Pop-culture support for Occupy Movement

The Occupy Movement, which started with Occupy Wall Street--and has exploded all over the country, has garnered much support from various types of people across the nation, including a lot of people well known in popular culture. I have listed a few and some of what they've said:

Occupy Writers- This started out as a couple dozen writers who pledged to "support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world," but quickly grew to more than 200 authors. They include some very well established authors like Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Naomi Klein. (Rick Remender, who writes X-Force for Marvel Comics, is also included). Some of the writers have also contributed essays about the Occupy Movement, like children's author Lemony Snicket who wrote a very clever piece, "Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance."

Henry Rollins- A former singer of one of the best hardcore punk bands, Black Flag, wrote a lengthy column in support of the Occupy Movement for his LA Weekly blog last month. In it, he says things like, "People will understand that the Occupy protests are truly organic -- which is why it sometimes looks like there is confusion amongst them. As the weeks go by, every police officer who stomps on and attempts ruinous harm to the First Amendment with arrests will only attract more people to the protests."

Boots Riley- If you're looking for someone on Twitter for insights and information on Occupy Oakland, Boots is the guy to follow! It's not surprise that he has been out there taking over the streets with other Bay area natives, as his music with The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club is highly political. On November 12, he tweeted, "#OccupyOakland scares em cuz we make connections w labor&studnts&push fightin WallStreet n the workplace.They try2discourage those connects."

Christopher Nolan- The director of such films as "Memento," "Batman Begins," and "Inception" was actually going to film scenes from his current Batman flick, "The Dark Knight Rises," with Occupy Wall Street in the background. However, they changed their minds because, as one website put it, Nolan did not want to "co-opt what’s happening there and around the country."

Superheroes- Click HERE for a funny link that has fictional characters like Superman and Luke Skywalker showing their support for the 99%.

The story of Rayhan Mazin

*SPOILER ALERT!!!*

Of course, once again, I am late on informing you all of an interesting story! I just recently caught up on my issues of Power Girl and was surprised to read a really great two-issue story arc involving a super-powered individual named Rayhan Mazin. He is very unusual because he's one of the few Muslim-Americans I've ever seen presented in a comic-book. He is from the fictional country of Qurac, and had never used his powers because he feared what people might think of a super-powered person of Middle Eastern descent in America. Basically, the story is about how exactly right he was!

The story starts six months ago when he is on a plane that is about to crash. Knowing how it might look to the other passengers, he decides to use his power (of controlling the weather) to lift the plane up and prevent it from crashing by increasing the wind speed. Unbeknownst to him, Power Girl and Batman have arrived on the scene to be heroes. So, when the plane lands, everyone blames him and we see him cuffed and scurried away.

The next scenes in the book deal with him being constantly interrogated and being denied contact with any friends, family or even a lawyer. Through the whole situation he keeps thinking that if he just keeps cooperating, they will eventually realize that he is not some kind of terrorist and that they will just let him go. They don't; and to make matters worse, he finds out that his father is dying of cancer and they won't even let him visit him in the hospital. That proves to be the last straw and he decides to breakout. (He had the power to do that all-along)!

This is where Power Girl and Batman jump back in the story because they have been asked to capture him. Telling more would be ruining the ending, so I'll stop here. But, this was an obviously great story that's a current reflection on U.S. policy and the way people of Middle Eastern descent are treated in this country. The ending was a little rushed, but still a nicely-written story by Judd Winnick. I strongly recommend you look for Power Girl #24-#25 in your local comic-book shop.

David Hine on 'Nightrunner'

Those of you that do not follow/read Batman comics, will probably not be aware that, in the comic books, Batman has gone on a sort of world tour to recruit vigilantes to be part of his Batman Inc. franchise. (A sort of war-on-crime-army that are allied with--and get funding/resources from--the Batman).

If this is news to you, then even more surprising to know will be that there was a small controversy when it was revealed that the person Batman choose to be his representative in France, Nightrunner, was a Muslim immigrant. One right-wing blogger said things like: “The character’s name is Bilal Asselah and he is an Algerian Sunni Muslim and an immigrant that is physically fit and adept at gymnastic sport Parkour. Apparently Batman couldn't find any actual Frenchman to be the ‘French savior’.”

Most comic-book fans saw this reaction by right-wing bloggers as silly--especially because in the DC comics universe, the greatest champion is Superman, a guy who wasn't even born on the planet Earth! Comic Book Resources had a very good article about this when this broke out, back in December 2010, and there were some very good comments to that article, the majority supporting the new character.

The character/controversy came up again today when CBR, highlighting an upcoming story in "Batman & Robin," written by one of the creator's of Nightrunner, David Hine, was asked if he was "surprised by the vehemence of reactions to him in America." Below is the response he gave:


I had no intention of creating a controversial character and as far as I'm concerned there is nothing intrinsically provocative about having a character from an Algerian Muslim background, any more than from any other ethnic, national, racial or religious background. The polarization you're talking about is between a tiny but vocal minority whose views I find deeply repulsive and a massive reaction from reasonable intelligent people who were as surprised as me by the so-called controversy. I don't really want to play into that at all. As I've said elsewhere, the fact that Nightrunner is not White Anglo Saxon Protestant is simply a reflection of the diversity of French society, and incidentally of DC's readership in America and globally through all its foreign editions. Kyle Higgins' scripts for the Nightrunner stories were sensitive and built an intriguing character. That's it. Nothing partisan, or endorsing any particular creed or political stance except perhaps a degree of tolerance that is notably lacking in some quarters.


Hine's response was OK, as it shows that there shouldn't be anything controversial about the character, and that the people who think there is something wrong with that have backward views. But he is wrong in thinking that there is a "tiny" of people who think like this. Of course, in the comic-book world, the vocal minority who complained about this was small, but there are larger right-wing forces out there that are just plain racist. And there are also "Culture Wars" going on in society, (of which mainstream popular culture is a part of), where right-wing forces are trying to get victories.