From Cairo to Wall Street: Voices from the Global Spring

Occupy Wall Street is by now the catchphrase of 2011, and perhaps many years to come. But this movement against entrenched injustice belongs was born of a wave of protests that swept across the globe and, together, radically shifted the currents of change. From Tunisia to Egypt, from Athens to Madrid, from Zuccotti Park to London’s financial district, each local movement aired its own grievances and acted with its own goals in sight. The anger and frustration that… (more)

Occupy Wall Street is by now the catchphrase of 2011, and perhaps many years to come. But this movement against entrenched injustice belongs was born of a wave of protests that swept across the globe and, together, radically shifted the currents of change. From Tunisia to Egypt, from Athens to Madrid, from Zuccotti Park to London’s financial district, each local movement aired its own grievances and acted with its own goals in sight. The anger and frustration that underpin these movements, however, is collective. It is the sense that our societies have for too long favored the few and left the rest behind—and that enough is enough.

In this stirring collection, edited by journalists Anya Schiffrin and Eamon Kircher-Allen, voices from across the world tell the story of the movement that is redefining this moment in history. Many of these voices hail from the front lines: we hear from the Egyptian youth leaders who transformed Tahrir Square into a symbol of freedom; we hear from the Indignados who raged against austerity measures in already dark times; and we hear of the many, from New York to Wisconsin to Oakland, who marched under the banner “We Are the 99%.” In addition, pieces by Schiffrin, Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Jeffrey Sachs, and columnist Laurie Penny frame these movements in the context of global capitalism and its discontents.

World history is marked by pivotal years that have redirected its course: 1789; 1848; 1939; 1968; 2001. Only time will tell whether 2011 belongs in such company, but this year’s protest movements have undeniably given shape and spirit to a new global community: the 99%.