Forum Post: Occupy vs. India Against Corruption

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/opinion/friedman-india-and-america-two-peas-in-a-pod.html

"What has brought millions of Indians into the streets to support the India Against Corruption movement and what seems to have triggered ... the Occupy Wall Street movement ... is a sense that both countries have democratically elected governments that are so beholden to special interests that they can no longer deliver reform. Therefore, they both need shock therapy from outside.

The big difference is that, in America, the Occupy Wall Street movement has no leader and no consensus demand. And while it enjoys a lot of passive support, its activist base is small. India Against Corruption has millions of followers and a charismatic leader, the social activist Anna Hazare, who went on a hunger strike until the Indian Parliament agreed to create an independent ombudsman with the staff and powers to investigate and prosecute corruption at every level of Indian governance and to do so in this next session of Parliament. A furious debate is now raging here over how to ensure that such an ombudsman doesn’t turn into an Indian 'Big Brother,' but some new ombudsman position appears likely to be created."

Worth thinking about, for all the chicken littles up in this that have been weeping tears about "co-option" and "media distortion." You've done their work for them.