As Occupy Wall Street enters its sixth week, spiritual leader Dr. Deepak Chopra, also the author of the new book, War of the Worldviews: Science vs Spirituality, says it’s time to harness the “rage and anger” of the protesters into a new movement that pushes towards a new capitalist society — one that is based on social and economic justice.
He is calling it: just capitalism. “It is still capitalism,” he says. “But it is also just.”
Chopra visited Zuccotti Park — headquarters for the leaderless movement located in Manhattan’s financial district — days after the demonstration began in late September to hold a group mediation and also talk with the protesters to understand their grievances, which include high unemployment, growing income inequality, Wall Street bailouts, executive pay and more. (See: Occupy Wall Street: What’s It All About)
“I felt a lot of pain in my heart, because I felt what they were feeling…We have to resurrect this economy, but we have to do it together we have to harness this anger and rage into creativity and we have to all participate,” he tells The Daily Ticker’s Aaron Task in the accompanying video. “I think the real solution is for us to work together” and that includes Wall Street and all of corporate America.
His plan to save the U.S. economy is to rebuild America while using “just capitalism,” and he’d start with America’s infrastructure.
“I come from South Asia frequently, land in Los Angeles and think I am landing in a third world country,” he says, citing a not uncommon critique of this country’s outdated airports. But beyond airports, his vision is to implement a unified program to fix the country’s roads, bridges and telecommunications platforms.
Do you agree with Chopra’s vision for a new capitalist society based on justice? Tell us what you think!