US experiencing significant uprising'

US experiencing significant uprising'

Fri Oct 7, 2011 2:59PM GMT

Reddit

Interview with Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't wait, Washington.

Anti-government protests are growing in significance across the US confronting political and corporate corruption and an end to wars and occupations.

Press TV talks with Debra Sweet, Director of World Can't wait in Washington about the anger of what is now hundreds of thousands of protesters towards a government that they don't trust and one that has been dictating against the interests of a large number of the population. Following is a transcript of the interview. 

Press TV: Why do think American people need to protest? Are they pouring into the streets because no one in the political system listens to them -What do you think?

Debra Sweet: Well, they're not pouring into the streets, let's be perfectly clear. This is not Tahrir Square - there are not millions of people taking to the street yet. We are in the streets in modest numbers - even in New York there has been thousands; many thousands last night. This is the beginning of something that may turn into being a very significant uprising and it's certainly a wonderful wave of fresh air now.

What people in this country feel, I think rightly so, is that the government does not represent their interests. All of these decisions that are happening, the huge amount of US wealth that's poured into these occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq was never chosen by anyone in this country, but the people who run it.

We never voted on it; we don't want it. In large numbers we're against it and it's our people that are suffering; our people around the world. Not only American lives are important, but we care about the lives of other people as well and we want these occupations stopped.

Press TV: And what about the US political system - What do you think about that?

Debra Sweet: It's been quite interesting being on Wall Street for several weeks. Most of the young people there feel that the US political system has absolutely nothing to do with them - with their lives; they couldn't be less interested. They don't trust anyone; they don't believe them. I absolutely agree with that.

People who are representing in this political system are representing capital largely. And I do want to distance myself from Mark Dankof, our other guest - I don't think the problem is international bankers, which is just a code word for being anti-Semitic or Zionist lobby. Certainly the US supports Israel, but Mark and I are not in the same movement here. I want to be clear about that.

There is a populous movement in this country perhaps for sure. We'll see where it falls out as far as left and right; but clearly the people protesting in Wall Street at this point have not figured out where they stand. They come not necessarily from the left or the right, but they are righteously angry about the level of greed and corruption that they see and the fact as they put it, one percent of the population is making all the decisions and making all the profit off of the rest of the 99 percent.

And they've certainly seized on something very real here - not just in the US, but the globe over.

Press TV: I'm looking at a wall behind me that says the American dream is over - What are your reflections on that? And also, a point of view from one of the protesters that have been out there in which they have said, “I'm hoping to stop the power that corporations are wielding over democracy”.

This is a very interesting statement because it puts the idea that democracy in a sense is at risk. Is that the correct interpretation - Has democracy changed in its dynamics to suit corporations, is that what that means?

Debra Sweet: Well, that's a very complex phenomenon isn't it? I would argue with anyone who feels that the American dream is over. I think the American dream for large parts of the population this country over has never existed. This is a country built on genocide and slavery from the very beginning.

This is a country where a very tiny percentage of the people exploit and rule over not just this country, but at this point the whole globe. This is what globalization has wrought.

Two billion people on this planet on the edge of starvation not because there isn't enough food, but because the political system and the economic system don't support it.

And it is directly attributable of course to this country - the biggest military in the history of the world; a military budget that dwarfs the combined military budgets of all the rest of the countries.

The US is driving policy in Israel not visa versa. The US is driving towards an empire to control the Middle East - that's what these occupations are about - completely against the interests of any of us living in this country - the 99 percent if you will.

The largest prison population where by the way there's a hunger strike of 12,000 prisoners going on in California right now - another thing that people should be paying attention to in terms of a wind of change.

I think lots of people are waking up after the dream of Obama changing things and of course, we just have more of the same with a vengeance - more drones used by a factor of eight by President Obama than by President Bush over the last three years. We have more of the same and people are really facing a nightmare and I think waking up to that.

They're calling it the death of democracy and I would pose to people who really want to think about that have we ever really had democracy? Or have we in a very large sense had a dictatorship of people at the top who run the media and military and who have a great deal of disproportionate influence. This is what people are righteously very upset about.

Everyone has different strategies. And we shall see - it is incumbent on people who are dreaming about a better world and thinking about how to get there to be out in the streets talking to each other right now. We're in Freedom Plaza today tomorrow; we don't plan to go home... join in or join an occupation wherever you are in your city.

Press TV: It's interesting that you say it is a democracy that is dictated from the top. If there is an American awakening and since we've been talking about the one percent dictating the lives of these people in America who are wakened - What are they going to do to sabotage or stop this awakening from spreading?

Debra Sweet: The most important sentiments coming out of Wall street and I don't mean Wall Street - the Street; I really mean the occupation, the occupiers, the young people who are beginning to dream about a new world is that it is a global question.

They're seeing beyond borders; they're thinking about how the whole world really could be changed; how we could get beyond these borders and how we can get to a system where it is not the control of commodities production if you will; it's not worldwide exploitation of billions and billions of people and the immiseration that comes with it. But it's the potential of a whole different world that people are thinking about...

SC/JR