http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/16/occupy-wall-street-2/?iid=SF_F_Lead"Not since the 1960s have we seen anything like this, at least on the Left. I recently spent a few days visiting Occupy sites in New York, Boston, D.C., Denver, Los Angeles and Oakland (I was in Oakland on November 2 for the general strike and the march that briefly closed the country's fifth busiest port) and I'm telling you: No matter how you feel about the protesters (and you're not alone if you're conflicted or confused), you would be impressed. Tent cities in the public square in cities all over America, crowds of marchers in the streets, over 4000 arrests nationwide—in my lifetime, and I'm past 50, that's new.
I don't wonder why this is happening. I do wonder, a little, why now? There's nothing on the crowded Occupy agenda—the growing gulf between rich and poor, corruption on Wall Street, runaway speculation disguised as financial innovation, the erosion of the American dream, the steady undermining of democracy by big money and special interests, and looming environmental disaster—that hasn't been a concern of many for many years.
Lasn claims he had forgotten but back in 1998 he told The Ecologist in London that the global economy was a "doomsday machine" and that "everyone on the planet who knows what's going on can feel it, but we're denying it. It's waiting there in the background and as soon as it comes to the forefront, then that will be the catalytic moment when dramatic change will be possible." I read Lasn's words back to him and asked him if he thought that moment had finally arrived. "Exactly!" he said"