America's Tahrir Square

You may not have heard about it, but there is currently a mass protest in New York’s financial district. Named #OccupyWallStreet after the Twitter hashtag, the protest against the banking industry started on September 17 and is scheduled to last until the protesters’ demands are met. Accusations of police brutality, however, have turned #OccupyWallStreet into a spark that is lighting fires of protest across America and Western Europe. So what are the demands of the protesters? How far will the protests spread? And is this the start of a social revolution?

The protesters claim to represent “the 99%”; that is, the poorest 99% of American society. Loosely speaking, after the recession of 2007/2008, many billions of dollars of the American people’s taxes were given directly to certain banks to save them from bankruptcy. These banks are now making large profits again, but the vast majority of Americans (the 99%) are worse off because of the bailout. The protesters cannot understand why they should pay for banks to survive while huge cuts are made in welfare spending by the government.

In a more general sense, the protesters are disillusioned at the lack of democracy in their country. Obama promised “Change” that never materialised. If the Democrats behave in a way that benefits only the richest 1%, and the Republicans favour the rich more than the Democrats, what hope is there for the 99%? It is certainly fair to say that both parties are far to the political right of the majority of the people. #OccupyWallStreet is a protest at the fact US elections offer a choice between two evils, to the extent that the only way for an American to formally disapprove of their government is to not vote at all.

It is surprisingly easy to see how this curious balance of power came about. In recent years, the price of running an election campaign has soared: a well-run campaign is more important than a good manifesto in gaining votes. This has driven presidential candidates – desperate for the money to run a successful campaign – into the pockets of large companies and banks in search of corporate sponsorship. It is not a conspiracy between corporations and politicians (there is nothing sinister going on) – it is simply a rational consequence of the importance of money in today’s America.

A well-run campaign is more important than a good manifesto in gaining votes

Accusations from the protesters that the real power lies with “the bankers” were reinforced by allegations of police brutality. A Youtube video of a police officer spraying mace (allegedly without warning) into the faces of young women has sparked outrage from human rights groups and activists. At the time of writing, more than 700 arrests have been made (many for such seemingly self-referential charges as “resisting arrest”) and activists on the ground claim that the police are restricting their right to gather, protest and speak freely. The majority of protesters have now been released.

As so often happens with such events, the brutality merely increased the protesters’ anger and the numbers have ballooned from 150 to over 3,000 since then. Moreover, similar protests including #OccupyBoston, #OccupyChicago and #OccupyWashington have started, spreading hope amongst activists that a revolution is soon to begin. Closer to home, #OccupyLondon is scheduled to begin on October 15, and has nearly 1,000 attendees on Facebook. That these protests could spark an Egypt-style revolution seems unlikely, but, with momentum gathering, anything could happen.