Gary Shteyngart on Occupy Wall Street

Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart answered six questions on Occupy Wall Street and shared with us his Facebook pictures of the protests.

Also read a conversation with  the author published in June.

What are the four signs /banners that have caught your attention in the protest?

Just the ones on my Facebook. Feel free to use.

People you describe in your novel have been left behind by the banks, the state, and the profit hoarding private sector. They demonstrate at Central Park demanding their basic rights. Did you think these scenes would become true that fast? Is this going to help to change something in the States?

Yes, the best thing we can all do is take up space somewhere public.

"Sure, but didn't Jesus say something like 'ye who spiteth on the top 1% also spiteth upon me.' Or was that Mitt Romney?" Gary Shteyngart via Facebook.

In your work the demonstrations only cease once America is dismantled into parts and sold off to the countries that form a new financial reign, a new world order. What are your predictions for the protests going on?

Hard to say. It would be nice if they became more of a mass movement and developed coherent political aims.

Have these protests inspired you to write something new?

Nah.

"Could we crowd-source a better slogan for these protesters?" Gary Shteyngart via Facebook.

Bill O’Reilly said about the protesters that they are jobless because they don’t want to work. Gary, are you sure that children are not our future?

What a sweetie he is. I believe Bill O’Reilly is the future. Or to quote Winston’s torturer in 1984: “If you want to see the future, Winston, picture a boot stamping on a human face forever.”

Some pundits have said that the protests are just a place to find your other half. Have you taken your dog Felix to the protests. Is it an easy place for him to find a girlfriend?

Felix has organized his own dachshund protests in Washington Square Park.

Read Amiri Baraka’s comments on Occupy Wall Street