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Truthdig / Truthdig Op-Ed
Published: Wednesday 16 November 2011
“Once the foot soldiers who are ordered to carry out acts of repression, such as the clearing of parks or arresting or even shooting demonstrators, no longer obey orders, the old regime swiftly crumbles.”
This is What Revolution Looks Like
Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.
Our decaying corporate regime has strutted in Portland, Oakland and New York with their baton-wielding cops into a fool’s paradise. They think they can clean up “the mess”—always employing the language of personal hygiene and public security—by making us disappear. They think we will all go home and accept their corporate nation, a nation where crime and government policy have become indistinguishable, where nothing in America, including the ordinary citizen, is deemed by those in power worth protecting or preserving, where corporate oligarchs awash in hundreds of millions of dollars are permitted to loot and pillage the last shreds of collective wealth, human capital and natural resources, a nation where the poor do not eat and workers do not work, a nation where the sick die and children go hungry, a nation where the consent of the governed and the voice of the people is a cruel joke.
Get back into your cages, they are telling us. Return to watching the lies, absurdities, trivia and celebrity gossip we feed you in 24-hour cycles on television. Invest your emotional energy in the vast system of popular entertainment. Run up your credit card debt. Pay your loans. Be thankful for the scraps we toss. Chant back to us our phrases about democracy, greatness and freedom. Vote in our rigged political theater. Send your young men and women to fight and die in useless, unwinnable wars that provide corporations with huge profits. Stand by mutely as our bipartisan congressional supercommittee, either through consensus or cynical dysfunction, plunges you into a society without basic social services including unemployment benefits. Pay for the crimes of Wall Street.
The rogues’ gallery of Wall Street crooks, such as Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs, Howard Milstein at New York Private Bank & Trust, the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the Koch brothers and Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase & Co., no doubt think it’s over. They think it is back to the business of harvesting what is left of America to swell their personal and corporate fortunes. But they no longer have any concept of what is happening around them. They are as mystified and clueless about these uprisings as the courtiers at Versailles or in the Forbidden City who never understood until the very end that their world was collapsing. The billionaire mayor of New York, enriched by a deregulated Wall Street, is unable to grasp why people would spend two months sleeping in an open park and marching on banks. He says he understands that the Occupy protests are “cathartic” and “entertaining,” as if demonstrating against the pain of being homeless and unemployed is a form of therapy or diversion, but that it is time to let the adults handle the affairs of state. Democratic and Republican mayors, along with their parties, have sold us out. But for them this is the beginning of the end.
The historian Crane Brinton in his book “Anatomy of a Revolution” laid out the common route to revolution. The preconditions for successful revolution, Brinton argued, are discontent that affects nearly all social classes, widespread feelings of entrapment and despair, unfulfilled expectations, a unified solidarity in opposition to a tiny power elite, a refusal by scholars and thinkers to continue to defend the actions of the ruling class, an inability of government to respond to the basic needs of citizens, a steady loss of will within the power elite itself and defections from the inner circle, a crippling isolation that leaves the power elite without any allies or outside support and, finally, a financial crisis. Our corporate elite, as far as Brinton was concerned, has amply fulfilled these preconditions. But it is Brinton’s next observation that is most worth remembering. Revolutions always begin, he wrote, by making impossible demands that if the government met would mean the end of the old configurations of power. The second stage, the one we have entered now, is the unsuccessful attempt by the power elite to quell the unrest and discontent through physical acts of repression.
I have seen my share of revolts, insurgencies and revolutions, from the guerrilla conflicts in the 1980s in Central America to the civil wars in Algeria, the Sudan and Yemen, to the Palestinian uprising to the revolutions in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania as well as the wars in the former Yugoslavia. George Orwell wrote that all tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but that once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force. We have now entered the era of naked force. The vast million-person bureaucracy of the internal security and surveillance state will not be used to stop terrorism but to try and stop us.
Despotic regimes in the end collapse internally. Once the foot soldiers who are ordered to carry out acts of repression, such as the clearing of parks or arresting or even shooting demonstrators, no longer obey orders, the old regime swiftly crumbles. When the aging East German dictator Erich Honecker was unable to get paratroopers to fire on protesting crowds in Leipzig, the regime was finished. The same refusal to employ violence doomed the communist governments in Prague and Bucharest. I watched in December 1989 as the army general that the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had depended on to crush protests condemned him to death on Christmas Day. Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak lost power once they could no longer count on the security forces to fire into crowds.
The process of defection among the ruling class and security forces is slow and often imperceptible. These defections are advanced through a rigid adherence to nonviolence, a refusal to respond to police provocation and a verbal respect for the blue-uniformed police, no matter how awful they can be while wading into a crowd and using batons as battering rams against human bodies. The resignations of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s deputy, Sharon Cornu, and the mayor’s legal adviser and longtime friend, Dan Siegel, in protest over the clearing of the Oakland encampment are some of the first cracks in the edifice. “Support Occupy Oakland, not the 1% and its government facilitators,” Siegel tweeted after his resignation.
