Renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz has traveled widely talking to participants in the global popular uprising now underway. Stiglitz writes about the common grievances he found in Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, and New York at AJE.
The globalisation of protest
Protesters around the world say they are part of a generation that played by the rules but has no hope for the future.
Joseph E Stiglitz
And social protest has found fertile ground everywhere: A sense that the "system" has failed, and the conviction that even in a democracy, the electoral process will not set things right - at least not without strong pressure from the street.
The protesters have been criticised for not having an agenda. But this misses the point of protest movements. They are an expression of frustration with the electoral process. They are an alarm.
Stiglitz makes reference to a piece he wrote for Vanity Fair in May titled Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
The rise in inequality is the product of a vicious spiral: The rich rent-seekers use their wealth to shape legislation in order to protect and increase their wealth - and their influence. The US Supreme Court, in its notorious Citizens United decision, has given corporations free rein to use their money to influence the direction of politics. But, while the wealthy can use their money to amplify their views, back on the street, police wouldn't allow me to address the OWS protesters through a megaphone.
The contrast between overregulated democracy and unregulated bankers did not go unnoticed.
Our democracy is indeed broken when the Koch Brothers can run thousands of TV ads, but a Nobel Prize winning economist isn't allowed a bullhorn to address an audience of Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Stiglitz concludes with this.
On one level, today's protesters are asking for little: A chance to use their skills, the right to decent work at decent pay, a fairer economy and society. Their hope is evolutionary, not revolutionary. But, on another level, they are asking for a great deal: A democracy where people, not dollars, matter, and a market economy that delivers on what it is supposed to do.
The two are related: As we have seen, unfettered markets lead to economic and political crises. Markets work the way they should only when they operate within a framework of appropriate government regulations; and that framework can be erected only in a democracy that reflects the general interest - not the interests of the 1%. The best government that money can buy is no longer good enough.
Its becoming more and more obvious to Americans that our economy is broken because our democracy is ruled by money and not its citizenry. Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring that preceded it are all movements to bring power back to the citizens that was held by the 1%.
Here in the U.S. we have 8 unemployed people for every available job opening, and most of the unemployed have been out of work so long that they've exhausted their unemployment benefits.
We Occupy because we've been left with no alternative by a government that is deaf to everything except money.