A Global Wave of Democracy- Was It Successful? (Part 2)

Alright where to begin... Lets see, lets begin where we left off. The effects of the global recession and social media on the revolutions. First lets define the word "revolution". Throughout history revolution has come to mean many different things but generally it means when something drastic happens that changes a society's way of operating. Revolutions can also mean a change in leadership or a change is style of government but ultimately something about the society's way of life has to change in order for it to be defined as a revolution.

Lets examine one of the global democracy revolutions: Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street was initiated against the slow and dogmatic US government back in 2011. It started as a movement to end all the problems of the US government from gerrymandering to international affairs to income inequality. It also proposed some radical  changes to the US system for elections especially the electoral college. This movement took to the streets of New York then all over the United States in order to catalyze a change is US government. Occupy Wall Street had several major causes and outcomes. As discussed in the previous post it was influenced by the Global recession and the international community's lack of action, social media prevalence and communication, but it as also influenced by the Arab Spring. Occupy Wall Street is truly a copycat movement. Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street are basically mirrors of each other. Alright any way Occupy Wall Street also had some major outcomes. As the conservative movement against the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the renewal of the "tea party" occurred and ended up creating a  faction of the Republican Party which is known today as the Tea Party. This conservative movement dominates politics today more so than Occupy Wall Street does. Tea Party beliefs and the troubles of the current US government can force us to conclude that the Occupy Wall Street " revolution" was in fact a failure. This is because Occupy Wall Street had some major problems.

In every major revolution there were great leaders: George Washington for the American Revolution ( though was it really a revolution? That can be debated later), Napoleon Bonaparte for the French Revolutions ( even though he basically became the king or emperor after he overthrew the king) and Simon Bolivar of the South American Revolutions ( now there's a revolution). However in the Occupy Wall Street movement there was no leadership or any kind of organization. The movement depended on individuals just voicing their concerns and coming together sometimes to protest publicly. This lax of action and a strong voice within the movement undermined its goals and opinions on how the government should be fixed.

The Occupy Movement also had another fatal flaw. The movement had to many goals that it hoped to accomplish. That in the end it just ended up being a indiscernible jumble of convoluted messages given by a huge pool of people who were barely coherent when approached as whole. The multitude of goals that the movement wanted to accomplish greatly undercut the momentum that they were building, because no matter how much support you have unless your goals are clear nothing will get accomplished (life lesson kids). So what do we have in the end. Just a movement that tried to change the US political landscape and ultimately failed.

However that doesn't mean the Occupy Wall Street movement did not have an impact on the US and the world. It showed us what can happen when people come together and truly demand for change. The effects of the movement can still be felt today, and it is still an ominous threat to many politicians.Therefore not only did the Occupy Wall Street Movement show what can happen even in the US in terms of revolutions and public distress but it also showed us that our government is far from perfect and there are still many challenges ahead to make our government better.

Look out for the next post about the other revolutions. And remember always Rip the Tape.