There were times when I entered the ring as a boxer and knew, as did the spectators, that I was woefully mismatched. Ringers, experienced boxers in need of a tuneup or a little practice, would go to the clubs where semi-pros fought, lie about their long professional fight records, and toy with us. Those fights became about something other than winning. They became about dignity and self-respect. You fought to say something about who you were as a human being. These bouts were punishing, physically brutal and demoralizing. You would get knocked down and stagger back up. You would reel backward from a blow that felt like a cement block. You would taste the saltiness of your blood on your lips. Your vision would blur. Your ribs, the back of your neck and your abdomen would ache. Your legs would feel like lead. But the longer you held on, the more the crowd in the club turned in your favor. No one, even you, thought you could win. But then, every once in a while, the ringer would get overconfident. He would get careless. He would become a victim of his own hubris. And you would find deep within yourself some new burst of energy, some untapped strength and, with the fury of the dispossessed, bring him down. I have not put on a pair of boxing gloves for 30 years. But I felt this twinge of euphoria again in my stomach this morning, this utter certainty that the impossible is possible, this realization that the mighty will fall.
This article was originally posted on Truthdig.
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ABOUT Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges is a weekly Truthdig columnist and a fellow at The Nation Institute. His newest book is “The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.”
54 comments on "This is What Revolution Looks Like"
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This article acehvied exactly what I wanted it to achieve.
November 19, 2011 6:30pm
I am in awe of Chris Hedges. My husband just finished Chris Hedges last book and he is such a wonderful writer and it is all true. I hope we can all show as much courage as he does in his words. Although I cannot be with the OWS folk in NY, I support them in all they are doing, wherever they are, in NY, in SF in Portland. Our police are no longer aligned with the people, they have become part of the "others" which is not very smart since they are part of the 99%. They need to wake up. I am hoping that this movement continues to grow and that somewhere out there, there is someone who would like to run against all the GOP candidates and the President and show us all that we can have real democracy. I would send money to another party/person who feels that they can do what we need. We need someone with courage and audacity- real audacity, not the kind of which Obama spoke. he did not follow through.
November 18, 2011 8:22am
beautifully written.
November 17, 2011 11:37pm
Bravo, zenplacefour. Violent overthrow of our oppressors yields the moral victory to those we are intent on regulating through rule of law. Some others, posting a throw the baby out with the bath water, burn it to the ground; then rebuild it, attitude loses the popular vote. Money, politics, and an undying belief that what benefited the rich, raised our boats too, created this mess over the past 30 years.
I am a capitalist at heart. But my heart also is guided by an internal sense of justice and fairness. Equitable division of profits between labor and management, to some CEO's and corporate boards; is an absurd concept. The fluff of fairy tales for small children. Greed has replaced need for them. Sharing with labor, the fruits of THEIR labors, is not only right, it is Just.
George F. Johnson was a visionary 100 years ago when he instituted the 40 hour work week, paid medical care, paid vacations, built hospitals, homes and schools for the employees of his shoe factories; thus creating communities. He was so beloved by his employees, that thousands turned out for his funeral when he passed on. A courageous businessman, and compassionate human being. Where are the George F. Johnson's today?
November 17, 2011 5:18pm
I've been doing this for years and giving what I can to local schools and libraries...feels good!
November 17, 2011 9:16am
Get smart, new strategy, occupy in shifts, three a day, 7 days a week, no tents, only good clothes and what you carry. Only way to get through the winter. Be light, be fast, constantly change, be loud--yet peaceful.
November 17, 2011 2:04pm
Excellent! Agree.
November 17, 2011 12:26am
BURN BABY . . . BURN!
November 17, 2011 10:25am
Looking at you're written Words separately leave me confused, but when the Picture of you with the child is factored in.... Confusion is replaced by a boggled mind. Are your being facetious or just an ass hole?
November 17, 2011 6:52am
RIGHT ON !
November 16, 2011 11:47pm
In order to effect change we really really really believe in, first we must acknowledge that the system does not want any such change, and will always muster all its powers to thwart it. Hence, Change we really can believe in must come from We The People Against Them The Capitalist Party. They have rendered class warfare against us for well over thirty years since the Nixon Scandal, creation of ALEC, and Labor/Union Busting.
Whether or not We The People like it, we are in fact at war. We are in a Class War we do not want, but it continues its onslaughts anyhow.
We can legally make the War of the Capitalist most unprofitable and even terrifying for their existence on OUR Planet, and in OUR Country. All we need to do is take their own war to their very front door!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
Pick out your own City Mayor, City Chief of Police, and City Chief Executive Officer, along with several City Council Members. Do a Public Records Search, get their home addresses. Assemble a group, and then go knocking on their front doors asking them to Clean Things Up!
Do the same thing with local Capitalist. Banks, Business, whatever.
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
It is 100% legal, and, like I said, can become soooo verryyyy terrifying for them knowing that We The People Are Onto Them, Their Children, House, Cars, Barns, Cats, Dogs, and Socks!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
November 17, 2011 10:27am
You don't have a lot of Friends do you?
