學術界與“占領華爾街”

從九月17日開始的占領華爾街的群眾自發運動到今天十月十七日已經整整一個月了。
最初有人預言，說這不過是一群不想幹活的懶人混混在鬧事，長不了的。可是事實是占領運動已經從華爾街擴散到了全美各地，成百上千的人們加入其中，占領波士頓，占領洛杉磯，等等，最大的一次集會甚至有上萬名參加遊行。參加者不少確實是下崗待業者，也有更多的人士仍在工作崗位上，但不滿華爾街黑手操控金融經濟乃至政治。盡管主要媒體不怎麽報道占領消息，但“占領華爾街”的一舉一動都牽動人們的注意力，全美60% 的受訪者說他們每天都在關注“占領華爾街”消息。占領大軍打出的標語是“我們是99%”，這是絕大多數人。這些人之中自然也包括了遠近高校的學者們。這些學者們從哥倫比亞大學，普林斯頓大學，哈佛大學，杜克大學，倫敦大學過來，親臨現場，給予占領大軍以理念及意識思想上的聲援支持，並成為占領大軍的一員。
這場“占領”運動的目標是針對華爾街的貪婪和腐敗。人們意識到華爾街的不合理遊戲規則需要改變，不應該是賺了錢他們自己中飽私囊，輸了錢卻要求大家平攤損失。

Intellectual Roots of Wall St. Protest Lie in Academe
By Dan Berrett
Academics have become frequent visitors to Zuccotti Park, the 33,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza in the heart of New York City's financial district that is now the site of a nearly monthlong protest, Occupy Wall Street.

Famous scholars like Cornel West, Slavoj Zizek, and Frances Fox Piven have spoken to the crowd, with their remarks dispersed, word-for-word, from one cluster of people to the next through a "human megaphone." Many others, such as Lawrence Lessig, have lent their support from farther away, as the demonstrations have spread to cities and college campuses nationwide.

The movement has repeatedly been described as too diffuse and decentralized to accomplish real change, and some observers have seen the appearances by academic luminaries as an attempt to lend the protest intellectual heft and direction. Certainly, its intellectual underpinnings and signature method of operating are easier to identify than its goals.

Economists whose recent works have decried income inequality have informed the movement's critiques of capitalism. Critical theorists like Michael Hardt, professor of literature at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, former professor of political science at the University of Padua, have anticipated some of the central issues raised by the protests. Most recently, they linked the actions in New York and other American cities to previous demonstrations in Spain, Cairo's Tahrir Square, and in Athens, among other places.
閱讀全文：http://chronicle.com/article/Intellectual-Roots-of-Wall/129428/