Michael Moore explains the sparks that led to global protest

Mohamed Bouazizi was being treated poorly by government officials because all he wanted to do was set up a cart and sell fruit and vegetables on the street. But local police kept harassing him and trying to stop him. He, like most Tunisians, knew how corrupt their government was. But when Wikileaks published cables from the U.S. ambassador in Tunis confirming the corruption -- cables that were published just a week or so before Mohamed set himself on fire -- well, that was it for the Tunisian people, and all hell broke loose.

People across the world devoured the information Bradley Manning revealed, and it was used by movements in Egypt, Spain, and eventually Occupy Wall Street to bolster what we already thought was true. Except here were the goods -- the evidence that was needed to prove it all true. And then a democracy movement spread around the globe so fast and so deep -- and in just a year's time! When anyone asks me, "Who started Occupy Wall Street?" sometimes I say "Goldman Sachs" or "Chase" but mostly I just say, "Bradley Manning." It was his courageous action that was the tipping point -- and it was not surprising when the dictator of Tunisia censored all news of the Wikileaks documents Manning had allegedly supplied. But the internet took Manning's gift and spread it throughout Tunisia, a young man set himself on fire and the Arab Spring that led eventually to Zuccotti Park has a young, gay soldier in the United States Army to thank.

Read it at MichaelMoore.com

A Man in Tunisia, a Movement on Wall Street, and the Soldier Who Ignited the Fuse
By Michael Moore

Moore has been a major figure in the developing revolt for years, and he writes as a person who understands the situation from close up.

BTW, this is right out of the scenario suggested by Ravi Batra in The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos (Palgrave Macmillan 2007). It is the brave that will stand up and lead the fight against the old order dominated by corruption that is leading the world into economic chaos. They will be joined by the young, who, seeing their future being hijacked by selfishness and greed, will demand a new order and fight for its establishment.