November 16, 2011 11:46pm
Anyone looking for justice concerning NYC and more recently the Oakland, San Francisco Area, and even Nashville, TN. Pig Forced Civil Rights violations and criminal assaults performed against unarmed and peaceful demonstrators? Cause It Sure Da Ell Ain’t Those F_ucking Dirty Shit Capitalist-Facist Tea-Beggin RepukaPubbin Swine Filth. If You Are Still True “Blue” not “Red”, Then Become A Ghost, and Target the City Mayor, Chief of Police, and City Chief Officer. Bet em police brutalities will stop after that! Wadda ya think???
Remember the Alamo Oh, Fu_k that!!! Remember both now until their end, all those Fascist/Capitalist PIGS !
Show up at the Schools, Homes, and Workplaces of these Capitalist Swine and discuss the philosophy of truth of justice with them. Believe meeeeeeeee . . . . these f_uck-s will listen D or A !!!
Lets all pray for the wrath of God to fall upon these capitalist-fascist wearing pigs masks and municipal servant titles. Then, after prayer, let's think up ways to help God out with that!
Oh -- PS -- Did you know that NYC is Capitalist-Fascist controlled (i.e. Repuka Pub)?
I'm even willing to ally with freakin muslims to give a little bit of truth and justice to the NYC Mayor, Police Chief, and City Chief Officer. American's are still too asleep to count on.
No Economic Justice -- No Peace For Capitalist-Facist Pigs – Anywhere – Anytime – Game On !
Show up at the Schools, Homes, and Workplaces of these Capitalist Swine and discuss the philosophy of truth of justice with them. Believe meeeeeeeee . . . . these f_uck-s will listen D or A !!!
ABSOLUTELY -- NO MORE TALK !!! Show up at the homes of these facist capitalist and demonstrate a little bit ole philosophy of truth and justice -- let the capitalist BUSH-IT JESTER courts be damned !
Let All The People Turn Into Invisible Ghost. Let All The Fascist-Capitalist cease. Justice Done. Freedom Restored !!!
November 16, 2011 11:45pm
Wreak Hell and Havok Against The Capitalist For Their Hostile Takeover Of The USA. Horde every penny you have, thereby destroying their entire financial system against them!
I'm even willing to ally with freakin muslims to give a little bit of truth and justice to them. American's are still too asleep to count on.
No Economic Justice -- No Peace For Capitalist-Facist Pigs – Anywhere – Anytime – Game On !
Show up at the Schools, Homes, and Workplaces of these Capitalist Swine and discuss the philosophy of truth of justice with them. Believe meeeeeeeee . . . . these f_uck-s will listen one way or another. Personally, I don’t care if that means they listen D or A !!!
November 16, 2011 11:44pm
Have you noticed yet how the Presidency, Senate, Congress, Supreme Court, and even State Governors are sooo verrryyyy pro Capitalist/Fascist?
Would you like to know what to do about it – something that REALLY will force “change we can believe in”?
Join the rest of the People who are forming the Revolution Party. To join, all you do is vow to yourself and to your fellow citizen to horde back every consumer penny possible. Spend only for the barest essentials mandatory for self survival. Close bank accounts, credit cards, and other consumer accounts. Cut off using your utilities except for whatever is absolutely necessary to stay alive. You are part of the new Revolution Party participating in this National Boycott and Strike. THEN . . . . WATCH THE NEWS AND LAUGH !!!
November 16, 2011 11:44pm
Well . . . it looks like revolt is finally arriving. PTL man -- PTL !
ABSOLUTELY -- NO MORE TALK !!! Show up at the homes of these facist capitalist and demonstrate a little bit ole philosophy of truth and justice -- let the capitalist Bush-It courts be damned !
You are idiots for believing in this hostile capitalist-facist takeover of our government. Grow up and join the Revolution Party. Your only assignment is to hoard as much money to your self as possible; stop spending cash, credit, or otherwise, and close financial accounts. The Revolution has started, and they can’t stop it! Sit back and watch the elite lose their seat!!!
November 16, 2011 11:44pm
The Inherent unresolvable flaw in capitalism is it creates a endless "Race To The Bottom". Bottom wages, bottom costs, bottom workers, bottom quality product, until, the system itself hits "BOTTOM", AND THE GLOBE GOES BROKE.
Can you pronounce the following letters correctly? Try harder. It really is easy.
R__E__V__O__L__U__T__I__O__N N__O__W___! ! !
November 16, 2011 11:43pm
WOW! Kool! The People Really Can Respond To Criminal State Governors and Punk City Mayors obstruction of the OWS lawful Revolution.
Are you aware that NYC and San Francisco once upon a time experienced a FIRE that DESTROYED everything ?
I wonder what would become of Capitalism under such a situation???
Scientifically speaking – of course -- The Best Friend A Protestor Has is Fire because Fire is Powerful, Affordable, and Leaves A Large Statement That Lasts A Long Time!
