Wang Yizhou (王逸舟)
Editor’s Note:
The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining momentum in the US. But will it actually affect policy? Why are people taking to the streets? Global Times (GT) reporter Chen Chenchen talked to Nomi Prins (Prins), a Los Angeles-based journalist who worked on Wall Street as a director at Goldman Sachs and analyst at Bear Stearns, and Wang Yizhou (Wang), professor and vice dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, on these issues.
GT: Critics say that the protestors lack clear appeals and leadership. That’s why they keep asking: “Now people occupy Wall Street, but what’s the next step?” How do you see the ongoing movement?
Prins: In the US, it’s the first movement in a long time to take place in multiple cities, have protestors from different backgrounds, and focus on one central issue – holding Wall Street accountable for the current economy.
Throughout the world there have been so many protests against economic problems. Now it’s happening in the US. This should be encouraging for the rest of the world.
When markets decay, currencies decay and banks are speculative entities, rather than entities introducing or capitalizing jobs, there’s a clear problem.
The number of people on the street is growing. These are real people – they are teachers who were laid off due to shrinking state budget and firemen who don’t have firehouses to go to.
I don’t know how long this movement will last. But the protesters have goals, like “We want jobs,” “We don’t want corporate greed,” and “We want to hold bankers responsible.” I personally think that articulating specific demands will be the next step.
Wang: The protestors have general, ambiguous goals. They hate corporate greed, they want financial giants to pay a price, and they don’t want to see the social majority continue to be the victims. But these goals lack operability.
These protestors are not financial professionals. If you ask them about specific measures to change ways of corporate operation and resource distribution in Wall Street, none of them knows the answer.
GT: But can the grass-roots movement really lead to profound policy adjustment in the financial sector?
Prins: Our political leadership is in office because of their relationship with the financial industry. So there is definitely a need to placate the people who put themin office. And it’s both parties, there is no distinction between Republicans and Democrats.