Photo Credit: Chris Beckett

Londoners marching in support of pension cuts.

On Oct. 15, the Occupy Wall Street movement spread to Europe. Protesters across the continent took up arms, but for contradictory aims.  Some demand that the European Union take action to counteract the wealth inequalities of capitalism (the wealthy 1%) and against the debt crisis, while others advocate for the interests of their own nation: creditor – Germany – or debtor – Greece.

From the Spanish “Indignants” to the Italian “Black Bloc,” all protest “the system that runs the global economy,” stated NPR, and the “1%” who are “earning more than ever,” according to The Atlantic.  In addition to these messages carried over from Wall Street, the protests adopted a local spin: demands to fix the European debt crisis through combined action at the upcoming G20 meeting and EU summit.

Despite these apparently noble ideals, pro-equality and economic reform protests took a sinister turn in the form of anti-foreign demonstrations. Protestors in Greece and Germany advocated for reduced austerities and an end to bailouts, respectively. These positions undermine the protestors’ demands for an end to the debt crisis by further bogging down EU collaboration with national interests.

At the same time, protesters focus on the guiltless European Central Bank (ECB) as a culprit for an undefined crime, as opposed to targeting banks and government actions which enabled the unsustainable buildup of Greek debt, slowing the ECB’s role in the bailout.

Internal European disputes allow rival nations, such as Russia and China, to gain on their European competition, all while pointing a finger at the much-protested 1-99% inequalities. However both Russia and China are renowned for their inequalities: Russian oligarchs hoard state resources, and Chinese coast Special Economic Zones achieve first world standards as the rest of the nation stagnates.

In direct response to the protests, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin mentioned his own social reforms as a reason for Russia’s immunity to protest.

In order to remain competitive with China for the long run Europe must catch up to China’s 2.2% GDP growth. This quarter Europe’s growth sank to a mere 0.3%, a mere seventh of that enjoyed by China.  Chinese officials took the ambiguous moral high ground, commenting, “There is a reason for protests [in Europe].” Yet, by this year’s gini coefficient (a measure of economic inequality), Germany lies at 28% whereas Russia and China remain well above the 40% mark.

In this climate of debt crisis, foreign competition, and growing partisanship, the conflicting messages of Europe’s Occupy Wall Street sabotage their stated purpose of ending the crisis of economic inequality.