November 16, 2011 11:43pm
Anyone of Sound Mind willing to understand the Protestors at Occupy Wall Street? It is a last ditch effort of the masses of the people to be heard concerning the obvious flaws and abuses of our Fascist-Capitalist hostiile takeover of the USA.
Personally, I don’t think the People should wait for anything from these swine. They have warred against us since the 1970’s and continue till now to war against us.
The Inherent unresolvable flaw in capitalism is it creates a endless "Race To The Bottom". Bottom wages, bottom costs, bottom workers, bottom quality product, until, the system itself hits "BOTTOM", AND THE GLOBE GOES BROKE.
November 16, 2011 11:43pm
How dare you unworthy f_u_ck_in Tea Beggin Facist-Capitalist Repuka Pubs talk about democracy in a nation that has long ago abandoned democracy since the 1970.s repuka pub creation of ALEC. THE REPUKA PUB AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL OF FACIST CAPITALIST (ie Repuka Pubs), Lobbyist, and morally abandoned filth. ALEC was created by the Capitalist Facist Poo Publigans in the 1970’s to seize your State Governments by aligning them in bed with the swine filth facist. If you really want CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN, we must destroy ALEC and the swine who favor it.
ALEC.org
American Legislative Exchange Council
1101 Vermont Ave. N.W., 11th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 202-466-3800 | Fax: 202-466-3801
November 16, 2011 11:42pm
Once Upon A Very Real and Near Time, Now Already Started In NYC, The Kingdom of Capitalist-Facism conquered the Kingdom of Democracy and the Kingdom of Decency. Calamity fell upon the land, and the People died because they did not fight back against their common Capitalist-Facist-Repukin-Tea-Beggin Pubin Enemy.
Keep Voting These Fascist-Capitalist Evil Doers In You Cursedly Stupid Damned of all Fools. You are your own worst enemy, the Fascist work that straight to your demise.
November 16, 2011 11:42pm
What does the American Middle Class keep saying to those fu_ckling Tea-Beggin Repuka-pubs?
“You’re Killing Me”.
What does the fu_ckling Tea-Beggin Repuka-pubs keep saying to the American Middle Class?
“We Know – So What Of It”?
We Have The Government and Courts On "OUR" Side ! ! !
Revolution Yet Anyone???
November 16, 2011 11:41pm
In order to effect change we really really really believe in, first we must acknowledge that the system does not want any such change, and will always muster all its powers to thwart it. Hence, Change we really can believe in must come from We The People Against Them The Capitalist Party. They have rendered class warfare against us for well over thirty years since the Nixon Scandal, creation of ALEC, and Labor/Union Busting.
Whether or not We The People like it, we are in fact at war. We are in a Class War we do not want, but it continues its onslaughts anyhow.
We can legally make the War of the Capitalist most unprofitable and even terrifying for their existence on OUR Planet, and in OUR Country. All we need to do is take their own war to their very front door!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
Pick out your own City Mayor, City Chief of Police, and City Chief Executive Officer, along with several City Council Members. Do a Public Records Search, get their home addresses. Assemble a group, and then go knocking on their front doors asking them to Clean Things Up!
Do the same thing with local Capitalist. Banks, Business, whatever.
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
It is 100% legal, and, like I said, can become soooo verryyyy terrifying for them knowing that We The People Are Onto Them, Their Children, House, Cars, Barns, Cats, Dogs, and Socks!
TAKE THEIR WAR TO THEIR FRONT DOOR!
Hello Occupy Colorado. Pass this around!
Michael Bernard Hancock is the City of Denver Mayor (DOB 1967-1971).
His wife, Mary L. Hancock (DOB 1967-1971)
Both reside at 4972 Odessa Street Denver, CO 80249-8224 (303-307-9891)
Mayor Michael is an ordained Deacon at the New Hope Baptist Church located between E. 37 + E 38th Ave + Colorado Blvd. At 3701 Colorado Blvd Denver 80205-3877 (303-322-5200)
Denver City Brand New Chief of Police Robert C. White (59 yrs / DOB 1952) will appear later.
Colo Spgs PD Sgt. Steven Michael Noblitt Age 35-39 (DOB 4/20 – May 31 1972-1981) and his most adorable spouse Laurie J. Noblitt Reside on Gardenstone Drive in Colo Spgs, Co. Sgt Mikey also has family/relatives on Potomac Dr COS and on Pebble Ridge Cir COS.
The recently let go COS PD Chief Richard W. Myers (Age 55-59) and his most lovely wife Cynthia L Myers happen to reside at 5835 Broadmoor Bluffs Dr, COS, CO. 80906-8206 with a phone (719) 576-0095.
In the meanwhile, the City of COS Mayor Stephen G. Bach (65+ yrs) along with his sweetheart Suzanne M. Bach reside at 9524 Carriage Creek Pt Colo Spgs (next to golf course) 719-598-2248.
