Occupy storm to hit US social, political structures: Lawmaker

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the emergence of anti-capitalism Occupy Wall Street movement signifies a “storm” heading to hit the corrupt social and political structure of the US.

“Wall Street [movement] is a tide in an ocean and it is foreseeable that a storm is on its way to hit the American society,” said Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel at the closing ceremony of the First International Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Monday.

He argued that Washington’s policy for maintaining the US national integrity has always focused on contriving a foreign enemy in an attempt to deflect the American public opinion from the country’s domestic problems, 9/11 being a clear example.

“Despite all these efforts, the policies are gradually becoming ineffective and, internally, the American society is grappling with public protests. This indicates that their repetitive method has failed and will not be effective,” the Iranian legislator pointed out.

Haddad-Adel called on the American nation not to side with the US politicians in their blame game against foreign elements and instead focus on the White House, Wall Street and the US economic system as the root cause of their problems.

For the countries submissive to Washington policies, the Wall Street movement also uncovers the prevailing crises in America, including hunger, drug addiction, family disintegration, the ruling of capitalist one-percenters and the dominance of the Zionist lobbies over the US, the Iranian legislator noted.

The exacerbating economic conditions, corruption, poverty, as well as social and economic inequality in the US have sparked the anti-capitalism Occupy movement in major cities of the country since September 2011.

The protesters use the slogan, “We are the 99 percent” to distinguish themselves from the one percent of the Americans who are in possession of the greatest portion of the nation’s wealth.

A study by Indiana University, which was released in January, said about 10 million more US citizens have joined the poor in the country between 2006 and 2010, with the number of the poor set to rise due to the sluggish economic recovery.

The number of the US citizens living in poverty increased to 46.2 million in 2010, up 27 percent from 36.5 million in 2006.