History repeats itself.
Professor Jackie Maxwell shared this message in a presentation titled “Occupy Ancient Greece and Rome” to students, faculty and Athens residents participating in the Occupy OhioU movement.
Maxwell focused on Ancient Greek and Roman societies, where the majority of wealth and power was in the 1 percent minority. In both societies, the majority of people became fed up with their government system and protested for their equality.
In both Ancient Athens and Rome, the existing cultures led to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. An uprising of the lower 99 percent that stood against the few who held power led to an eventual change in society.
“When people stand up, change won’t come easily or quickly, but change should be expected,” Maxwell said.
There were long processes between the elite domination of government to the eventual people-based society in both Athens and Rome, and the product might not have been an ideal world, but an improved society was produced, Maxwell said.
“There is reason to expect change,” Maxwell told onlookers.
Parallels can be drawn between the ancient societies and today’s Occupy movements, Maxwell said. She added that willingness to compromise and pressure put on the other side to compromise can bring about the much-needed change.
“If Occupy sticks to the issue of disparity of wealth and the imbalance in economics, it can produce change,” she said.
bb456310@ohiou.edu
