An Egyptian View of Occupy Wall Street

By ⋅ November 15, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
Protest At Tahrir Square in July 2011 (Photo: Nora Shalaby/Flickr)

Protest At Tahrir Square in July 2011 (Photo: Nora Shalaby/Flickr)

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What connections do YOU see between the Arab Spring protests and the Occupy Wall Street movement? Add your thoughts below.

Anchor Marco Werman talks to Ibrahim Abdallah, an Egyptian-born businessman who lives in New York City.

Abdallah spent three days on Tahrir square in Cairo last February during the Arab Spring protests.

He also visited the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.

He says the movement’s lack of clear goals may be causing its demise.

EXTRA
Ibrahim Abdallah responds to a tweet comparing the evacuation of Occupy Wall Street to the attacks on protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir square last winter.
Comparing the Evacuation of Occupy Wall Street to the attacks on protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir square by The World

Read tweets about the ‘Occupy’ movement




Discussion

18 comments for “An Egyptian View of Occupy Wall Street”

  • http://www.theworld.org The World

    What connections do YOU see between the Arab Spring protests and the Occupy Wall Street movement? Add your thoughts below:

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frank-Luke/100002464576512 Frank Luke

    Abdullah Ibarhim seems to have the view that the OWS can be squeched by the police. Even with the camps gone and the protestors subdued and not in evidence, the movement doesn’t need that kind of overt action. It has already been successful to have set up their camps and made a ruckus being surrogates for the rest of the rest of us, the 99% of working America fortunate enough to have jobs to attend to. The objective of OWS, the prize its collective eye is upon, is to reset the way the distribution of wealth is determined in America by the 1% of the super-rich.

    Maybe there were too many slogans, too much static, but the main theme being voiced is that the 99% of Americans demand a more equitable dividing up of the inordinate wealth being siphoned off by the rich so that the rest of us Americans can have a better shot at achieving the American Dream.

    The movement will not be silenced. The next development will be to mobilize voters to show up to listen carefully to candidates and ask who and what they will be working for if elected and vote for those who will be championing the cause of the 99% of Americans and not the 1%.

    Nothing will be changed if voters do not demand it and assure it with the election of legislators not beholden only to big money interests.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=679867622 Ibrahim Abdallah

      Frank- No I don’t have the view that OWS can be squashed by
      the police. I have the view that the movement slowly lost momentum until the
      point where it was easy for the police to evacuate whoever was left in zuccotti
      park because the movement lacked a clear message.

      I am not against the OWS movement, I wish it could have
      succeeded, but it didn’t because it lacks that clear message that people can
      get right away and rally around.

      • darue keller

        “wish it could have succeeded, but it didn’t”

        LOL – dream on dude. It’s not even close to being over. The movement does not DEPEND on camping in any particular park to exist.

      • Anonymous

        “I wish it could have succeeded, but it didn’t “..,…really… wishful thinking? No doubt - the forces against it are powerful and  entrenched…. and unwittingly or not you are part of the disinformation response. But come on … do you really think it’s over?   Do you think it’s about occupying a small part of Manhattan?  Stick around.. it’s only just begun…  and here’s a simple message for you… “It’s broke and they ain’t gonna fix it” ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/ddbarron David Darius Barron

    I propose a rallying cry for the movement–TAX INVESTMENT INCOME!  The situations that these Wall Street firms embroiled us in are a direct result of managing the wealth of the top 1% who received that wealth primarily from investments, not hard work and not innovation.  Wall Street’s power would be greatly curtailed by increasing taxes on this kind of income above a certain threshold (so as not to burden retirement accounts), and the flow of wealth would be re-directed to those who work hard for it, and innovate for it, instead of those who are able to grow it merely because they already have it.  I believe this is a message that the middle class in general, whether sympathetic to the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street, can sympathize with.  And moreover, it is an attainable goal!!

  • tlambda

    After two months of protest, why does the mainstream media continue to insist that the Occupy movement has no clear message? Having watched/listened to reports on the protests in the “alternative” media and personally visiting a number of occupations in my own community, I find the movement’s main objective to be quite obvious: stop the corporate takeover of the planet. Or perhaps you haven’t noticed?

    As a “businessman” in New York City (whose exact intentions and loyalties are a mystery), I think Mr. Abdallah is hardly qualified to make judgments on Occupy movement let alone speak for the movement in Egypt.

  • tlambda

    After two months of protest, why does the mainstream media continue to insist that the Occupy movement has no clear message? Having watched/listened to reports on the protests in the “alternative” media and personally visiting a number of occupations in my own community, I find the movement’s main objective to be quite obvious: stop the corporate takeover of the planet. Or perhaps you haven’t noticed?

    As a “businessman” in New York City (whose exact intentions and loyalties are a mystery), I think Mr. Abdallah is hardly qualified to make judgments on Occupy movement let alone speak for the movement in Egypt.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=679867622 Ibrahim Abdallah

      I have a job… so I cannot be trusted?

