Occupy Protestors - The Spring Offensive

The protesters were gone, the parks clean again, and the winter with its snow storms was upon the city. After Pam’s car was vandalized, causing her a brief period of anxiety, she treated herself by taking a quick trip to the company’s compound in Jamaica.  Rejuvenated, Pam was ready to take her division into the future.  She had been infuriated with the Occupy protesters who blamed her for their own troubles. She laughed at the thought of the protesters outside of her building believing they were accomplishing something while she was relaxing on the beach. Unbeknownst to the protestors, while on vacation, Pam continued to send her limousine to the divisional headquarters on a daily basis to throw the protesters off.. 

After her short R & R she traveled to Malaysia where she was off-shoring many of her division’s jobs. The Occupy Protesters had pissed Pam off and someone was going to pay. The protestors had been more than an irritant, they had done more than call on their elected officials to make regulations, they wanted to take her money and power away; this was personal. The Protests in America were actually very mild in comparison to the overseas countries where multitudes had died and regimes overthrown. The true impacts of the protestors were on the local political level where leaders were forced to show their true colors. Across the country in countless political campaigns, political hopefuls proclaimed they were part of the people. During the protests their real characters were revealed. Some supported the protestors and blamed the police. Some pushed the police to crush the supporters. Others froze, unable to make decisions, afraid to offend someone. They are after all politicians, how could they be expected to make decisions? In fact, they all made decisions: support the protestors, big business, or do nothing.

Most international organizations knew this would all blow over in time. Weather, politics, and the natural human tendency to get onboard and move would bring things back to the status quo. Yes, modern society was connected through social media, but revolution required action and harsh enough living conditions that people were willing to suffer or die to make changes. In America all people have lives that the poorest resident of a third world country would kill to have. In America, the poorest people are given free houses, free food, and are connected to free cable television. They would not revolt, they had no reason to revolt and the multi-conglomerate executives knew that fact.  They understood this too would pass and with a wink business went on as usual.  Besides, people like Fred, the 21^st Congressional Representative, needed the donations of the multi-national conglomerates more than Jack’s feel good $20.00 donation. No meaningful legislation gets passed which will hamper business; the masses just don’t understand they have no say in government anymore.

Pam’s press secretary announced the creation of the Malaysian manufacturing facility. The jobs would cut costs, increase profits, a steady workforce, and the stocks responded in kind. The share price rose by 23% within hours of the announcement.  The number of jobs cut was set at 500, to avoid notice by major news organizations. Several more job cuts of similar numbers would be made over the next year.  People in the community would lose their jobs, but it would be drown out and melded with the news of other companies making similar cuts. Pam’s division was set to be the predominant player in her industry. She now had an American brand name and facilities in a country which did not accept employee revolts. She believed the protests were gone. Surely, in the spring, the President would not allow the protests to be resurrected and hamper his re-election, unless of course, it could be blamed on the Republicans.

Jack was now back living at home and full anger that the protests failed to bring about change. Spring was coming and the new offensive would begin. Even if the original Occupy Protest organizers left in the belief they had made their stand, it was not over. The ball had been set in motion and it would not stop. Jack had still not found a job and had given up looking. It was the government’s fault that allowed him to get in the financial crisis he was in. It was his university’s fault that let him obtain a degree that he did not afford him the opportunity to find work. It was Pam’s company that out-sourced jobs to other countries. Someone, everyone has to pay.

During the winter, like in the centuries of warfare before, both sides of the conflict rested until warmer weather and a new offensive. People like Pam forgot this fact and thought everything was over. Individuals like Jack, met with small groups over the internet. These small groups bonded with other groups to form communities biding their time. Commanders were designated, specialists were assigned, and multi-pronged attacks would commence at their designated times. Some people would demonstrate, they would feel good but the commanders knew this would only be a nuisance. Others would go to Washington and people like Fred would give them lip service in an attempt to placate them.  People like Jack had a different set of orders, more destructive. Jack, like many, while blowing off class in college learned how to hack computers. His assignment was to hack into the main frame computers of the multinational corporations and play havoc. People everywhere saw how the Israelis’ shut down the Iranian nuclear program for a time with a simple virus. Jack received his orders via from a source that could not lead back to the originator. He had chosen Pam’s division as his personal target and now waited orders to begin. As Pam’s anger towards the Occupy protesters played out onto the workforce Jack’s anger was exclusively focused on her.  The strategies were set and with spring everyone’s world would be rocked.   In a cubical of a national political headquarters hurriedly the phone hung up. The pieces were set and the game was about to begin.