Usually when faced with a report from Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, one braces for outlandish propaganda-speak and inflammatory rhetoric. This is the news service, after all, that said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looked “like a pensioner going shopping.” But KCNA’s press release regarding the Occupy Wall Street protests is amusingly sanguine, a sign, perhaps, of how embattled the idea of American neo-liberal capitalism is around the world. Of course, to be clear, none of the protesters in Lower Manhattan want to recreate Pyongyang’s crypto-fascist, totalitarian state on American soil. If in North Korea, their demands for economic justice and direct democracy would be snuffed out by Kim Jong-Il’s brutal regime. But while Pyongyang may have nukes, at least it doesn’t have derivative-spinning bankers. Here’s the full press release:
U.S. Swept by Waves of Protest DemosPyongyang, October 8 (KCNA) — Unprecedented demos are taking place in the United States these days in protest against exploitation and oppression by capital, shaking all fabrics of society.The first demo kicked off in Wall Street on Sept. 17. It has been going on for three consecutive weeks.
The demonstrators put up slogan “Let’s Occupy Wall Street”.
Young Americans formed a mainstream of the ranks of demonstrators at first. But they were joined by people from all walks of life who varied in their ages including day laborers, poor and unemployed Americans as well as employees of companies and housewives.
Their actions included marches, sit-in strikes, occupation of bridges and various other forms of protests and non-stop protests at night.
These actions spilled over to different parts of the U.S. including Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco all of a sudden.
It was reported that organizations were inaugurated in 146 cities of 46 states and the capital city as of Tuesday to supervise demos.
The waves of demo which swept the U.S. recently is an expression of the grievances against the mounting social contradiction resulting from the worsening unemployment and the widening gap between the poor and the rich due to the serious economic crisis.
It also reflects the public opinion critical of the authorities and the exploiting classes who drove the country into such serious phase.
Foreign media predict that demos will go on and spill over to large-scale protests and create something unprecedented in the future.
Such protests as what is happening in the U.S. are expected to take place in other capitalist countries.
It was reported that slogan “Let’s Occupy Melbourne!” has already appeared in Australia and “Let’s Occupy Toronto Stock Market!” in Canada and organizations were formed in Japan, Germany and other countries to stage demos under the slogan “Let’s Occupy!”