      • darue keller

        really? What job? I’d like to know why you’re puppeting baseless psiops-style anti-OWS talking points, is THAT your job by any chance?

      • Frank N. Blunt

        My friend, the appropriate language is Keep It Simple Sweetheart or other such reference that doesn’t demean and provides encouragement.   I’m a bit suspicious about your criticism, more the tone than the actual understanding, since you seem to consider the Occupy movement to be a failure and seem to urge it to disappear.  Really seems odd to have heard that; especially from someone that had participated in a movement that went to great risk to addresss government corruption, socio-economic disparity, and injustice.
        As well, how do you think progress has been made in Egypt since deposing Mubarak and the rest of the influence?  Seems like restoration still has a lot to do to fulfill the social promises, especially to differentiate the future from the past.
        Beside that, Democracy requires constant involvement and vigilance to be protected from being undermined and corrupted by internal threats; not just by the corruption of legislators but the bureaucracy and judiciary. As well the social institutions, such as education and medicine, have to  be protected to serve the public good.  I think our citizens are rousing form apathy and non-involvement to recognize the problems that result from complacency, among other dubious characterizations that have contributed or indulged very disastrous consequences.
        Unfortunately, there are those in the USA that have forsaken any such beneficial concerns to exploit, corrupt, and abuse rule of law to promote moral hazards as well as exceptional considerations that indulge their own self-interests, transfer their debts upon other citizens, and burden society with their risky behaviors.  I call it ScAmerica.  It is far from the Democratic-Republic that our nation espouses to be or was, much less the ideal; it is rife with hypocrisy by using propaganda to promote what is otherwise corporateering ideology, crony capitalism, and all the accompanies vices as well as injustices but all under the guise of democracy.
        Really, there are those that espouse being American but forsake communities, exploit the citizens, and cause many great troubles, if not crimes, yet corruption and abusing rule of law provides them exceptional circumstance to evade prosecution. There are many pseudo-patriots, politcronies, kleptocrats, biased judges, corporateers, various minions and miscreants as well as a plethora of perps that are part of ScAmerica.  They don’t just create instability, disparity, and injustice for our citizens but globally too.  Citizens are derided as being mere consumers or other connotations that entail exploitation; there are those matters while experiencing a life that has no protections, no preventions, dubious security, eroding liberties, reduced access, obstacles to opportunity, negligible representation or participation in government, banishing rights, instability, negligent medical treatment (more like health can’t) with reduced access but growing mistrust, and prospects likened to indentured servitude since education has been heisted by corporateers to exploit citizens into indebtedness.  There are other characterizations, causes, contributions to the matter of ScAmerica, but I’ll pause for now except to pose a couple of direct questions to you that I hope you take the time to consider and respond.
        Do you think the Mubarak government or regime was created and supported by ScAmerica or other nations?  Were his social policies also indulged by other nations involvement?
        Do you think that the ScAmerican governments, from the local to the federal, are propaganda-driven more than ever in history and more than any other nation?
        Peace and prosperity for all.

  • Anonymous

    It’s getting a little tiresome to hear that the OWS movement has ‘no goal’. The OWS movement is like the little boy who speaks truth to power when he says the emperor has no clothes. If you don’t know the story please Google it. In this case the people are seeing that our democracy is a sham - bought by a small and powerful elite. Isn’t that a powerful enough statement???? Isn’t that THE fundamental connection between Arab Spring and OWS??? (Other than the state using the police forces against their own people of course).

    Ibrahim Abdallah should know better. The movement has barely begun. Just as in Egypt the people are starting to awaken. Starting to understand that you can’t use the broken system to fix the system. When the elite are paying the referees and own the people making the rules – you can’t win by playing ‘the game’. Only the wilfully ignorant can fail to see that. 
    The Supreme Court has abdicated with Citizens United, Congress is feeding at the trough of money flowing into politics before they ‘retire’ to ‘K’ Street. Do you seriously think they are going to fix our democracy. 

    We have no choice but to take to the streets and continue to raise the consciousness of the masses. Only when we all see ‘the problem’ can we start to address it. 

    Keep going OWS!! If you fail our democracy is at risk.
    Thank you. 

  • darue keller

    tell me a story – Egypt 2011… check it out…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by0d7TBDhp8

  • Rebecca Habtour

    Dear the World,

    I was upset by your broadcast tonight with the guest Egyptian comparing Occupy Wallstreet to the protests in Tahrir square.  Your piece promoted the narrative that the objectives of the protestors is something unknowable and that having objectives too complex to express as a one liner is an indication of the failure of their cause.  I think the failure is instead on your part, as journalists.  Instead of doing some minor research to find out the objectives of the protesters, or better yet inviting some representatives of the protesters on your program to explain some of their objectives, you wasted precious air time on an Egyptian man who seemed to think saying “keep it simple stupid” repeatedly was a valuable insight.  I find his phrase insulting and I reject the premise.  A political movement should not be required to be a one liner.  It isn’t comedy and they aren’t selling donuts.  I’m not one of the protestors, but I think I have a pretty decent idea of what the protestors objectives are just by what I’ve seen posted on Facebook.   Let me lay out for you what I’ve gathered so far with very little effort:

    1- Tax the wealthy at a higher rate

    2- Actually tax large corporations instead of subsidizing them

    3- Create and enforce financial regulations that will better protect the average citizens from the reckless high risk behavior and abuses of our current banking and stock exchange systems.

