The occupations themselves have began to spook the wealthy class and thrown a kink in the way that mainstream media normally operates. Challenges are presupposed when movements form, and the one that seems to be the most talked about recently is that the movement is void of any direction. This is a valid concern, because it is true that with so many minds coming together in droves that there will inevitably be a countless number of issues being brought to light. Some articles that have circulated have claimed that the movement itself has no clear direction and will likely suffer from this lack of directional unity. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, has claimed that the movement is "not productive" and even went on to say that it is taking jobs away from people working in the city. These statements were of course not backed up by any kind of evidential data, a common occurrence among powerful politicians. But we must also remember that Bloomberg is the 13th richest person in the United States. It's no surprise who he's really working for.
Our mainstream opinion leaders and media outlets need to give their head a shake. The direction of this movement could not be any more obvious! The name itself gives it all away. The protests began at the epicentre of global financial affairs: Wall Street, New York. The message perpetuating couldn't be more clear: We are frustrated with our financial and political leaders with their complete mismanagement of our economy, and the social conditions that we have been forced to live under as a result of this. The political process has become infected with monetary interests, so much that progressive ideas are often pushed to the side as irrelevant or dismissed as unfair threats to the powers that be. One only has to look at business expenses on lobbying in every industrialized country to understand the magnitude of this problem. One of the messages that I have seen predominantly vocalized through twitter is that the political process must be freed from corporate influence in all possible ways.
Now that we have established that this movement does in fact have a premise, I will point out that there are also established sets of goals that have begun to circulate among websites in support of the "occupy" movements. Here's just one poster of goals that I have seen:
One thing I find astounding about critics of this movement is their inability to realize that the present "plan" we have going for us at the present moment is really not getting us anywhere by almost any measure. I think it is very difficult to make the argument that our government leaders are successfully executing some kind of defined and agreed upon plan that is positively affecting the majority of citizens. Oh that's right, we have a system that directly goes against this notion of a "centralized direction". We have left wing vs. right wing politics (or in the United States' case, moderately right wing politics vs extremely right wing politics), which is a system that essentially celebrates political correctness and ignores political cooperation. It is a system that has bred a population that takes more pride in their political status than say, their ability to distinguish a effective policy from a defective one, regardless of it's political affiliation. I will also make this crystal clear now: effective policies to me are defined only as those that affect the most amount of people in a positive way in relation to the alternatives proposed, as well as the assurance that the policy can be sustainable economically and socially. Even when our governments do agree upon a broad-based plan, it is common for that contract to not be withheld. An example of this is Canada's recent greenhouse gas emissions report, which cited that our emissions have actually increased despite our signing and subsequent ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
The direction of these movements are not set in stone, and the never will be. No matter how many ideas are officially proposed by the general assembly, there will still be issues that are kept quiet and ideas that remain under-valued. But as I point out, the sentiments that are flowing in the hearts of the protesters are what we should be focused on, because it is the sentiment of the majority. And although not set in stone, ideas that benefit the majority are, to me, much more valuable and durable than those that are always based upon an outside interest and only reflect the wants of the few rather than the needs of the many. Besides, the circulation of ideas is only the beginning of what is to come. Once people wake up to the decades of exploitation, greed and corruption by countless of our decision-making leaders, it only follows that demands will come next. Those demands will grow, and that is where we will begin to see progress.
© Shelby Bouchard
Follow me on Twitter: @SBtheradical
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