The fearless City Mayor leader is the Commercial Real Estate Broker at Back Real Estate partners LLC located at 1880 Office Club Pt. Ste # 1000 in COS 80920 with a phone 719-884-2400.
November 16, 2011 11:40pm
G. O. P. Systematic National and Local Voter Tampering/Suppression:
As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008. Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of GOP governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. "What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century," says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
This story is taken in part from the September 15, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
G. O. P. Systematic National and Local Voter Tampering/Suppression:
Republicans have long tried to drive Democratic voters away from the polls. "I don't want everybody to vote," the influential conservative activist Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980. "As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." But since the 2010 election, thanks to a conservative advocacy group founded by Weyrich, the GOP's effort to disrupt voting rights has been more widespread and effective than ever. In a systematic campaign orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council – and funded in part by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankrolled the Tea Party – 38 states introduced legislation this year designed to impede voters at every step of the electoral process.
This story is taken in part from the September 15, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
G. O. P. Systematic National and Local Voter Tampering/Suppression:
All told, a dozen states have approved new obstacles to voting. Kansas and Alabama now require would-be voters to provide proof of citizenship before registering. Florida and Texas made it harder for groups like the League of Women Voters to register new voters. Maine repealed Election Day voter registration, which had been on the books since 1973. Five states – Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia – cut short their early voting periods. Florida and Iowa barred all ex-felons from the polls, disenfranchising thousands of previously eligible voters. And six states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures – Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin – will require voters to produce a government-issued ID before casting ballots. More than 10 percent of U.S. citizens lack such identification, and the numbers are even higher among constituencies that traditionally lean Democratic – including 18 percent of young voters and 25 percent of African-Americans.
This story is taken in part from the September 15, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
G. O. P. Systematic National and Local Voter Tampering/Suppression:
Taken together, such measures could significantly dampen the Democratic turnout next year – perhaps enough to shift the outcome in favor of the GOP. "One of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time," Bill Clinton told a group of student activists in July. "Why is all of this going on? This is not rocket science. They are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate" – a reference to the dominance of the Tea Party last year, compared to the millions of students and minorities who turned out for Obama. "There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today."
This story is taken in part from the September 15, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
G. O. P. Systematic National and Local Voter Tampering/Suppression:
To hear Republicans tell it, they are waging a virtuous campaign to crack down on rampant voter fraud – a curious position for a party that managed to seize control of the White House in 2000 despite having lost the popular vote. After taking power, the Bush administration declared war on voter fraud, making it a "top priority" for federal prosecutors.
This story is taken in part from the September 15, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone.
November 16, 2011 11:40pm
Some People believe that Capitalism has made America sooooo great. LOL ! ! ! It was never Capitalism that did any of that. It was always the sweat, blood, labor, and tears of America's Working Class, and their Unions. The Facist-Capitalist and their Political Servant Tea – Beggin Repuka Pubs run from and hide the inherent un-resolvable flaw in capitalism -- it creates an endless "Race To The Bottom". Bottom wages, bottom costs, bottom workers, bottom quality product, until, the system itself hits "BOTTOM", AND THE GLOBE GOES BROKE.
What On Earth Shall We Do?
Too many republicans rig and steal election. They are anti-environment, Anti working class, Anti civil liberty, and Anti prosperity except for their own crony system.
Many are Anti this and Anti that.
They are ANTI YOU ! ! !
Democrats are bought and paid for.
The American vote is made mockery of through buying and selling of Congress, President, and others in high authority.
So What Shall We Do?
Join America’s swiftly spreading “Quiet Riot”.
The Quiet Riot is a concerted conduct suddenly practiced by the 99% of Americans who have been disparaged, disenfranchised, and otherwise left out in the cold through the systemic abuses of what has become socio-political facist-capitalism. It is 100% legal, moral, and unstoppable by that 1-4% of America’s wealthiest controlling class dynasties, along with all of their wealth and power.
Simply put, the Quiet Riot involves as many of the 95-99% disenfranchised who are willing to suddenly just say NO. NO to all forms of consumerism. NO to all forms of buying except for outright survival. NO to credit cards and consumer loans, and banking accounts. Close as many accounts as humanly possible. Refuse to use banks. Refuse to shop. Refuse to spend. Refuse to purchase. Refuse to buy. Cease utilizing home utilities except required by survival necessity. . . .
What does this do?
It literally collapses the entire infrastructure of the capitalist system – stocks, bonds, equity trades, etc. . . . upon which even many governments are entrenched, intertwined, and dependent. Better -- it crushes company's, corporations, banks, oil power brokers, ranchers . . . everything . . . and FAST ! ! ! It destroys the controlling class -- roots up, and puts them at the mercy of the 99% common class for their very economic and political survival!
It is 100% Legal Revolution that cost the 99% not one "RED" penny to execute. No one even need leave their home to horde back every dollar and cent from spending against the Capitalist-Anarchist-Facist hostile take-over of America.
You can join the common class re-capturing of our country and of our government by simply saying NO to spending starting right now. Do it for as little as ONE HUNDRED DAYS, and keep watching the news -- and laugh as you witness the elites lose their seats!
