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October 19th, 2011 12:39 PM #2
O.W.S.
O.W.S. — challenge to status quo
By DR. FLORANGEL ROSARIO BRAID
October 18, 2011, 11:53pm
MANILA, Philippines — It started a month ago with 50 protesters who spontaneously gathered in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park in New York City. Unlike the Arab Spring and other people power movements, the “Occupy Wall Street” (OWS) protest had no charismatic leader or one who claims to have initiated it. They came from various age, gender, and social class groups, and political persuasions. The only thing they had in common was that they represented 99% of the American population. Because it was such an amorphous group, some thought that the members would eventually lose interest and disperse. But instead, the protest grew in numbers and intensity, and spread like wildfire – in the states and cities of the United States and in many parts of Europe and Asia.
The message of Occupy Wall Street was clear – “We belong to the group that is getting poorer and will no longer tolerate the greed of the 1% rich that is getting richer.” In America, this was directed at the excesses of wealthy capitalists and insensitive Congress leaders who called them mobs, and told them to blame themselves and not the banking institutions. The US Congress which is now influenced by Republican conservatives, is perceived as giving preferential treatment to the rich and major business groups while cutting social welfare spending.They blame the latter and President Obama for having failed to find effective solutions to their economic woes.
This OWS message that reverberated all over the US – to California, Seattle, Boston, Hawaii, and other places – likewise appealed to people in Canada, Australia, Rome, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, and other parts of the world. Except for the violence in Rome that resulted in dozens of persons getting injured, the protests that were carried out in parks and other public places, through creative placards and posters, and over the social networks, were generally peaceful. The message signified that there is a great deal of wrong that needed to be fixed – unemployment, unequal access to quality education and economic opportunities, police brutality, among others.
In the country, political activists from Bayan and Anakbayan which marched near the US Embassy, the Philippine Stock Exchange, and the Amercian Chamber of Commerce saw the OWS protest as an opportunity to advocate against hunger, joblessness, and inequities of free market capitalism, and to dramatize these concerns in placards which carried these messages: “PH is not for sale” (referring to Cha-cha which is seen as a step towards sale of patrimony and economic sovereignty); “36 million cannot afford food;” “15 million experience hunger;” “11 million are jobless.” Anakbayan describes the OWS as “the closest symbol yet of the failure of globalization to provide a decent existence to millions all over the world”.
the power elite need a bunch of people between them and the poor
the middle class want stability coz they have fairly ok lives. they wouldn't want chaos in the streets. it is in the interest of the middle class that stability is maintained
the poor have nothing to lose. they want chaos in the streets
somehow the power elite forgot the purpose of the middle class and exploited the middle class
they drove the middle class into poverty
so the buffer between them and the poor has almost disappeared
society becomes unstable when you have a very small number of rich people and a very large number of poor people and nothing in between
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October 20th, 2011 07:43 AM #4
Sa pilipinas, sawa na ang tao sa mga mass protest. Two People Power didn't translate for change, it only made things worst. They always get exploited by politicians. Look where are we today. Bayan and PALEA don't represent the so-called 99 percent. Leftist agenda nila, they want a free ride...
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October 20th, 2011 11:37 AM #5
wala kasi kwenta kahit ano pa tollroad yan eh kung sabay-sabay kayou uuwi. Ang lunas talaga jan...
Traffic!