. No car. No phone.

Mom is in the hospital and I wonder if I can afford to come home.

I AM the 99%.

I am 30 years old. I have a BFA and an MA. I taught Art History for 2+ years and made regular payments on my loans. As a newer, less established member of the faculty I was out of work when my college cut classes. Over a year later and I still can’t find work. I pick up dog poop for $6 a walk. Because of deferments my $41,000 loan has become $62,000. I am the 99%.

III am 29 years old. I have a Master’s degree. I am $120,000+ in student loan/medical debt. In the past 18 months I: was diagnosed with cancer, lost 2 jobs, worked 70 hours/wk and unable to keep up. I get more calls from creditors than I do friends. My electricity was shut off in May. I was too embarrassed to tell people in August that it was still off. I had to move back in with my parents. I have $4 in my bank account and no job.

I am the 99%.

occupywallst.

These are the REAL stories of people who played by the rules,did as they were told,but has only huge debts to show for it.

The interesting thing is that the protesters have no concrete list of demands. Or you can say different protesters have different demands and these are being put to vote on net and may become finalized only after few weeks or even months.

 Most of the demands are aimed at better control and more taxing of big business and finance capital. There are also demands for more affordable universal health care and affordable education.

Here is a list of demands that are being voted on.

http://coupmedia.org/occupywallstreet/occupy-wall-street-official-demands-2009

Greece,Spain,Italy.........USA....... the tale of woes of Western Capitalist economies is continuing. Mass struggles are taking place in all these places against Corporate greed and the elected Government's abject surrender to big business and finance Capital.

Will these protests of honest and sincere men and women who played by the rules,but lost everything, help to bring  a revolutionary change in the system?

Pictures of hope from Egypt

Egypt is at cross roads of its history. May be not only Egypt,but the whole of Arab world.
30 year old dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak is being questioned by hundreds of thousands of ordinary Egyptians in the streets of Cairo,Alexandria,Suez and other cities. The ruling Party headquarters is in flames. while the protesters form a human shield to protect the National Museum. Mubarak's allies in the West and the Arab world were speechless and stunned.

The protesters were from all class,creed and religion.They included the rich ,the poor,men and women,jeans clad and burqa clad,blue collar workers and manual labourers.There were no anti-US or anti- Israel slogans.There were no ritual burning of US flags.It was mainly secular and peaceful protests aimed at just one thing- regime change and ouster of Mubarak.

Things are still fluid. Nobody is sure what will happen the next hour. But my hunch is regime change in Egypt will take place and Egypt will become a more democratic and liberal State.

Kashmir boils

The recent disturbances and killings of scores of civilians in Kashmir made me read a book about Kashmir once again. The book 'Curfewed Night' written by a Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer published in 2008 is a disturbing account of the life of Kashmiris.in Independent India.

  The first part of the book deals with the early childhood of the author in Kashmir.Kashmir was peaceful then and armed militancy has not started yet.Later he describes how the deep sense of injustice fueled street wide protests after the rigged elections of 1987 and Gawkadal Bridge massacre by CRPF in January 1990. This went on to trigger armed militancy.

Now in 2010 history it seems is repeating itself. Kashmir is on the boil and  a deep sense of injustice prevail among the civil society of Kashmir.The shouts of 'Freedom' reverberates. Instead of the armed militants funded by ISI it is the stone throwing Kashmiri youth who are in fore front protesting against the high handedness of security forces.
As Kashmiri journalist  Dilnaz Boga writes

Even schoolchildren have been shot in the streets during protests – 11 during June alone, with more deaths in July, indicative of the extent to which the militarisation of the Valley has impacted normal life. Despite the lack of a visible insurgency, the military apparatus continues to remain all-powerful. With the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) not equipped to deal with civilians – as stated by no less an authority than E N Rammoham, former inspector-general of Kashmir – the repercussions of the heavy presence of military and paramilitary forces are being felt across the Valley. 


Yesterday was the bloodiest day in recent history of Kashmir with 7 civilian deaths. The spiral of violence is continuing with each death creating more protest marches and more firing by security forces. Protesters are becoming more violent attacking Government buildings and vehicles and storming Police Stations.

Situation is completely out of control of the Government and political leadership, both in Delhi and Srinagar has been found clueless how to control the situation.

Indian mainstream media is gagged and most of the truth are not coming out.
 
Sanjay Kak a documentary filmmaker based in Delhi. the maker of Jashn-e-Azadi (2007) about Kashmir writes

The CNN-IBN correspondent, happily embedded inside an army truck as it made its way through Srinagar, was extolling the impact of the flag march (even as an official was busy denying that there had been any such thing). NDTV provided its usual high-wire balancing act, with Barkha Dutt dredging up the ‘pain on both sides’. The grief of the mourning father of 17-year-old Tufail Mattoo, killed when his skull was taken apart by a teargas shell, was weighed against a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commandant ruing the damage to his truck’s bulletproof windscreen. But such expedient journalism paled before far more damaging hubris. While these ‘national’ reporters had the run of curfew-bound Srinagar, they omitted to mention that their Srinagar-based colleagues – local, national and even international journalists – had been locked in their homes and offices for three days

The lack of objective coverage by media is one of the reason for lack of protests against civilian killings from rest of India.Other reason may be the cry of 'Azadi' from the Kashmiri protesters which make them less acceptable to rest of Indians.But prominent Indian Civil Rights activists have issued an appeal to stop violence against unarmed civilians in Kashmir.

Why the Kashmiri youth is angry? What do they want?

Sanjay Kak writes

Most of all, even before azadi, they want justice. As they watched the Indian Army columns moving through Srinagar last month, Kashmiris would have been reminded that the protests this summer started with the Army in the killing fields of Machil., where soldiers of the Indian Army (including a colonel and a major) were charged with the murder of three civilians, presenting them as militants for the reward money So, just as elections cannot be confused with democracy in Kashmir, an elected government is no substitute for a working justice system. Meanwhile, the prolonged use of the Public Safety Act, and the dangerous license of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, is slowly wearing thin for the young.

There has been no progress in ensuring justice to victims of Pathribal fake encounter killings of 2000 in which 5 civilians were killed Government is yet to give sanction to prosecute 5 soldiers charge sheeted by CBI in that case.

The best thing that the political leadership can do is to repeal or severely dilute the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and allow prosecution of all security personals accused of high handedness The Act has proved to perpetuate more violence and injustice not only in Kashmir but the whole of North East India. 

Such a move may help in turning the tide against the cycle of violence and bring peace into the Kashmir valley. Otherwise get ready for a new round of Armed militancy in Kashmir and perhaps more bomb explosions in Cities of rest of India.