Since the Occupy Wall Street protests began several months ago, I have heard “fair and balanced” news organizations, like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, nervously compare the movement to the French Revolution. While these comparisons seem a bit extreme and premature, it is unclear whether such rhetoric stems from a true belief that these historical moments are similar or simply from a desire to frighten the type of people who watch Fox News and read the Murdoch-era Wall Street Journal.
However, despite how much I may doubt these alarmist predictions about OWS, it is difficult to read the quintessential French Revolutionary document, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and The Citizen, in our present moment without thinking of the recent protests in our own country. Nearly every sentence of the piece can be read through the lens of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but one section that I found particularly intriguing was the third right recognized by the National Assembly:
“The source of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation; no group, no individual, may exercise authority not emanating expressly therefrom.”
Because this declaration reads like a legal document, it is important to carefully scrutinize the language used. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines sovereignty as “supreme power especially over a body politic” or “controlling influence.” The choice of the word “nation,” rather than “government” or “state” is also interesting. “Nation” generally refers to the people who share a culture and make up a state, rather than to the apparatus of the state itself. Therefore, this sentence seems to say that any controlling power in a state must come directly from the people (as a whole) themselves, rather than from any individual or other group.
220 years later, we find ourselves with a similar goal. At a time when the Citizens United Case, the rise of SuperPacs, and the perpetual bailing out of Wall Street make the public feel increasingly disenfranchised, it would be nice to see “all sovereignty reside essentially in the nation” or “emanating expressly therefrom.” Instead, it seems sovereignty is increasingly transferred to corporations from whom our nation derives its sovereignty. This backwardness is a driving force in the Occupy Wall Street movement. 18th century France understood that such a relationship between a society and its wealthiest members could not last. It is time we learned that too. #11/3
