BBC: Could world social unrest hit America's streets?

seafan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Sep-20-11 04:50 PM
Original message

BBC: Could world social unrest hit America's streets?

Something the obscenely wealthy fear more each day.

19 September 2011

By Daniel Nasaw
BBC News Magazine, Washington

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has suggested the unrest that rocked the streets of Cairo and Madrid this year could spread to the US. ..... On Friday, Mr Bloomberg raised the spectre of social unrest amid high unemployment among young Americans.

.....

Gary Bailey, a professor of social work practice at the Simmons College School of Social Work in Boston said "draconian" austerity cuts contemplated in the US Congress could eventually spark unrest if young Americans felt their future was being taken from them through cuts to education and jobs programmes.

"We are inevitably at risk," he said. "We're not immune to what's happening in the world. The bigger the city and the larger the youth population, the greater the risk. ..... "When they look at power being vested in a very few, and very often in whom they cannot see themselves reflected, societies are very much at risk."

.....

But Mr Perlstein pointed to union protests in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana this year against anti-union measures in state legislatures there, to a massive strike by workers at telecommunications firm Verizon, and constituent meetings this summer at which voters angrily confronted congressmen about feared cuts to social programmes.

"We are seeing a widespread social movement," he said. "The fact that there isn't a media narrative about interesting things happening says more about the media."

(bold type added)

Yes, it tells us a great deal about the "media" and the agenda of those who own it.

Bonus Army march 1932
As many as 65,000 impoverished WWI veterans and their families clash with troops after gathering in Washington to demand cash payment of pensions Link

In 1965, the drink-driving arrest of a black motorist sparked days of riots in Los Angeles
Link

In 1967, riots erupted in Newark, New Jersey after a black taxi driver was beaten by police
Link

The news that Richard Nixon was sending troops to Cambodia caused a chain of protests in the U.S. colleges. photo link
May 4, 1970 Youtube

After National Guard troops fire at anti-war demonstrators, killing four students at Kent State University in Ohio, a national student strike shuts schools and universities round the US. Link

The brutal beating of Rodney King by white Los Angeles policemen touched off rioting in 1992
Link

Historian Rick Perlstein says union protests in Wisconsin show the birth of a movement, 2011.
Link

New York City Police try to direct protesters marching on Wall Street in New York, USA, 20 September 2011. This is the fourth day of anti-corporate demonstrations on Wall Street by numerous advocacy groups protesting against corporate greed and its corrupting effects on US democracy, media reports state. Credit: EPA Link

And here is where we are.

Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, September 20, 2011, now in their fourth day. People are angry over the massive theft of America's financial system, as none of the high-level banker perpetrators have been held accountable.

Could world social unrest hit America's streets?

It will only take a spark now.