Occupy Los Angeles: How the Right Distorts Its Image
Posted: Sunday, November 06, 2011
by Nestor Fantini
www.la-luciernaga.com
For some conservative and right-wing commentators, Occupy Wall Street participants are not students, workers, teachers, or housewives, but members of a sinister conspiracy. On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh stated that this is a campaign of “anarchists” and “union thugs” that is being orchestrated from the White House. Glenn Beck, on the O’Reilly Factor, said that it is a communist conspiracy that has the objective of destroying our economy to be able to control not only the United States but also the world.
“I am here since day one,” said Rodrigo Vasquez, a 27 year old Latino who studies in LA City College and works part-time to help his family. “I feel obligated to be here because of what is happening in the country… the banks and the wealthy are increasingly more wealthy and the poor more poor.”
Vasquez’s sentiment coincides with the conclusions of numerous studies that show a continuous increase in economic inequality in the United States . Economist Zhu Xiao Di, from Harvard University , reported that 25% of the wealthiest households, in 2004, controlled 87% of U.S. wealth.
Although Leftists signs of political organizations could be seen in the colorful Los Angeles encampment (the local version of Occupy Wall Street), most participants emphasized that this is a movement without partisan objectives that represents all those sectors affected by the worst economic crisis of the last 70 years.
“This is a multiethnic and multiclass movement,” said Jonathan Karpf who teaches anthropology at San Jose State University and was with a cheerful group of professors of the California Faculty Association. “We represent 99% of society.”
Another demonstrator, Roy (did not provide his last name), is a homeowner with a stable job who defines himself as middle-class. He came from Pasadena with Helen and Jessica, and her 8 and a 9 year-old children, carrying heavy backpacks loaded with everything needed for what seemed more of a family picnic than a political demonstration. They also had a home-made sign with a statement against corporations that had been scribbled with red markers.
“Our country is controlled by corporations and not by the people,” said Roy while Jessica’s children were playing around. “The Constitution was written so each person would have a vote, but now it’s dollars that determine votes.”
For Jessica, it was important to take the children to the demonstration so they could be part, although briefly, of what she considers an historical moment. After all, she said, they have already been affected by all the cuts that are being experienced by schools.
“It’s important for me to bring the children to show them that we need to stand up for what we believe in,” said Jessica.
Near the center of the park where the tents of Occupy LA are located, two young men have just woken up and are outside their tents. They are Jesse Dotson and Alex Weinshanker, both 22. This experience is hard for them considering that they have jobs and every day they have to get up early and go to work. In the evening, they come back to the encampment.
“I grew up in a middle class family… the house where I lived was valued at 1.5 million dollars, I drive a Volvo… But I’ve also seen the injustices that this people suffer…,” said Dotson. “I’m here because I believe that our system is broken and that we should start a new organic community that functions on the tenants of cooperation, mutual aid and respect over competition.”
Political personality Anne Coulter, who as her ultraconservative friends also characterized the participants in this movement as “drug dealers” and “criminals”, commented to Sean Hannity that a majority of Americans see Occupy Wall Street and Occupy LA with “hilarity and revulsion.”
Coulter, Limbaugh, Beck and all intransigent conservatives should analyze with more objectivity this movement before making careless and insulting statements. Only those who are blinded by their political hostility will negate that Occupy Wall Street, and its LA branch, is a spontaneous and multiclass movement that represents a genuine concern of workers and middle-class Americans who are facing the worst economic crisis of our times.
At least that is what the majority of Americans think, as it was reflected in polls such as the one by Time/Abt SRBI that concluded that 54% of respondents had a favorable opinion of Occupy Wall Street.
A Spanish version of this article was published in AOL Latino.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)It's amazing to see the lengths people are going to in order to discredit the OWS participants. They must truly be onto something. I believe that they are speaking for middle-America, and this drives the fringe crazy.
Keep up the great writing!
Thanks, Bruce. Yes, I think that they speak for American workers and middle-class America. A severe economic crisis such as the one we are going through creates common interests and common goals. Hopefully, this movement will help some political leaders understand that corporations and financial institutions (and the wealthy) should pay a more fair share of taxes. It is unacceptable to have General Electric pay 0 taxes and Warren Buffett pay less taxes than his secretary. Bank of America, who just withdrew its ill conceived $5 fee increase, apparently is starting to get the message.
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