November 16, 2011 11:39pm
Main Media have over extended to minimize the National and Local Occupy Wall Street Revolution. These Fascist-Capitalist Swine Repukin Pubin – Tea Beggin morally abandoned filth are motivated by fear. They say the group is in-coherent without clear purpose. Yet I was able to Google this Revolution, and found the most succinct message of what today’s ignored peaceful protest (hence tomorrows odium violence) is about.
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless non-human animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently out-sourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
November 16, 2011 11:38pm
In Texas, where Bush-It is supreme,a rhetorical political question was asked” If an injured 30 yr old American had no insurance, what should the medical system do for him? The unequivocal resounding response from present Republican Tea Party members hollered “LET HIM DIE” !
Congressman Alan Grayson was personally interviewed on the Ed Schultz show found on MSNBC.
ED SCHULTZ: Welcome back to The Ed Show.
At last night`s Republican debate, the Tea Party debate, there was a defining moment for the Tea Party and just who they are. It was when Congressman Ron Paul was asked who should pay health care coverage for an uninsured 30-year-old after a serious accident?
(Video Clip, with the audience shouting “let him die.”)
ED SCHULTZ: “Yes!” was the response from several audience members about whether society should let the man die. Not a single candidate -- it should be pointed out -- not a single candidate on the stage stepped forward to say it would be morally wrong to let another American die, by withholding medical care. And no one in the audience voiced any disapproval. Keep in mind this audience had no problem booing opposing viewpoints throughout the entire debate. It makes me think of something said on the House floor, nearly two years ago, by a Democratic congressman from Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAYSON: If you get sick in America, this is what the Republicans want you to do. If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That`s right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ED SCHULTZ: Congressman Alan Grayson was criticized by Republicans for those comments, but since then, the GOP still has not proposed any alternative health care plan. They just want to rip apart what they call “Obamacare.” And since Republicans continue to pander to the Tea Party base, they don`t have to. They just need to “let them die.”
The former congressman from Florida, who is running for that congressional seat again, Alan Grayson, joins us tonight here on The Ed Show. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. A couple of things -- first of all, what was your feeling when you were watching that debate last night? You saw the question. You saw the response. And you got the response from the crowd. What were you thinking?
GRAYSON: I thought their true colors were shining through. That`s what I thought. And you know, I`m often proven right, but usually not so vividly.
I have to say that this encapsulates exactly what people fear about the Tea Party, the so-called Tea Party, that they just love the taste of blood in their mouths. That`s what this seems to come down to. You know, they call themselves pro-life. But if you listened to them last night, it seemed like they were pro-death. I think it`s sad.
These are the facts. We have a country with 50 million people who can`t see a doctor when they`re sick. The Republicans, and the Tea Party people, seem to want to blame you if you have liver cancer, like it`s your fault. I think we can show a basic human decency toward other people without losing our own. I wonder about these way over conservative politicized people who seem to have lost their own.
You know, we`re 50th in the world now in life expectancy. Canadians live about two years longer. Japanese live about four years longer. And yet, we pay 30 percent more for capitalized health care than any other country in the entire world. Are you telling me we can`t do better than this?
ED SCHULTZ: Well, I was thinking last night that this may be the same line of thinking when the audience responded to the Texas execution question that was put to Governor Rick Perry last week. Is there a parallel between the reaction to that question and answer as the one we saw last night on health care?
GRAYSON: Yes. What the parallel is sadism.
That what the parallel is: a total lack of empathy. You know, if you ever saw the movie "Blade Runner," the only way to tell the difference between the robots and human beings -- the only way, because technology was so advanced -- was that the robots had no empathy. It seems to me that`s a good description lately of what I hear from the Republican Tea Party. No empathy. They just don`t care.
ED SCHULTZ: Well, first of all, I`m surprised none of those candidates stepped up and took that answer last night because I thought it would have been an opportunity for them to distance themselves from the radicals. Does this mean that they`re all radical?
GRAYSON: Oh, absolutely. You know, they`re catering to the basest instinct in every one of us. And whatever you may say about President Obama, good or bad, he has never done that. Never once have I heard the President try to fear monger or push the panic button, which is such an easy thing to do when you`re an elected official. Never once have I heard him appeal to hatred or to fear. And these Republican Tea Party’s do that incessantly on the other side, nonstop. And they’ve got an audience for it, judging from what I heard.
ED SCHULTZ: 49,900,000 people in this country don`t have health insurance. And a doctor was on that stage last night pushing for “the free market.” I think we are a better country than that. Congressman Alan Grayson, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your joining us.
GRAYSON: Thank you, Ed.
November 16, 2011 11:38pm
Our Problem Is Not The Sell Out Politicians . . . Our Problem Is the Wealthy Top 2% American Families, Banks, Corps, Oil, . . . . Big Business That Buys Them. Eliminate the Facist Capitalist or Watch Your Country Die.
