このページはフレーム対応ブラウザ用に作成されています。下のリンクは非フレーム使用ページですのでそちらをご覧ください。
この記事をプリントする
ウォール街に行ってみた
リーマンショック以来の不況に苦しむアメリカで、中流層の不満は「ウォール街を占拠せよ」という合言葉の下、ついに政府や金融機関に抗議するデモ隊の形となってウォール街に押し寄せた。筆者がある平日の午後、その現場を訪ねてみると・・・。
On the ground with Occupy Wall Street
A little over a month ago, inspired by the "Arab spring" earlier this year, about a thousand people gathered near Wall Street in lower Manhattan to protest against social inequality and corporate greed. Over a hundred of them remained, continuing the protest by camping in nearby Zuccotti Park. Sandwiched between skyscrapers and right next to Ground Zero, it's a place few New Yorkers could have named before the protests began. Now, as the focal point of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, it has become one of the most well-known locations in the city.
So after following the demonstrations in the news, I decided to visit. Although it was a weekday afternoon, and so lacked the evening and weekend protesters, the tiny tent-crammed square was bustling. In one corner, a woman was giving a speech via "human microphone," each phrase repeated loudly by the crowd to get around the ban on electronic amplification. In another corner, people were dancing to the beat of drums, the air pungent with incense and unwashed bodies. Nearby, civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson was giving an interview, while tourists and curious New Yorkers mingled with protesters. The atmosphere was surprisingly festive.
There were signs everywhere and the range of issues on show was really quite bewildering. There were signs protesting federal bank bailouts, CEO bonuses, personal debt, capitalism, war, the Middle East, the destruction of the environment, you name it. But the recurring themes were clear: the power of banks and corporations to bend politics to their interests; the unemployment rate; and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. With the wealthiest 1 percent owning about a third of the national wealth, the OWS rallying cry of "We are the 99 percent" has been particularly resonant.
This has not stopped commentators from criticizing OWS for lacking focus and concrete demands or from dismissing the movement as a naive and ignorant group of anarchists, communists and pothead hippies. Yet this is a movement that is still only one month old. Polls already show a growing number of Americans are sympathetic to its aims, and its very diversity shows just how alienated people are feeling from the political process. The fact that this movement has spread across America and even to hundreds of cities abroad is indicative of how widespread this disenchantment is.
The next few months are going to be fascinating. Just how the OWS movement will evolve is anyone's guess. Will it just be a flash in the pan? Well, we'll have to wait and see.
- On the ground with 〜
- 〜の現場で
- Occupy Wall Street
- ウォール街を占拠せよ(米政府などに抗議するデモ隊の合言葉)
- Arab spring
- アラブの春(2010年暮れから始まった中東の民主化運動の総称)
- lower Manhattan
- マンハッタン南部
- greed
- 強欲
- Sandwiched between 〜 and 〜
- 〜と〜に挟まれて
- skyscrapers
- 超高層ビル
- Ground Zero
- グラウンド・ゼロ(世界貿易センタービルの跡地)
- could have named
- 名を挙げることができた
- focal point
- 中心
- tent-crammed
- テントが所狭しと立ち並んだ
- square
- 広場
- was bustling
- ざわめいていた
- human microphone
- 一人が話す後に続いて、群衆が大声で復唱し、マイク同様の効果を出すこと
- get around 〜
- 〜の裏をかく
- electronic amplification
- 電気を使った拡声(?拡声器のこと)
- pungent
- 鼻をつく
- incense
- お香
- mingled with
- に交じった
- festive
- お祭り気分の、愉快な
- signs
- プラカード
- on show
- 掲げられた
- bewildering
- 戸惑うほど多様な
- federal bank bailouts
- 連邦銀行の救済措置
- you name it
- ありとあらゆるもの
- recurring
- 繰り返される
- bend 〜 to 〜
- 〜を〜へとねじ曲げる
- rallying cry
- スローガン、掛け声
- (has been) resonant
- 響き渡っている
- dismissing 〜 as 〜
- 〜を〜として片付ける
- anarchists
- 無政府主義者
- pothead hippies
- マリファナを吸うヒッピー
- diversity
- 多様性
- alienated
- 疎外された
- is indicative of 〜
- 〜を示している
- disenchantment
- 幻滅
- evolve
- 展開する
- anyone's guess
- 誰にも分からない
- flash in the pan
- 一時的な成功