By Lee Chang-sup　

The anti-Wall Street campaign, now in its third week, has many disturbing messages that have little resemblance to the previous protests.

First, the protest took place on Wall Street, the heart of global capitalism. Second, Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks are the trigger of the protest. They reportedly plan similar action in Prague, Melbourne, Montreal and other major cities worldwide. Social media has become an open place of assembly for discussion. Leaders are suffering from agoraphobia, the fear of critical public situations.

Third, the “mobile” protesters have no centralized organizer, and lack in a focused agenda as they struggle for their cause as friends, followers and fans.

Finally, the protest is a sign of crisis for a representative democracy worldwide. As elective office-holders are unable to do what people want, voters have taken to the street.

Symbolism of protest

The symbolism of the protest on Wall Street is apparent. Protestors want the retooling of brutal jungle capitalism. They are waging a war against greedy financiers and industrialists. The U.S. protests smack of class warfare as they call for defending 99 percent of the ordinary people against the wealthiest 1 percent.

Income polarization is a headache for the United States, Korea and the other capitalist countries. Korean leaders cannot remain as idle spectators of the anti-Wall Street protest. Income inequality in Korea has been growing rapidly in the OECD. Korea ranked third in the OECD income disparity standing. Despite a deep economic downturn and a record household debt, banks have posted record earnings. The job market is unstable. Conglomerates have posted unprecedented income. A growth-oriented policy has fattened the pockets of large enterprises at the risk of jeopardizing the livelihoods of ordinary citizens.

Direct democracy in online world

It may be far-fetched to compare the current protest in New York to the candlelight vigils that took place in Korea in 2008. The two events point to the emerging crisis of representative democracy and the ensuing dawning of direct democracy.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens, including middle-school students, took to the streets at nights to denounce President Lee Myung-bak’s unilateral decision on importing American beef, suspected of being tainted with mad cow disease. Triggering the unprecedented peaceful but horrifying candlelight protests were smartphones, Internet and other social media devices although an MBC report threw oil onto the fire.

The late former President Kim Dae-jung had described the candlelight vigils as a peaceful and successful practice of direct democracy. He predicted it would bring sensation and inspiration to the world democracy.

He said they were a warning to leaders going against the will of the people. He observed that people practice direct democracy both on-and off-line via the Internet, text messages and candlelight vigils on the streets.

``This is the first time since Athenians practiced direct democracy at Agora 2,000 years ago,” he said in an interview with The Korea Times in June, 2008.

Ahn Cheol-soo fever is also a sign of the weakening influence of representative democracy. Although he has no party affiliation and has said nothing of his presidential ambition, the king of the social media world is one of the popular presidential candidates ahead of next year’s election. A Tuesday poll shows him beating Park Geun-hye in an imaginary presidential race.

When he aired the possibility of running for Seoul mayor last month, his approval rating immediately skyrocketed to more than 50 percent.

Civic activist Park Won-soon’s popularity jumped to more than 45 percent from 5 percent after Ahn stood behind him.

Park beat two contenders Monday in the preliminary contest for picking a unified opposition candidate for the Seoul mayoral race. The largest opposition party is unable to field its own candidate for the mayoral race. This dealt a sense of humiliation to the party and its leaders, including Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu.

Park’s candidacy symbolizes public disillusionment with representative politics, lawmakers and political parties. It is also a sign of people’s brewing experimentation with direct democracy. A Tuesday poll showed that 38 percent of the people declared no party affiliation. The winner in the presidential race next year will be the candidate who wins the hearts of these non-partisan voters.

Some academics say a growing number of people worldwide, including Koreans, have the perception that elections no longer serve the people. They believe elective post-holders do little to solve their woes. Their distrust of the elected leaders has been growing as they face hardships in an unprecedented economic malaise worldwide.

Although signs of direct democracy are emerging at least in the United States and Korea, direct democracy will not replace representative democracy. Influence of representative democracy will weaken further as social media networks become popular. Politicians and political parties will feel a growing public alienation in this social media age.

Elected leaders will face recurring threats of being ousted if they go against the grain. This is an age where a hybrid of direct and indirect democracies prevails. The prevalence of direct democracy online will erode the effectiveness of representative democracy in the off-line world.

Lee Chang-sup is the chief editorial writer of The Korea Times. He can be reached at editorial@koreatimes.co.kr