When R U Fools Gonna Learn??? They Don't Care!!! Begin Eliminations Now!!!
ARE There Really Capitalist – Facist lovin Repuka Pubs Still Living In The Neighborhood? SHAMEFUL!!!
Can Anyone Direct Me To The Nearest Capitalist – Facist Repuka Pub Hunt? Are They In DC, Wis, New Jersey, New York, or in your neighborhoods?
November 16, 2011 11:37pm
You know how vitally important Medicare is to the 99%, but the Super Committee either doesn't understand -- or just doesn't care.
Rather than asking the 1% to pay their fair share, the Super Committee is going after the vital programs that make America strong -- and their proposed cuts would have a real impact on the health and financial security of far too many Americans.
Along with my friends at DFA, I won't stop fighting until Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits are protected from cuts. DFA has launched a long-term, strategic campaign to ensure these vital programs are secure far into the future.
Will you join the fight and pitch in to stand strong against Medicare cuts?
Over the past several months, I have offered constructive recommendations for deficit reduction while stressing the need to put Americans back to work -- there are real solutions to our debt crisis that don't hurt the 99%.
Congress's top priority must be job creation. The Super Committee should be listening to the working people of this nation who reject proposed austerity measures. They should be asking the 1% to pay their fair share.
In this economic crisis, the last thing we should be talking about is slashing the program that provides health coverage for our seniors and the most vulnerable.
We must leave Medicare and Medicaid benefits off the table.
Join me in standing up for our progressive values.
It's time to focus on fair solutions. Together we can stand up for the 99%.
Peace,
- Raúl
Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva
Co-Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus
November 16, 2011 11:24pm
its sad how corporate lobbyists basicly write our country's laws, and the true voice of the people go unheard because we dont have the millions corporations have to spend on lobbying. the goverment is suppost to be for be people, but in this corrupted system, its clearly for the money.
November 16, 2011 9:40pm
There is a real class war going on in this country, and the Occupy Movement doesn’t seem to realize that they are on the wrong side of it. No, it’s not the wealth-hating, broad brush 99% vs. 1% class war that the Occupiers chant about. That so-called “war” is a merely a distraction from the real class split in America. Nope, the real deal pits American citizens on one side and on the other, safely ensconced inside the Beltway, are the Political Class.
The Political Class live in a world of wealth and power, and they don’t play by the same rules that you and I do. The Political Class operates above the law – literally, above it and lording over it. Since they make the laws, they can rewrite them to suit themselves. They pull the strings on the mainstream press establishment by playing games with information and power. As a result, the Political Class has been able to line its own pockets while much of the economy has gone to shambles.
November 16, 2011 8:25pm
Wow. What in inspirational article.
November 16, 2011 8:54pm
Really? It came across as slightly Sophomoric to me
November 16, 2011 7:38pm
Really inspiring article. Hedges' experience and voice cannot be dismissed. His hope is contagious. My only small problem with this fine essay is in its nod to the myth (and cliche) of the 1% (albeit only in direct quote). Still, I can't help but draw connections to Nazi Germany's targeting wealthy Jews as the source of its woes. Hitler was a revolutionary who served time in prison for his acts. And it's the hate aspect, this blaming of some vague 1%, that disturbs me here now. This demographic may exist, but it always will. Killing them all and appropriating their assets will not make us a better people. Changing the system to one in which they cannot thrive or in which their obvious talents can be put to some better use might. There's a little of the 1 percent in all of us.
November 16, 2011 10:29pm
hedges' comment was awsome beyond words. your comment way deep. very informative and i wish that more people could pay attention as you do. bravo!
November 16, 2011 6:54pm
Let's assess what's currently going on within our nation...
1.) there's a deep and growing discontent that affects nearly all social classes
2.) there are widespread feelings of entrapment and despair which are cutting across all racial and social lines
3.) many are suffering the disillusionment and despair which comes from unfulfilled expectations and unfulfilled dreams
4.) a unified -- and slowly growing -- solidarity in opposition to a tiny power elite
5.) a refusal by scholars and thinkers to continue to defend the actions of the ruling class (although this has not yet been publicized)
6.) an inability -- more like an unwillingness -- of government to respond to the basic needs of citizens
7.) a steady loss of will within the power elite itself and defections from the inner circle, even though this latter development has been successfully hidden from public view so far.
8.) a crippling isolation that leaves the power elite without any allies or outside support
9.) a financial crisis
Now, the 1% elites are getting panicky and desperate as the harsh light of day reveals their deceptions and their power over us slips away. They're resorting to new, extremely draconian methods to silence the movement and to prevent Americans from expressing dissent and demanding a redress of grievances, even using a so-called "anti-piracy" bill which is moving through Congress in order to censor the Internet and silence ordinary Americans (find out more about this here: http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-internet-control-bill-now).
