Occupy Wall Street a favorite of Communists and dictators K.E. Campbell
The occupying protesters' day got off to a good start. Iran's supreme leader and "new leftists" in the People's Republic of China have endorsed their cause.
During a speech yesterday in Kermanshah, Iran, before a crowd of "tens of thousands," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said:
The corruption of the capitalist regime has become evident for these people (the protesters)... This movement will soar to completely mark the downfall of the West and the capitalist regime.
The speech was broadcast on Iran's state-controlled television. Khamenei claimed the "corrupt foundation has been exposed to the American people" and the protest movement in the U.S., ultimately, "will grow so that it will bring down the capitalist system and the west." A general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard described the protests in the U.S. as the beginning of an "American Spring" that will culminate in the toppling of "the Western capitalist system."
The occupiers (the Pot Party?) are drawing the attention, admiration, and support of fellow travelers in communist China too. According to an article in Asian Times titled "New leftists salute Wall Street brethren":
China's new leftists - socialist critics of the country's capitalist-style economic reforms - are beginning to lend support, declaring the [U.S.] demonstrations as a "great revolution" that sounds the death-knell for capitalism throughout the world.
The new leftists oppose what they view as Beijing's "pro-capitalist and pro-U.S. policies" and "apparently see the U.S. protest movement as strong evidence in support of their faith." (That would be faith in authoritarian government, not God or a Creator.) The primary website of China's new leftists, called Utopia, includes prominent references to the "Wall Street Revolution", the "Death of Capitalism", and praise for socialism and "Mao-style ideology".
In a show of support for the U.S. occupiers, public gatherings have been held in at least two Chinese cities. Both gatherings were unhindered by Chinese authorities. Four days ago, in the city square of Luoyang in Henan province, participants "put up a big picture of Mao and displayed a huge banner with the slogan "To Staunchly Support American People's Great 'Wall Street' Revolution!"".
Hugo Chavez endorsed the Occupy Wall Street protests days ago. So far, neither Fidel Castro nor Kim Jong-il has commented publicly, though North Korea's state-controlled news service issued a press release describing the protests as being "against exploitation and oppression by capital" and declaring that similar protests "are expected take place in other capitalist countries."
It is doubtful the endorsement by despots, dictators, and other oppressors will give the occupiers pause. Some people prefer an iron fist over the invisible hand or at least something more akin to it. Many of the protesters apparently buy into the premise and false choice of a Baltimore Sun reader who, in support of his anti-free-market stance, asks: "Which is worse, a society ruled by a power-hungry, greedy dictator or a government run by power-hungry, greedy corporations?"
