NEW
YORK — Kalle Lasn, a Canadian activist who was instrumental in organizing the
ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests over social inequality and corporate greed,
hopes the demonstrations will inspire Japan's unemployed youths to take similar
action to express their anger.
The Wall Street protests started Sept. 17 and
have since spread to other major U.S. cities, including Washington, Boston,
Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
But Lasn, 69, said his movement's ultimate
goal is to inspire young people worldwide, including those in Japan who have
experienced economic hardships since the bubble economy burst in the early
1990s.
An Occupy Tokyo rally was slated to take place
on Saturday.
Lasn said he came up with the idea in July for
the Wall Street protests — aimed at counteracting the conservative tea party
movement in the United States — after being inspired by the Arab Spring
prodemocracy revolutions that have swept the Middle East this year.
Lasn said he was surprised by the speed with
which the movement spread, calling it "magic."
"It just started to have a life of its
own and Twitter went crazy and Facebook became quite hot," he said,
referring to the major role social networking sites have played in spreading
his message.
"We had a feeling that the people in
America were very angry, that there was a lot of rage in their guts, that they
were losing their jobs, losing their houses and people were living in tent
cities, and in the meantime, those financial elites in Wall Street, they were still
getting big bonuses," Lasn said. "So we felt that the moment was
right, that somehow, if you can just have one spark, the spark can turn into a
fire."
Lasn, who was born in Estonia, moved to
Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1970. He launched the Adbusters activist
magazine in 1989, aiming to change what he perceived as the prevailing
corporate-driven consumer culture. In the early 1990s, Lasn successfully
organized a "Buy Nothing Day" campaign around the yearend holiday
season in Canada, as well as overseas countries including Japan.
Asked if he started the Occupy Wall Street
movement as a way of supporting U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed tax
hikes for major corporations and the rich, Lasn said, "Not really,"
and went on to express his dismay over the president's inability to deliver on
his promises.
Kyodo
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment