'They're doing it for justice': Maajid Nawaz shows solidarity with GameStop investors
31 January 2021, 16:11 | Updated: 31 January 2021, 16:13
Maajid Nawaz chimes in on GameStop saga
After a week of chaos on Wall Street, Maajid Nawaz insists that small retail investors aren't financially motivated.
Maajid Nawaz chimed in on the GameStop saga taking the internet by storm. The phenomenon, as Maajid explained began when some Wall Street hedge funds tried to short sell stock in a high street gaming company GameStop.
The plot took a turn when small retail investors on online message-board Reddit caught wind of this and in return bought up shares in the company, thus pumping the price of shares exponentially.
The move resulted in many investors losing millions on the back of their failed gamble.
Maajid wondered why investors decided to act here, and assured listeners "it's not for the money."
"They're doing it for justice."
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Maajid gave an example of the motivations of the small investors inflating GameStock prices, and read out the letter of a Reddit user who recounted the impact the 2008 financial crisis had on his family.
The letter noted that his father and uncle both lost their homes and they are now shells of their former selves. The letter went on to contrast such hopelessness with the excess of those on Wall Street who turned their noses up at the Occupy movement.
"I'll burn it all down just to spite them," the letter read.
"If anything's going to make you cry, it's that.
"Not the spectacle of a hedge fund billionaire crying on live television, holding in disdain those who have been given checks because they've been in lockdown during coronavirus and complaining because he's lost a few million."
