In these times of chronic crisis, and after the intense experiences of the Arab Spring, it remains uncertain whether scenes like this represent part of a short comedy or a long drama, a snippet from a familiar old film or perhaps the start of an American revolution.
After the right-wing Tea Party movement has long since forgotten its initial rage against America's bankers, and is now battling only the chimeras of a supposed socialist threat, it seems a left-wing populist movement is forming.
"Turn Wall Street into Tahrir Square" read one sign last Thursday, and the slogan was only half joking. This small band of activists in New York could now call itself the vanguard of a mass of discontented Americans, people who have been growing angrier since, at the latest, the 2008 financial crash and the billions of dollars in bailouts given to banks and insurance companies.
Many Americans have come to suspect politics in Washington of complicity with the markets, a problem Barack Obama's arrival in the White House failed to fix. The president even expressed sympathy with the protests on Thursday, describing the people as "frustrated." The president's public mention of the small, new movement is their biggest success yet.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,790975,00.html#ref=rss
