A colleague of mine at the University of Tennessee, Jon Shefner, was recently interviewed by the Knoxville News Sentinel (here). Jon studies the interaction of economic policies and how global populations advocate for change, specifically the link between austerity and protest. Government programs are essential to the survival of many working people. Closing those programs down when most needed, during an economic downturn, in order to shift income back to corporations, is the preferred right-wing solution (even when government programs had nothing to do with the economic crisis).Jon became interested in OWS after studying austerity and protest in Latin America.
OWS is a logical extension of his earlier work, except now the austerity protests are happening in the hegemonic center of the world system.
Jon's comments to the Knoxville News Sentinel were basically that we should be paying attention to both OWS and the Tea Party Movement. However, the howls of "protest" from readers (here) suggest that he might have touched a raw nerve in the Bible Belt.
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