“Occupy Wall Street” has birthed similar regional demonstrations including the one in Dallas, Texas. I have watched with mild interest but also a sense of detachment. The leadership is co-opted and I am acquainted with one of the Dallas men tasked with legal affairs. In spite of middle-class disenfranchisement, these movements in the US will eventually sputter and grind to a halt. We are a republic that remains dependent on a mix of free market capitalism and socialism. Access to the physical corridors of commerce is required to manage our business affairs. The American public is weary of the smell of urine, the littering of the sidewalks and the ‘clear message’ with no real end-point to the occupations. The math of ‘change’ looks both simple and fuzzy. The Dallas group started in front of the Federal Reserve building. The police was initially seen hauling in bottles of water for the participants. Blocking sidewalk access to Chase Bank on Monday (October 24th) caused a few arrests. The police was seen gently and professionally handcuffing the protesting ‘logs’ as they smiled at the media from their prone positions on the cement. The mechanics of arrest without injury are taught to the protesters. Our police department takes no real joy from the part they must now play. Charges against those arrested will most likely include criminal trespassing and violations of the noise ordinance. We do not have a tradition of protest like the model used for the Arab Spring. Our model is, “Let them march, let them pass.” We can be rowdy for a day. But then we go home. We can congregate one million strong. But then we must return to our communities. Our 10-year-old daughter might need us to shuttle her to soccer practice. But the next 10 years will be tough for impoverished nations with corrupt leadership. Constitutions supporting little more than survivors’ rights cracks the door open to large population groups supporting squatters’ rights. Governments that do little more than assure the survival of a malnourished, unemployed, and languishing populace will be surprised at the scope of the problem. An increasingly passively resistant citizenry will set up their little tents within the urban corridors of commerce. They will refuse to move. Why should they? They have no place to go and nothing to do. This coming decade, which supports squatters’ rights, will have the wax seal of Islam on it. The farewell sermon on Mount Arafat gave the ummah the ayat on perfected religion (Quran 5:3). In the coming years, clerics will embark on a process of cleansing corrupt governments to bring a perfected Islamic religion. The squatters will be the political marionettes. But there is an extremely important concept to be grasped. Governments that are incapable of differentiating between citizen groups and growing disenfranchised constituencies have the most to lose. Here is the question. What is the citizen/disenfranchised constituent ratio? If for every citizen willing to engage due process there are five polarised constituents scampering off after a political mirage, you have a problem. A citizen has a sworn loyalty to a nation. A constituent is loyal to a specific cause or political mission. All citizens can be constituents. But not all constituents are loyal to national identity. The constituent authorises another to act on their behalf. The voter passes off the function of governance to elected officials. This process can and should include people of strong religious persuasion. I am a politically active Christian. But I always comment within my Christian community: “I do not care if we have a Christian president. I care that we have a president who can govern well.” See the difference? There is a tributary movement spinning off the emancipation and self-determination movements. It is a movement that physically flows toward and then effectively dams the urban landscape and physical corridors of commerce. If one million disgruntled citizens squat in the middle of the Sahara, there is no harm done. But what if 10,000 squatters set up shop in downtown Dubai? Now we have a problem. A leadership that has failed the citizens will give space to those who promise their loyal constituency rapid improvement in the political arena. We will see the rise of the clerics in the coming decade. They have always been part of the community. But the Arab Spring has given an opportunity to put the symbols and signals of Islam to greater use. Islam provides a rich sense of culture for the approximate 1.5 billion adherents across the globe. But it is also a massive gestalt of information, rules of etiquette and guidelines for moral conduct. The sources of Islamic law (Usool-al-Fiqh) are being liberally salted into the political debate in a post-spring environment. And the sage advice of the clerics will speak into the lives of those with nothing to lose. The rise of the clerics will not only reach into the alleys of poverty. It is going to move within the corridors of influence in greater manner than in the prior decade. The political potency within the ranks of Sunni Islam was seen on Friday, February 18th, when Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi delivered the Friday prayer at Tahrir Square. I have read his book, The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam (Al-Hala Wal Haram Fil Islam). Tools of democracy will be used to achieve theocracy. The clerics will be the political cream that rises to the top. For Muslim-majority populations, choosing a Quranic scaffolding for a constitutional document can feel natural. But insertion of parallel parliamentary structures controlled by the clerics is the issue at hand. There is a quickened pace of doctrinal polarisation across the world. Clerical credentials are being presented as a viable option for broken states of governance. Nations will have to take a hard look at squatters’ rights and allowable forms of protest. The dynamic between clerics and their growing constituencies must be examined. May our humanity prevail whilst surmounting the challenges. May wisdom not be found lacking. (Concluded) The writer is a freelance columnist. She can be reached at tammyswof@msn.com