Revolution Is Happening in the USA

The Occupy Wall Street movement is hardly a revolution, and rather, the protest movement aims at influencing democratic leaders. Started by small groups of college students, protesters express concern about the dangers of high student debt, excessive corporate profits, family struggles with home foreclosures, widening inequality, environmental degradation all combined with a disturbing lack of jobs in one of the world’s wealthiest nations. The protests in New York City’s financial district mirror the non-violent Arab Spring protests in Egypt and Tunisia: A passionate and creative grass-roots movement captured coverage global media attention long before local or national media and politicians were ready to acknowledge the grievances. With protests emerging in other cities, hundreds of arrests and images of young protesters dressed as zombies desperate to devour dollars, US media could no longer ignore the complaints. It may be a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but this essay by Ismail Salami for Tehran-based PressTV points to growing rage among middle-class Americans and, sadly, questions if US democratic freedoms are genuine. – YaleGlobal