And this is a much more realistic depiction of the Occupy protests:
This movement is currently dominated by a class of people who make up, perhaps, the top 20% of the ninety-nine in the US and Canada––and probably only four or five per cent of the global ninety-nine. . . So many of the activists interviewed around the “occupy” movement have demonstrated that this movement began as a manifestation of the petty bourgeoisie in crisis: some have spoken about a future where they can’t get the same jobs they could get in the past, revealing the widespread belief that this class deserves certain jobs; those calling for the “occupy” movement on facebook and twitter and countless “social networking” sites and tools (all of which are instruments that the majority of the global ninety-nine cannot access) focus primarily on the greed of the top one per cent––a psychological problem rather than the structural reality of capitalism.
I obviously don’t share the political views of the blogger who wrote the post but it is encouraging to see that realistic discussions of the protests have started to appear.
From my point of view, the bourgeois demands of the protesters have a lot of value. I believe that a happy, productive, growing middle class is necessary for the economic and political stability of a country. The erosion of the middle class is tragic for the US and for the Western European countries, so it’s fantastic that people are rising up and demanding change.
If only the protesters recognized that what they are defending is their right to a good job, a cell phone, a laptop, and a nice vacation. There is nothing shameful in wanting these things. There is nothing shameful in being middle class and wanting to retain that status.
Of course, when the protesters start telling us how their basic survival is at risk and that they are the 99%, then their movement loses all credibility.
Clarissa's Blog 
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