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MONTHLY
MONTHLY
FEATURE
War on Wall Street
By Shairah Habib • Photos by Stuart Gold
I
nfluenced by the protests in Cairo
that led to the Egyptian revolution
earlier this year, protests have
spread from state to state in the USA
in demonstration against social and
economic inequality.
The movement which President Barack
Obama describes as “giving frustration a
voice” started in Zuccotti Park NY over
a month ago and has now spread to over
70 cities. Taking all social networking
sites by storm the occupation has been
embraced by many impressionable social
bodies such as Russell Simmons, Susan
Sarandon, Kanye West and even ice
cream moguls Ben and Jerry are scooping
in support.
However, not all New Yorkers agree
that capitalism is responsible for the
economic crisis and believe that the
blame lies within a weak political regime.
Senior economic writer Steve Moore of
the Wall Street journal told Fox news,
“There’s frustration of the fact that
Obama’s policies have not worked. Salt
against capitalism is frightening, if we
see a double dip recession then it will
just get into a situation where people will
turn violent and we’ve seen that happen
in places like London and Greece.
Capitalism is going to save America,
capitalism is the way out of this.”
Freedom of speech is the right to express
beliefs and ideas without unwarranted
government restriction guaranteed
by the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, so when we saw videos on
you.tube of peaceful protestors being
attacked it raised question to how true
civil rights really are. Chelsea Monthly
exclusively spoke to Stuart Gold from
Brooklyn about the atmosphere he told
us, “Yes there have been instances but
there’s not an intense battle between the
local authorities and members of the
public. When you’re out here you feel like
you’re a part of something important, it’s
like a political festival.” His feeling about
the movement stands as follows, “As long
as we have capitalism there will always
be inequalities. At a time where all the
American people are pulling together to
better our economy then shouldn’t those
who are more able to do so (financially)
help as much as they can? No one ever
got rich by themselves and the response
you’re seeing is a response to frustration.”
When I reiterated Steve Moore’s belief
that Obama’s political regime is to blame
he responded by saying, “That’s nonsense.
Blaming Obama is like blaming the
doctor for the diagnosis.”
The feeling of aggravation of an unjust
economic situation is clouding the
West and we risk falling victim to this
too. It was recently reported by Aidan
Radnedge of the London Metro that
Britain looses £18billion a year due to
its richest companies hiding financial
assets overseas. Whichever way you
may be persuaded it’s evident that the
financial crisis is reaching the point of
needing a solution rather than remaining
a situation of tolerance.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What are your opinions on the occupation? Share your thoughts with
me at shairah@chelseamonthly.com and your letters may be featured in our next issue.