Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Shortly after the Occupy Wall Street protests began in lower Manhattan in the Fall of 2011, Naomi Klein published a piece at The Nation, heralding the movement as “the most important thing in the world now.”
To the chagrin of Wall Street, Klein succinctly explained to the populace what was coming next from the marauding wealth barbarians unless there was a demonstrative push back from the citizenry:
“If there is one thing I know, it is that the 1 percent loves a crisis. When people are panicked and desperate and no one seems to know what to do, that is the ideal time to push through their wish list of pro-corporate policies: privatizing education and social security, slashing public services, getting rid of the last constraints on corporate power. Amidst the economic crisis, this is happening the world over.
“And there is only one thing that can block this tactic, and fortunately, it’s a very big thing: the 99 percent. And that 99 percent is taking to the streets from Madison to Madrid to say ‘No. We will not pay for your crisis.’ ”
Those who would belittle or marginalize the Occupy Wall Street movement, could not possibly have ever worked within its polished mahogany corridors of power or have first hand insights into its sprawling tentacles. Wall Street’s power draws its sustenance from the lack of a serious counterforce. The two party political system is no power drain as it now functions as a provider of continuity government for Wall Street. Congress is no counterforce as members fear the wrath of being de-funded in their next political campaign. The judiciary lacks any heft since any challenge that might arise in the lower courts receives a swift machete at the amply corporate-anointed U.S. Supreme Court.
Occupy Wall Street was, and is, the most important thing in the world now. And we will never really know how different our world might be today had not that spirited band of fellow Americans and kindred spirits from abroad convened in the bowels of the financial district and held their outpost through rain and snow, beatings, pepper spray and a cowardly eviction raid by the New York City Police Department; a raid so disgraceful to the City that shelters the Statue of Liberty that reporters were roughed up and barred from observing it.
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