The Potential of the Occupy Movement
The Occupy movement is still ongoing though much of the media attention regarding the United States has shifted to the Republican primaries which will determine who will face President Barack Obama in November.
In California this movement is gaining more and more momentum and is believed to be making considerable achievements. Just days ago on January 20, thousands, and not hundreds of protesters, participated in demonstrations in San Francisco's financial district according to Kirsten Moller, the Organizing Director of Global exchange -which is a human rights organization that speaks out against social injustice and is one of the groups participating in the Occupy movement.
In an interview with moqawama.org, Moller said the protesters who come from many different groups and organizations were able to shut down the buildings of big corporations and banks for many hours. She also said that members of the "Occupy Movement" occupied buses and demanded free transportation for young students in addition to shutting down hotels and demanding better contracts for workers at San Francisco's Hyatt hotels. All this did achieve results on ground "like the postponement of foreclosure of property" which Moller refers to.
But perhaps what is more telling and has yet to be focused on by the media is the potential this movement could have when it comes to foreign policy and to the US elections, two issues which have their linkages.
Organizers like Moller refer to the increased participation of American war veterans. In that perspective the latest protests in San Francisco did see the participation of Iraq war veterans who spoke out against the latest National Defense Authorization Act which includes a provision that allows for the arrest and indefinite detention of US citizens anywhere, including in the US itself.
The protests in San Francisco also saw participants occupy the headquarters of the Bechtel Corporation, which is a famous engineering company known to have been given contracts worth $40 billion to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure.
Hence as time passes the movement seems to be having a broader scope, as internal economic issue, particularly those regarding the huge corporations, are connected to issues regarding foreign policy and especially FOREIGN WARS.
All of this does point to an "American Awakening" which does seem to have the potential to change America at least in the long run.
What's more is that people from within the occupy movement are hoping to change the political dynamics in the US including the electoral process. According to Moller, there is an effort to "make it toxic for politicians and candidates to receive money from the big corporations". She says that the goal is to have "donations only from individuals".(something which would give corporations a smaller say in internal and foreign policies and lessen the pressure on those in office to pursue policies that are in agreement with the policies of the corporations.)
But are individual donations enough for US election campaigns and the huge budget these campaigns need? Well, according to Moller if the "donations only from individuals" standard is set for all candidates then there may not be that traditional need for huge political financing.
So in the end if this movement has the potential to affect foreign policy and the electoral process in the US, then we can be in for some interesting times ahead especially in our region of the Middle East.
And we may be beginning to see the repercussions of this today. One of the reasons the US is so reluctant to go to war against Iran could be that such a scenario (which would be disastrous) could unleash great wrath from the protesters and could even multiply their numbers.(something which any politician, particularly in election year could not risk doing).And already the issue of foreign aid is being raised which quickly puts "Israel" in the picture.(In fact republican candidate Ron Pauls' popularity this time around is partly related to his advocacy for supporting a halt to foreign aid including to "Israel').
The point is that many Americans have opened their eyes to reality and are speaking out against what they see. And just as the new Arab rulers would have to be more sensitive towards the people and their wishes now after the Arab awakening, American politicians especially as time goes by and this movement broadens will have to be more sensitive towards these people.
Many of them opened their eyes because they were inspired by the Islamic awakening which has shown that in this day of age in communications it impossible to keep people from seeing the truth of what is going on. And so just as the American people have awakened to the economic situation and corporate control which has led them to begin to open their eyes more and more towards foreign policy they just may also open their eyes more and more towards US policies in the Middle East.
If this happens the American people will realize the double standard US policy in favor of "Israel" is an unfair policy and will also realize that US interests in the region may just not lie with the "unbreakable bond" or "special relationship" between the US and "Israel".
