‘I don’t believe in objectivity… everyone has biases’

But the New York-based Gupta is not just a reporter and chronicler of the movement; he is also a left-wing activist who has for years participated in demonstrations against globalisation and US foreign policy. In a telephone interview while on the road from Portland,Oregon,to the San Francisco Bay Area in California,Gupta explained why he straddles the worlds of politics and journalism: “I do not believe in the notion of objectivity. I think that’s essentially horse***t. Everyone has biases and any scientist will tell you that. I think rather than trying to be objective you need to more be upfront about your biases and be rigorous in terms of fact-checking,context and history.”

In recent days,the Occupy movement has hit a speed bump of sorts — after mushrooming rapidly and noisily across America during late summer and the fall season,protesters have been stymied in recent weeks by a combination of official evictions,growing public impatience with city spaces being out of bounds and law and order problems in some camps,and of course,the onset of winter. Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park was famously cleared in a pre-dawn operation last month,and every day brings news of more cities taking down encampments.

This worries Gupta,who believes a physical presence is essential for the movement to stay alive. “In the US,there is no democratic public space,” he says. “It was the taking of public space in this peaceful,democratic manner that allowed the public to really come into it and to create the notion of the 99 per cent.”

Supporters of the Occupy movement are especially concerned that it should stay strong enough to make a significant political impact in 2012. The political landscape in the US next year is certain to be dominated by the presidential election in November,with Democrat Barack Obama seeking a second term,to be challenged by his Republican opponent who wins the primary now shaping up to be a heated race between former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Gupta argues the movement has already succeeded in shaping the political debate ahead of the election. “Before Occupy Wall Street began,it was all about austerity,austerity,austerity. It’s now about inequality,” he says.

The Occupy movement,with its populist message,has often been portrayed as the Democrats’ answer to the Republican-leaning Tea Party movement,which advocates reining in government spending and borrowing in order to tackle runaway debts and deficits. But Gupta cautions any politicians,including Obama,against trying to co-opt the Occupiers for political advantage. As someone who “always votes for Independent candidates”,Gupta is scathing about the US President: “As a journalist and someone who very closely follows US politics,it was no secret that Obama was the Number One friend of Wall Street. And that he was someone who was going to expand wars overseas,and that his economic team,before he was elected,laid out a right wing economic plan.”

His verdict on American democracy is equally harsh: “We don’t have democracy in this country. What we have is a very stage-managed,corporatised,political system where candidates are pre-selected according to how much money they can raise from the wealthy and then they are vetted by the corporate media.” He adds,only half-joking,“If voting could change anything,it would be outlawed.”

Gupta has been part of the Occupy Wall Street movement almost from the beginning. As a co-founder of the 11-year-old New York publication The Indypendent,he says he had early knowledge about OWS,as the newspaper covers social movements closely. “I was actually down there from pretty much the very first hour,at the rally before they even marched over to Zuccotti Park. From the very beginning my feeling was,this is different,this has potential,” says Gupta.

Soon after the protest settled into Zuccotti Park,Gupta teamed up with Andy Bichlbaum of the famous prankster group Yes Men and others to bring out The Occupied Wall Street Journal. He is no longer actively involved with the publication,but said other activists had kept it going.

The 46-year-old Gupta was born in England and came to the US when he was five years old. He is now a US citizen. Association with the OWS was a logical move for Gupta,who says his politics is “internationalist”,and who admires Marxist thinkers,the anti-apartheid movement and the revolutionary movements in Central America.

He follows political movements in India,but not very closely. Asked why the Occupy movement,with its focus on highlighting the widening gap between the rich and the poor,had found little traction in India,he said,“One of the great things about India is that the movements there march to their own drummer. Social movements in India are influenced by other countries in the developing world,but they don’t see the need to take their cues from the West and I think that’s perfectly fine.”

Gupta says he will continue to crisscross the US in the coming weeks,visiting more Occupy sites. And even if the movement should go into hibernation during the winter,this Indian American promises he will do what he can to keep the fire burning.