Tag Archives: OWS

WHO IS AFRAID OF THE PROTEST?

Wall Street, Manhattan, New York, USA

LET'S CHALLENGE A WORLD RULED BY WALL STREET

Today may seem just a Saturday more of an October month but maybe it is a diferent Saturday.

Some weeks ago I received in a little town in Catalonia a paper. It was about a demonstration just this Saturday in that little town. In that paper they used the word global.

So now I go to The Guardian and they write about global protests today. Protests in New York, protest in London and around the world. And they mention that this kind of protest began in Spain (in March 15th) It is true that during weeks the squares in Catalonia and Spain were occupied by protesters. Almost any city had its central square occupied. So we had #acampadabcn to know about what was going on in Barcelona Plaça Catalunya. We had #acampadasol to know what was going on in Puerta del Sol. But as I said this also happened in any city! During weeks the squares were a camping site for protests. I do not know how many cities in Catalonia had their squares occupied but I think that at least 30 or so.

When that happened in Spain we all knew why that was happening: because we were (and we are!) in a bad economic and social situation and because Tahrir Square in Egypt was an example that people could bring change. And Egypt, Tunisia as the origin, and also Libya are just on the other side of a share Mediterranean Sea.

These days we read about Occupy Wall Street.

In any case, something is changing. Just some hours ago the most powerful man on earth called Obama was challenged by a woman called Angela about the Financial Transaction Taxes. Germany has promised to get rid of the nuclear power and now it is saying enough is enough to free speculation. A way to make lose power to speculators like the ones in Wall Street and London and elsewhere is a Financial Transaction Tax. It is extraordinary but things are changing in a way that even the most powerful woman of Europe is against Wall Street governing the world. As far as I know Merkel represents the right of German politics and Obama represents the left of American spectrum.

During months a lot of people in Europe cannot sleep well – including myself – because of the speculation about the euro. If there was a tax on speculation a lot of people could sleep better. But there are people like Mr Cameron and Mr Obama that are on the side of the speculators.

So now Mr Obama is not just having protests in his own American streets which have its origin in protests in a eurozone country like Spain (whose protests have its origin in the Arab spring by the way) He also has the protests of the Chancellor of the most powerful state in the eurozone.

The US is still the most powerful nation on earth and Wall Street still rules the world. But each day there is emerging a new power of anonymous people around the world challenging the old regime. Internet has made us free.

Related articles
1 Comment