Arab Spring, American Autumn, Jamaican When

Julian Reynolds, Contributor

The Golden Rule is, I believe, the most essential and fundamental code of guiding human coexistence: Do unto others you would have them do unto you. If practised by all mankind, it would bring about more peace on earth, and more productivity and development in all societies. It is the true basis of human rights and appears throughout history and cultures, namely, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, China, India, Greece and Judaea.

In the Bible, the Golden Rule, or Golden Law, as it is also known, appears in two passages: Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31. My headmaster at Kingston College, the late Douglas Forrest, lectured us about unselfishness and fairness, and he put it this way: "Not you and your wife, your son and his wife, we four and no more."

The Arab Spring that has caused political changes at a cost of many lives in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, and is forcing changes in Syria, Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and social unrest in many others, has now reached, in a far less violent way, the United States, with the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York City, at the very doorstep of the world's financial centre.

I made my first visit to Zuccotti Park at Broadway and Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, the headquarters of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, on October 5, motivated by an email invitation from my wife's union. It is an area I know very well, as the offices of the National Minority Business Council, with which I am associated, is two blocks away on the opposite side of Broadway, and just one block from Wall Street. The building also houses the office of the attorney general of New York state and has heavy security.

venting frustration

So I was prepared to take refuge there should violence break out on that hectic afternoon when the largest gathering, estimated at 10,000, of protesters assembled to vent their frustration at rising unemployment, the high cost of education, and demonstrate their opposition to the inequity that is blatant in the American political economy.

Central to the protest is the 99:1 percenters, whereby 99 per cent of the American populace is economically dominated by the one per cent of rich and super rich. Michael Parenti's seminal work, Democracy For the Few, a book I often quote from, exposes this inequity and the false democracy perpetrated on the American people. While unemployment has risen and income has stagnated, and in some instances declined among the 99 per cent, the one per cent have seen their income soaring. Some economists and social scientists purport that this one per cent account for 74 per cent of the income generated.

Recent data from the Conference Board, a global economic advisory council, reports that income levels among the one per cent have increased threefold between 1979 and 2007. On the other hand, incomes among the American middle class continue to erode; their tax burden has increased, cost of living has risen disproportionately, resulting in a lower standard of living for them. The baby boomers must continue to work past their expected time of retirement in order to maintain a decent standard of living, and the future of the next generation is heavily mortgaged to sustain present socio-economic expectations.

evidence of decline

This decline was evident from the period under President George W. Bush, and can be put squarely on the cost of the wars in which America became engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan that bled the country of badly needed resources. And despite unprecedented tax cuts favouring the wealthy and promoted by the second Bush administration, corporate America chose not to invest in production in America but to move such opportunities offshore, spurred by low labour costs and relaxed environmental concerns in places like China, South America, and Asia. And now that the residue of such action is worsening under President Obama's administration, the blame by many is being dumped on him.

The hypocrisy, myopia, outright prejudices, and just sheer bad-mindedness of many Americans, some identified as being members of the Tea Party, have stretched to them questioning President Obama's American citizenship, sincerity and commitment to the American ideals. So desperate they are to denigrate and miscast the president because of his ethnicity, African ties and early association with Islam that they have reached for an article I wrote headlined 'Dr Khalid al-Mansour's book charges US with genocide in The New York Amsterdam News in January 1995 on a book launch in Harlem by al-Mansour of his tome, The Lost Books of Africa Rediscovered - We Charge Genocide.

The author, an African-American Muslim, lawyer, financier who has penned two dozen books, has close ties to the Saudi Arabian royal family, and particularly to Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a major investor around the world and a principal shareholder in Citicorp. It has been purported that al-Mansour has links to President Obama, was influential in getting him into Harvard University Law School, and was a major fund-raiser for his run for president. Al-Mansour has been branded a rabid anti-Semite and Islamic fundamentalist with "hatred for America". The president's detractors have made him guilty by association of anti-Semitism and un-American beliefs.
It was during a recent web search that I found reference to my article on a right-wing conservative website. Three days later, I saw the article mentioned, without reference to the right-wing website, on page three of the search-engine site, and the last time I checked it was on page one of another leading search-engine site that hitherto never mentioned it.

I have made three visits to the Occupy Wall Street base in Lower Manhattan, and it appears to be predominantly led by young, white Americans, with a strong representation of young, black college students, veterans, and older middle-class Americans. Many are unemployed and all are frustrated with the direction America has taken, largely influenced by the right-wing conservative agenda of the Tea Party column in the Republican party, which favours the rollback of social programmes, a perceived anti-immigrant stance, fewer regulations and government intervention safeguarding the environment, and ensuring more equity in the society. The prevailing conditions in America overwhelmingly favour the one percenters at the expense of the 99 percenters.

The spirit of the demonstration is a throwback to the Vietnam protest era of the 1960s - peaceful, unified, and spiritual, with a constant colourful, musical presence. Each time I have been there, it appears to be larger, and attracting a wider demographic of Americans. They are well organised, with areas designated for different tasks; sign-painting, button-making, meditation, media relations, information, food, strategy and tactics. And the ubiquitous laptop computers and smartphones. One sign that stood out read 'American Autumn', in comparison with the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa earlier this year that called for social freedom, economic justice, gender equality, and a true democratic voice for the people of the region. The question now is how will America be affected in the medium and long term by its American Autumn.

For the Jamaican people, the question is how and when will these world changes affect the course Jamaica is on. The vast majority of Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora are frustrated by the enormous potential the country shows for providing a more advanced standard of living and quality of life for a larger segment of the population. But they are thwarted by the myopia, inertness, lack of vision, corruption, class prejudice and manipulation practised by its political and economic leadership.

Julian 'Jingles' Reynolds is a writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur who lives and works in New York and Jamaica. He celebrates 45 years as a published writer. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and fiwipro@yahoo.com.