Intro: "Imagine 50,000 people from all around the world taking to the streets of Chicago, using various non-violent, direct-action tactics designed to disrupt the most powerful nations on earth from meeting. Imagine people from all over the world coming together in the Windy City to say enough is enough; economic inequality must go."
On the twelfth day that Occupy Chicago protesters marched outside the Windy City's Federal Reserve Bank and the Board of Trade.(photo: peoplesworld)
Why Chicago Is Occupy Ground Zero
09 February 12
Reader Supported News | Perspective
�
�
he year was 1999, and the world came to Seattle. A loose-knit coalition of direct-action groups, labor, and faith-based activists delayed the start of a meeting of the World Trade Organization, and forced it to end early without any agreements. The potential is there once again to build that kind of coalition, this time to disrupt a meeting of NATO and the G8.
Imagine 50,000 people from all around the world taking to the streets of Chicago, using various non-violent, direct-action tactics designed to disrupt the most powerful nations on earth from meeting. Imagine people from all over the world coming together in the Windy City to say enough is enough; economic inequality must go.
Imagine Rahm Emanuel showing that he is the new Richard Daley, ordering Chicago's finest to crush the protests. Imagine the labor movement coming together and marching as one, the way they did in Seattle, then joining the youth in the street to defend them from over-zealous police.
Imagine leaders of faith-based communities telling NATO that might does not make right, and that militarism is a root cause of poverty.
Imagine young people arm-in-arm sending a message to the heads of eight of the world's most powerful countries that they are ready to build a new world that is not controlled by the wealthy elite.
Let us not just imagine these things, let's make them happen in Chicago this May. It happened once in Seattle: the anti-globalization movement grew after Seattle, but lost momentum after 9/11.
I was in Los Angeles on 9/11. We were organizing what would have been a historic march that was backed by labor, immigrant's rights groups, and dozens of other social justice groups. "The Mobilization for Global Justice" was cancelled, as most groups decided it would not help their cause to be in the streets protesting while the nation was mourning.
It has been a long road back. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq distracted our attention in the United States. It was September 17th, 2011, when we finally got our focus back.
We can once again come together and fight corporate greed. While we must continue to fight to bring the rest of the troops home from Afghanistan, we must recommit to the fight for economic justice here at home and around the world.
We must be inclusive. It's not time for fighting over who should lead, but a time for all groups fighting for economic justice to unite and a build a common mosaic.
We don't have to agree on tactics. Let labor build a massive rally and march, let the Occupy movement attempt to establish an encampment, let faith-based groups hold marches and vigils, and let direct-action groups attempt to disrupt the summits. The anarchists will be there too, let's hope they do not sabotage the work of the organizations that will be working to change hearts and minds.
2012 will be a long year. After Chicago many will be heading to Charlotte and Tampa for the conventions. While important, we will not have the same unity that we can build in Chicago.
Just realized ... I have focused on American groups, ignoring that the World will be coming to Chicago.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/08/charles-burris/americas-first-fascist-president/
Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal: An Annotated Bibliographic Guide
roosevelt did not talk about socialism because he knew the owner class thought of socialists as people who would steal their money and than make slaves of them.
of course socialists don't see themselves that way. they see themselves as defending workers from employers who steal their money and make slaves of them.
it's still not smart to call yourself a socialist in american politics.
it's even less smart to run around "demanding" the rich pay for everything you want.
FDR made sure Social Security was NOT "welfare" but insurance for workers paid for by the workers themselves it turned out to be a really good idea.
no wonder both the insane right and the far left both hate it.
the right settling for nothing but law of the jungle and the left settling for nothing but "make the rich pay."
and the pundits knowing nothing about it.
In principle I don't care if the rich get richer, UNLESS they do so at my expense, which is generally the case. But emphasizing that muddies the issue.
Ultimately the one percent are better off if they understand that they have a lot in common with everyone else. Having as much money in comparison with even, say, the 50th percentile as the one percent currently does insulates them from the real tribulations of everyone else to the extent that they see themselves as a different KIND of person, or maybe not a person at all but some kind of inherently superior beings.
DINO'S. =. Democrats In Name Only
because so few "get it!"
and media does not care to explain it!
We have just been through a week of acrimony over what makes a "concentration camp" different from, say, a Boy Scout camp or an outdoor prison surrounded by razor wire whose occupants are abused, starved and treated as sub-humans. Similarly, the word "socialism" is used to mean more different arrangements than there are people who identify as socialists, with virtually everyone who uses the term claiming that their definition is its one and only true meaning.
Words that have such broad and disparate meanings have no meaning at all, so become bludgeons to say "You're wrong, COMPLETELY wrong, and I'm completely right" (cf. "liberal," "conservative") . The issue is not what socialism is or isn't, nor is it whether socialism is good or bad, but "cui bono?" (for whose benefit--Latin, so this has been an issue for a very long time). Propagandists for every tyrant who ever lived insisted that their every act was for the good of the people, and enough of the people believed it enough of the time to keep the tyrants in power most of the time, and it is still the case today. The only real remedy seems to be universal public education in BS detection.
But, in any case, Bernie doesn't get too far ahead of what he thinks is possible to accomplish in the intermediate term. The programs he has outlined may not meet some peoples definition of socialism but they will lay the groundwork for more after he is out of office.