The South African Civil Society Information Service

Taking Stock of the Occupy Movement One Year Later

25 Sep 2012

“By using the simple slogan of the 1% and the 99%, the Occupy dynamic was able to raise questions of inequality. Globally the question often put to people is the issue of poverty. Poverty is quite different to inequality. When you talk about poverty, the reaction could be charity. One feels bad for the poor, you want to have soup kitchens, etc. But inequality doesn't really always give you the sense that the answer is charity, because inequality tells you that whereas some people are getting fabulously wealthy, others are getting poorer or are being left behind. Inequality then is the relationship between rich and poor,” says a US professor.

Prashad is a professor of international studies at Trinity College. Among the many books he has authored are The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World and Arab Spring, Libyan Winter. He also writes regularly for Asia Times Online, Frontline magazine and Counterpunch.

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