    4 – Not recognize corporations as people, because they aren’t

    5 – Drastically reduce the extraordinarily excessive influence of corporations on all branches of our government.

    6 – Government in general should do more on all levels to improve the circumstances and equitable treatment of those who are not wealthy.

    Now there is certainly more, and more details than what  I’ve outlined here, I’m going to leave it to you to improve your research and reporting on this story.  

    Please don’t add to the narrative of ignorance, just do your job and inform people.

    • Anonymous

      Good post. Lazy reporting? Yes indeed – you nailed it.! ( The guy is Egyptian and also lives in New York and visited Tahrir Square ? You can’t find someone from the Egyptian movement that’s got a little more gravitas than this guy?? Come on The World .. you need to do better or you are just part of the problem).

  • Rebecca Habtour

    Dear the World,

    I was upset by your broadcast tonight with the guest Egyptian comparing Occupy Wallstreet to the protests in Tahrir square.  Your piece promoted the narrative that the objectives of the protestors is something unknowable and that having objectives too complex to express as a one liner is an indication of the failure of their cause.  I think the failure is instead on your part, as journalists.  Instead of doing some minor research to find out the objectives of the protesters, or better yet inviting some representatives of the protesters on your program to explain some of their objectives, you wasted precious air time on an Egyptian man who seemed to think saying “keep it simple stupid” repeatedly was a valuable insight.  I find his phrase insulting and I reject the premise.  A political movement should not be required to be a one liner.  It isn’t comedy and they aren’t selling donuts.  I’m not one of the protestors, but I think I have a pretty decent idea of what the protestors objectives are just by what I’ve seen posted on Facebook.   Let me lay out for you what I’ve gathered so far with very little effort:

    1- Tax the wealthy at a higher rate

    2- Actually tax large corporations instead of subsidizing them

    3- Create and enforce financial regulations that will better protect the average citizens from the reckless high risk behavior and abuses of our current banking and stock exchange systems.

    4 – Not recognize corporations as people, because they aren’t

    5 – Drastically reduce the extraordinarily excessive influence of corporations on all branches of our government.

    6 – Government in general should do more on all levels to improve the circumstances and equitable treatment of those who are not wealthy.

    Now there is certainly more, and more details than what  I’ve outlined here, I’m going to leave it to you to improve your research and reporting on this story.  

    Please don’t add to the narrative of ignorance, just do your job and inform people.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry, I only caught a bit of your interview with Mr Abdullah.  Is this the man who said the Occupy Wall Street’s message was too complex for the ‘average Joe’ in middle America and ‘keep it simple, stupid’? We may be a group of average Joes here in Raleigh, NC, but we’re definitely not stupid.  We are occupying 24/7.
      As a previous poster said, I don’t think Mr Abdullah’s three days in Cairo makes him an expert on the Arab Spring.  Nor does his visit to OWS make him an expert on the Occupy movement.  Yes, the demonstration at Tahir Square had a unified goal — get rid of Muhbarak.  Now that that goal is met, I believe that the protesters are having a difficult time agreeing on a cohesive goal.  Our movement’s strength is in its diversity.  

    BTW — I always thought KISS meant ‘keep it short and sweet’, which is much less insulting than Mr Abdullah’s version.  Your reporter should have called him on that.  ’Are you saying that Americans are stupid?’ would have been a valid question.  

  • Anonymous

    If I heard correctly, Mr Abdullah said that the Occupy message is too complex for the ‘average Joe’ in middle America and ‘keep it simple, stupid’.  I may be an average Joe in Raleigh, NC, but I am far from stupid.  I understand completely and so do my fellow occupiers who are out there 24/7.  Our diversity and inclusiveness is what makes us strong.

    Your reporter completely missed the boat on this one.  A perfectly valid question would have been ‘do you think the average American is stupid?’

    As a previous poster said, his three days in Cairo do not make Mr Abdullah an expert on the Arab Spring.  Nor does his visit to OWS make him an expert on the Occupy movement.  Yes, the protesters in Tahir Square has one goal — to oust Muhbarak.  Once they achieved that goal, it became difficult for them to form a cohesive plan.  Some want to form a democracy; others want to form an Islamic state. 

    BTW, I always thought that KISS meant ‘keep it short and sweet’, which is much less insulting than Mr Abdullah’s mindless repetition of ‘stupid’.