Globalization has dramatically showed its strength in 2011. As if, at least when it comes to this year, all started with the Arabic spring in Mediterranean countries where lasting authoritarian regimes all the way from Egypt to Libya were falling like a domino effect. Syria is still resistant to this wave, but the only question is for how much longer.
In European part of the Mediterranean, in Spain and Greece, for the last few months governments are facing broad and determined citizen protests, especially among young people. Debt crisis has put Greece on the spot and European Union and the United States cannot allow it to go bankrupt. In that case European Union would suffer a great impact on its Euro zone which would fundamentally undermine not only Euro but the entire EU as well. Financial bankruptcy of Greece is also not acceptable for the United States, especially if there is any truth in the analysts’ statements that Greek loans are insured by the leading U.S. insurance companies. The example of Greece shows that both the European Union and the United States primarily protect their own interests. Greek Prime Minister Papandreou will be the first to pay the price by leaving the government. Much higher price will be paid by most of the population of Greece and the European Union. Even if EU does manage to solve the problem with Greece, it can expect similar problems with Spain, Portugal and Italy.
On the other side of the Atlantic, in a country where the first wave of financial crisis started three years ago, a warning movement called “Let’s occupy the Wall Street” began this fall. The movement quickly gained both global and local support of the cities across the United States. In the first few months, similar protests were reported in over 900 cities in the world, from London and Berlin to Manila and Kuala Lumpur. Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that the global financial crisis was the trigger of these protests.
Participants defined the platform of the movement as following:”Let’s occupy Wall Street is an independent movement of citizens of a different color, gender and political aspirations and without a leader. What we have in common is that we make up the 99% of those who will not tolerate greed and corruption of the remaining 1%. We will use Arabian spring revolutionary tactics to achieve our goals and to encourage the use of nonviolence in order to ensure maximum safety of all participants.” One of the 99 arrested in Manhattan says in the same spirit: “If we learned anything from the Arabic spring is that the weapons are helpless and useless in conflict with an idea.”
What is common to all these protests in the developed democratic countries of the world?
First and most obvious is that the protesters have a very negative attitude towards the politicians, banks and other financial institutions. They report that they do not need any politicians or bankers to build a better world.
Second, the protesters are aware that the strategy of political and financial elite is to switch the main burden of escape from crisis to wide layers of population.
Third, people are getting more and more affected by the crisis that has been afflicting the developed world for three years. The gap is deepening between the extremely wealthy 1% and 99% of those with decreased wages and property values, and whose demands for savings and loan repayments are becoming increasingly difficult.
Fourth, restrictions on education and health greatly minimize social functions of the state and call into question the survival of the welfare state and social security model.
Fifth, the citizens, especially the young generation, are mostly affected by the increasing unemployment, which in the richest societies, such as the United States, reaches even 10%.
It is interesting to note that Josh Ernest, a spokesman for Barack Obama, said that the President will continue to acknowledge the frustration that he personally shares in relation with the need for Washington to do more to support economic recovery and to ensure that the interests of 99% of Americans are better represented. Due to the prolonged economic crisis, Obama’s chances for a second presidential term are not so great, so it is understandable that he is sensitive to citizens’ dissatisfaction. At the same time, the protest is in favor of the Democratic Party because it is so far the only counterweight to the conservative Republican Tea Party movement.
What conclusions can be drawn from the current development of the movement “Let’s occupy the Wall Street”?
Firstly, the movement shows that the most developed democratic countries, as well as the entire world, display a large discrepancy between the weight of social and economic problems and the ability of political elites and leaders to solve these problems effectively. General dissatisfaction with the political and economic elites is becoming one of the important features of our age.
Next, more and more citizens are not willing to tolerate the greed of financial and other institutions whose businesses make today’s globalized world more insecure and uncertain. If the world does not enter the era of “distribution of capitalism,” this same capitalism runs the risk of losing its social legitimacy in order to function successfully.
The current economic and financial crisis, and the mass protests it has sparked in the largest and richest cities of the world, show that the concept of neo-liberal capitalism reached its limits and that has to be changed sternly, extensively and comprehensively. Whether and to what degree will the movement “Let’s occupy the Wall Street” remain sustainable, durable and successful, and whether one of its most radical slogans “The only solution is World Revolution” is realistic and achievable, it remains to be seen.
The occupation of Wall Street and Serbia