Last winter and spring, Canadian Muslims originally from Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and Syria were out in the streets of Ottawa and on Parliament Hill. They were out, despite the cold weather, despite family commitments, despite the intimidation and threats that they would sometimes receive from their embassies’ officials, to denounce the oppression of their people overseas.

They went out to speak out against the violence of the Arab dictators in their countries of origin. They asked the Canadian government for sanctions and for measures to support the emerging democracies in the Arab world. To date, protests continue to denounce the atrocities taking place in Syria where the violence is increasing and where transgressions by the “Shabiha” militias, loyal to the Assad regime, are routinely committed against the local population.

On the heels of the revolutions in the Arab world, a new movement is slowly emerging in the West. A movement that in the long run will probably change the social and economic face of our society. Some call it the “American Fall” as an American version of the “Arab Spring”. Others have called it the “Occupy Wall Street Movement”.

It started in September, in New York, more precisely on Wall Street, the symbol of the capitalist financial system. At first, this movement was totally ignored by the mainstream media until the police committed the first mistake and started arresting many of the protesters.

Mainstream media woke up as the movement began taking root in city after city around the globe. Here in Canada, protesters gathered in Toronto, Montreal, and even in Ottawa, in Confederation Park, to call for fairness in the redistribution of wealth.

The financial crisis that started in the US in 2008 has had a devastating impact not just on the North American economy but on the entire global financial system. When the crisis began, hundreds of thousands of hard working US citizens saw their houses being seized by the same financial institutions who only a few years earlier had convinced them to buy those properties knowing that they couldn’t really afford them. Like a contagious disease, the US’s financial woes spread across the Atlantic Ocean and hit hard the European continent. Greece was the first to fall and scramble under the huge weight of debt.

Here, in Canada, we shouldn’t think that we are forever shielded by “one of the best banking systems in the world” as our politicians like to boast every time they’re asked about the effects of the crisis on our economic system. Yes, we weren’t hit as badly as the US but don’t forget that the Harper government had to inject a stimulus package of 12 billions dollars in 2009 and 2010 to avoid the disastrous impact of the recession.

But beyond the boring and depressing statistics, the “Occupy Wall Street” movement has set its aims high. It proposes to revisit the whole idea of an economic system built over the years around one motto: to drive the profits of the big corporations up. In doing so, it was expected that the hard working citizens would also benefit from the prosperity. Instead the total opposite happened. Ordinary citizens have less money in their pockets, what with exorbitant gas prices, cuts to public services, high food costs and of course rising unemployment.

Today, more and more people are turning to food banks. Even middle class families are admitting that they need help so they can put dinner on the table. And yet the banks and brokerage houses, mainly responsible for the financial meltdown, got billions of dollars -- of tax-payers' money --in bailouts to save them from bankruptcy. Unbelievable but true!

In the US and even in Canada, raising taxes used to be the ideal way to redistribute the wealth between the rich and the needy in times of crisis.  However, in recent years, low taxes have become a “sacred cow” for the politicians. Rarely do they speak of raising taxes for fear of losing the favour of influential voters or the benediction of the big corporations. Last summer, we watched on helplessly as President Obama squared off against the Republicans on the issue of raising the ceiling on public debt. The drama finally ended in the nick time with the Republicans reluctantly accepting a deal to avoid driving the US into another economic crisis.

It is to counter all this and more that a movement such as “Occupy Wall Street” was born. It is indeed to denounce the oppression of the banks that people have taken to the streets. It is to protest against the oligarchy, the new dictatorship of the financial system that average citizens are camping in the park and chanting their frustration. It is to denounce the extravagant bonuses that the CFOs and CEOs continue to collect, as sacrifices are made to public funding of key programmes, that people are supporting the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

It is a call for more social justice in our communities and for a better future for our kids.

As Canadian Muslims, we should be on the front line of these peaceful protests. Have we forgotten the story of Prophet Shuayb, may peace be upon him, and how he denounced the fraudulent ways of his own people? Have we forgotten the preaching of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, against the dangers of usury? And what about our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him, and his numerous reminders against speculation and fraud?

It is good to denounce the injustice in the Middle-East and ask for an end to oppression and to dictatorship. It is good to demonstrate peacefully on the streets to support our countries of origin. However, it is equally good to stand for justice in our own backyard and denounce an economic system that is driving many families to poverty, draining the savings of many years of labour and making corporations look more and more like the oppressors.

Monia Mazigh is an author and human rights activist. She lives in Ottawa. ■

“Stand firmly for justice”

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, the Educational Director of the Toronto-based SeekersGuidance was invited to deliver the Friday khutba (sermon) on October 28, 2011 at St. James Park -- the site of the Occupy Toronto movement. The following seven counsels are taken from the closing remarks of the sermon:

1.    Be steadfastly committed to justice and excellence in your own life

2.    Give particular care to all those who have rights over you.

3.    Ignore the mass media, but become an informed citizen.

4.    Money matters. Make ethical and informed choices in your expenditures.

5.    Time matters. Don’t be a mere consumer but spend time doing and seeking good.

6.     Life matters. Don’t be a slave to work, but work to bring about benefit.

7.    Do this for Allah, seeking his Mercy. Respond in all your actions with beauty, for Allah is Beautiful and He loves beauty.