The Indignant Around The World

There was a time last year when I considered the Americans to be one of the most stupid bunch of homo sapiens to inhabit the planet.

After all, it was their economy that was the most erratic, and their corporate investors that needed the most bailing out -- and all through tax-payer funds.

Make no mistake, this was money that belonged to the people, being used to finance a very select group of people who expected to be getting huge bonuses even while others had no jobs and nothing but a bleak future on the horizons.

But not a single American protested. They were silent, in spite of the federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which had given loans out indiscriminately to those who couldn't afford to pay them back.

That wasn't so bad.

What was worse: the bailouts of AIG, Merrill Lynch etc. The heads of these corporations were those appointed to be CEOs of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The irony.

Somehow this year, and to be more specific, THIS MONTH, a group of Americans decided to occupy Wall Street instead. Literally.

They have been camping out at Liberty Plaza Park (outside Wall Street) for over 2 weeks.

This is in spite of the threats by New York's mayor, Bloomberg, who himself has significant share in the nation's wealth through his media corporation.

There were numerous clashes with the US police (not unlike the Malaysian ones who inflict pain and injury for no reason) but the protesters stood their ground.

I have only one word for them:

BRAVO.

Since then, others from different countries have woken up to their plight of being used by the 1% who control the billions of dollars.

In solidarity with the Americans, about 951 cities were supposed to see non-violent demonstrations. Not all of the cities participated, but a huge number did.

And so, from Europe -- in Germany, Italy, England, Sweden, Portugal, Spain .....

..... to Asia Pacific -- in South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia .....

..... and not to mention Canada, people have stood up to protest. Hell yeah, they have!!

Even Wikileaks has gotten involved:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke to 500 demonstrators outside St. Paul's cathedral in London.

"The banking system in London is the recipient of corrupt money," he said, adding that Wikileaks would launch a campaign against financial institutions in the coming months.

And in Australia, we appear to have our unwitting representative from Malaysia in the form of Danny Lim:

Danny Lim, a 67-year-old immigrant from Malaysia, said he moved to Australia 48 years ago in search of opportunities.

Now he no longer trusts the government to look after his best interests. He thinks Australia's government has become too dependent upon the U.S. for direction.

"The big man — they don't care. They screw everyone. Eventually we'll mortgage our children away," Lim said.

I guess running away to some other part of the world will not solve the problem if no one grabs it by the horns. As they say, you can run, but you can't hide.

The young people of today will have to stand up and stop the bullying instead of staying silent and hoping it goes away.

Congratulations, America! You have led the way.