What do anti-capitalist protesters actually want?

Answer 1

They want to be able to live off the effort and productivity of others. They have an entitlement mentality, which they may describe as a desire for "equality" or "level playing field" or "equal opportunity". What they actually mean is that they want to get stuff they haven't earned or paid for.

If asked, this point of view is typically framed in statements like "A small number of people control most of the wealth", "Bankers and big business owners are corrupt and get away with crime", and/or "Capitalists are only about making as much money as possible, without concern for anything else or anyone else's wellbeing."

The first statement is true. It has always been true historically, and will always continue to be true. It's a natural consequence of how productive economies work. Not everyone can be a business owner, or an entrepreneur, or a successful broker. These things take a certain mixture of talent, ambition, education, and luck. There is nothing inappropriate about a person getting rich from their own hard work and ideas.

The second statement is logically flawed. Being a capitalist does not inevitably lead to being a criminal. But crime committed by wealthy businessmen has a tendency to become very visible because it winds up affecting (and sometimes financially ruining) a large number of innocent people. Bernie Madoff is one example of this. The way he conducted business was fraudulent, and does not represent the way capitalism works.

The third statement represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what capitalism is. If a person's sincere goal is to provide a product or service in exchange for money, it would make no sense to do anything that would screw up the possibility of maximizing profit. Making bad products drives customers away and ruins the brand reputation. Fraud does the same thing, and also may end up with someone being criminally charged. To make a product/service that people want and are happy with is the best situation because everyone benefits to the greatest extent possible and everyone is happy.

The solution that many anti-capitalists propose usually includes higher taxes on people who make more money, and additional government regulation on what businesses are allowed to do. In the case of higher taxes, this money would ideally be used to fund additional govt welfare programs.

Some such protesters are just anarchists or nihilists. These people believe in chaos rather than order, destruction rather than creation. They tend to be anti-govt as such, and resist concepts like laws.

It's also important to keep in mind that some people who go to protests don't actually care about the reason for the protest. They just like to go to protests and feel important and get on TV. There is also a phenomenon of organizations hiring groups of people from other areas to come to a protest, to make the protest look bigger than it really is. This phenomenon is very real, and practiced by a variety of organizations across the political spectrum.