Chomskys Answer (Paraphrased) Q: Do you think the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) movement signals that we are on the

verge of (or perhaps already in) a legitimation crisis (in the Habermasian sense of the term)? A: (Paraphrased since I had to write it by hand after the fact.) Weve been in a legitimation crisis for quite a while now; since 71 when we were taken off the Bretton Woods system. Before 1971 things were more under control and there was less of a schism between the wealthiest and the rest of society. After 1971 when we were taken off the system things began to change. Nixon removed the regulations that allowed economic growth to be redistributed. Inequality began to ensue because as the more wealth is accumulated by the top percentile, more power follows; this becomes a vicious cycle. Wealth began to slowly rise to the top percentile of society while the rest remained stagnant. A big indicator was in the late 70s early 80s when South and Central American governments began rejecting American influence over their economic systems as well as governments. We began to have to coerce or even force those countries to get in line. That was a sign that things were slipping. Also, look at Egypt; before Egypts financial crisis in the 80s it was considered a poster child for Neoliberal economic policy. It was praised as a prime example, before it collapsed. Occupy Wall Street is simply an indicator that this Legitimation Crisis has hit home. Because OWS is in a rich country (or countries) it will be taken more seriously than other instances of civil disenchantment with American economic and foreign policy. So, OWS is the signal that this crisis has hit home (for us). Theres no way of knowing how this will play out. We dont know if they will succeed in crushing the movement. Everything depends on us, the privileged and educated. We must support the movement or it will become fringe and can easily be crushed under the jack-boot of the police with support of homeland security. This is not Egypt or China. We wont be fired upon in protest. We have freedoms that dont exist in other places. The tanks wont be brought in to break up a civil protest. We have the power to take control of our government again, through our Democracy.