Ultimately, the mighty will fall, but they'll be determined to take as many of us with them when they go down for the last time. What we must do is to resist their siren song of destruction, hold fast to the truth that "ideas are bulletproof" and one single idea can change the world, and to do so without resorting to violence. Some claim that violence is the only thing the 1% elites understand, but that's not true. Violence tends to escalate, and if this new "American Revolution" is to succeed, it must be non-violent, because there's no redemption to be found in acts of violence.
November 16, 2011 3:57pm
I was wondering just how long it would take the bootlickers to unleash the dogs of war. While there may be some truth to the private ownership of Zuccotti park, there is no private ownership of public lands. As long as there is no illegal activity and no threat of an epidemic, public lands should be occupied when and where the occupiers want. The bootlickers should have to prove their allegations of violence, etc. before they can even order the occupiers to evacuate for a cleanup or whatever.
November 17, 2011 7:13am
What if the public lands cannot "be properly maintained to protect public health and safety"? In this crisis it may be necessary to transfer this responsibility to private enterprise, following the precepts of disaster capitalism. Then the bootlickers will not have to prove any allegations of violence.
November 16, 2011 9:02pm
"Public Lands should be occupied when and where the occupiers want"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is that right?
I don't think So!!
November 16, 2011 3:29pm
Excellent article. Unfortunately, our corrupt leaders have highly paid mercenaries to fire into the crowds. Blackwater is in every state, they have changed their name, but the organization is the same. Mercenaries now dwell within the borders of every state.
In Ventura, CA, the police have been provided with patrol tanks. I found it on infiniteunknown.net
Here is the link: This isn't going to be easy.
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/11/13/ventura-ca-police-using-armore...
November 16, 2011 9:06pm
Wow now some of you are fantasizing about mercenaries firing into crowds.
.
And you wonder why the polls show the American Public is turning against the OWS Movement
November 16, 2011 1:53pm
Outstanding, and inspirational article! I like to add my thoughts...Why are police and other publicly paid officials not spending their time mingling peacefully with protesters and discussing the best options for calm coexistence under the First Amendment? Their goals are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are one in the same; a better America, albeit in their own images. Seems simple…then why the antagonism? One word...ego (small "e"!) Neither side can afford to yield their positions and risk the appearance of weakness. By design, based on historical and political truths, strategies and, often, myopic sensibilities they must begin at odds with one another. This is what we know, and it’s what we've generally experienced as the only means of engagement that works. Fight the MAN, and expect the MAN to fight back. Stand your ground. Hey, so far OWS is winning the battle of public awareness. But critical mass is approaching, and it's time to link arms with the oppressors...because they are you and you are them. Police oversee crowds of 40,000 at baseball games with the intent of keeping the crowd safe from themselves...parades, concerts, speeches, same thing. If a baseball game goes into extra-super overtime innings, or the chants get ugly against the visiting team, do police come in to break things up with night-sticks? No, they don’t see that as their job. They like baseball, they believe in baseball, and of course they like the crowd because it fits their image. The OWS protesters need to invite local police representatives out for a beer or two and discuss baseball, the weather, and the state of the economy. The OWS protesters need to negotiate with a few, more progressive, local, regional, and national business sponsors who are willing to dive into the fray and risk getting their brands dirty. The OWS protesters need to invite local politicians into the belly of the beast and setup “Get out the Vote” campaigns and fundraisers for issues that matter. I believe it's time for branching out the conversation and for morphing the OWS protest into something more inclusive which lowers the barrier to entry, while maintaining the principles and goals originally mandated. Wall Street, the police, and John-Q-Conservative will have a much harder time pushing back against the OWS bulldozer when their doppelgangers are riding shotgun (no pun intended.) I extend my sincerest gratitude to all of the OWS heroes who are standing their ground and making a difference. History will look kind upon you all.
For another perspective:
http://www.kickthemout.org/2011/11/16/was-it-really-different-for-them/
November 16, 2011 1:04pm
Do we have the country with us? I don't know yet. I'm seeing and hearing from a lot of regular people who still don't get it. They haven't suffered enough. And, honestly, where were we - I'm a teacher - when Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union? First they came . . . then they came . . . now there's nobody left to help public service workers. If we ever get out of this, we must have solidarity across union lines otherwise we are all vulnerable.
November 16, 2011 9:13pm
Lots of Emoting going on here today!
November 16, 2011 9:10pm
Do we have the country with us?
No
November 16, 2011 12:36pm
TIME FOR MORE REVOLUTION.
HEY OWS - 99%! Are you angry? Use it!
We have POWER! “Buying Power.” And, it’s about time we used it. Here’s how.
STOP BUYING THINGS. STOP BUYING…EVERYTHING.
WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE KILLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, etc., etc., etc. All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be left in shock not knowing what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 16, 2011 12:08pm
Everywhere that the 1%er puppets have taken power, the police, firefighters and teachers unions have lost bargaining rights, pensions, etc. What is wrong with a police officers' union that is working to defend the people who are going to destroy their union? Why don't they stand up and say "NO?" Why don't they refuse to follow Unconstitutional Orders and Mandates from the people that are giving them their orders to make life miserable on the 99%ers who are Demonstrating Peacefully?