On Saturday, Oct. 1, one of my best friends was arrested. When I asked him why, he responded, “Occupy Wall Street!” When I asked again, his response was a little less affirmative.
The Occupy Wall Street protests began in New York City on Sept. 17. People marched through the Financial District, around the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall and ultimately toward Zuccotti Park, which is now the base of the protest. With satirical posters raised high and unyielding rebellious attitudes, protesters are demanding an unknown change.
The Occupy Wall Street protests are modeled upon popular protests in Egypt and other Arab countries that took place earlier this year. In late January 2011, thousands of Egyptians took over Tahrir Square in Cairo and protested against then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Under Mubarak’s 30-year reign, Egypt had become extremely corrupt. In an article from The New York Times, aptly titled “Reign of Egypt’s Mubarak Marked by Poverty, Corruption, Despair,” Michael Slackman wrote, “About half the population lives on $2 a day or less.”
In addition to such widespread poverty, Mubarak and his government had an “Emergency Law” in place, which allowed them to arrest citizens and other government officials without cause. Further, no minority rights were protected under Mubarak. The people of Egypt felt they had no democratic rights and that Hosni Mubarak was a dictator.
And because of this, they protested. For 18 days, the people of Egypt rioted in the streets, until finally, on Feb. 11, 2011, Mubarak resigned his presidency. Egypt got what it wanted, because its people knew what they wanted.
The idea behind Occupy Wall Street was inspired by those protests and many New Yorkers came to believe that their unhappiness with the steadily worsening economy was now reason to block off the Brooklyn Bridge and get thrown in jail.
They believed that the problems in Egypt, such as life under autocratic rule, were comparable to the flaws in our economy. Why do the protesters here believe that our economic problems in any way relate to those problems in Egypt?
The people of Egypt were brave in their actions. Under such horrible conditions, mass protest was the only way to be heard and to make their unified demands come to fruition. With no clear objective and with other democratic means available to express their positions, these protesters in New York are being sophomoric.
The United States hit its debt ceiling this past May, businessmen have stealthily maintained their money and power and over the past few years the U.S. economy has put millions of people out of work, so why only now are hundreds of people rushing to the streets in fury?
Of course, I agree, something needs to be done about our economy. But this is not the 1960s anymore. Dangerously crowding part of New York City with angry college students and young adults is not the way to make things happen, especially when the desired outcome is unclear.