The Occupy Movement: Where it is In History, and Where the Iraq War is Not.

Photo by wheelzwheeler: Occupy London

As the Iraq war comes to a close, I begin to wonder whether or not the young people of my generation made as much of a fuss as they should have.

Sure, there were big city protests all around the nation, but when I look on the anti-war movement of the 1960's, our protests of the Iraq war did not capture the same steam. In fact, it was pretty lackluster. And clearly not effective, considering that it was the longest war in our nation's history.

Well protesting the Iraq war was an early 2000's trend and the current Occupy movement is what deserves our attention.  Started by the Canadian activist group Adbusters, the demonstrations started on Wall Street to protest the social and financial inequality in the U.S. The Occupy movement was overwhelmingly peaceful, as thousands of protesters have set up camp in front of major corporations, but it has been a nuisance to every resident in every financial district in America. As it continues to grow in every major city in the U.S., and it's thousands of occupants have been called "Dirty Hippies." Now where have we heard that term before?




A decade after the war in Iraq the Occupy movement ensues. The same "Dirty Hippies" of the Occupy movement, reflect the same disdain that yuppies felt about the "Dirty Hippies" of the anti-war movement of the 60's. What the hell? We just had a war and no one cared about the "Dirty Hippies" at those rallies.  The Occupy movement shows that hippies are en vogue again, delivering the same disdain as they did fifty years ago.

According to Congressman Peter King,  the echoes of the 1960's movement is a little to close for comfort.

"We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy,' King warned. 'I'm taking this seriously in that I'm old enough to remember what happened in the 1960's when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy. We can't allow that to happen."

The Occupy movement might be better compared with the French Revolution. During the time when France was facing horrible economic troubles, the people rose up against rich and their rulers, and chopped off their heads. Although I don't get the sense that U.S. President Obama faces the risk of heading towards a guillotine.  In fact, his supporters are being patient and waiting for the poor man to fulfill his true potential, as he runs himself ragged to find a solution to America's financial hopelessness. Unlike George W. Bush, Obama is not unapologetically aligned with big name oil companies or shady lobbyists, so he's been spared from the evil 1%.

The Occupy movements in Los Angeles and New York make perfect sense to me.  They represent the the financial powerhouses for each coast,  and are an obvious target for this movement, but the Bay Area is the mecca for protesters. With that said, they have appallingly received the most violent response from law enforcement. When the police of Oakland, CA decided to shoot tear gas at the demonstrators, the incident was a familiar echo of the  Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.


How is it that tyranny can exist in the "Yes we can" era of today? Ah, remember the word Tyranny? It was used during the American Revolution.  See, hipsters may not work, but at least we read.

Perhaps the Iraq war didn't receive as much "Left Wing" influence as the protests of the 1960's. The Bush Administration was overly prepared for that. As our current President stands in the line of fire for not completely fixing our financial crisis, the Occupy movement grows,  inadvertently helping the President combat the same Republican adversaries.

As the last of the Iraq War troops return home, I can't help but wonder if their voices got lost. Ten years came and went, with tons of young people and civilians dead.  Could we have protested more in getting them home sooner? As a new movement grows, I sit and wonder whether or not America slept through the movement that should have mattered most.