It's likely that your high school history teacher didn't spend much time on the 1919 strike in Seattle. That's no surprise. Allow the 1919 mayor of Seattle to refresh your memory:
True there were no flashing guns, no bombs, no killings. Revolution . . . doesn't need violence. The general strike, as practiced in Seattle, is of itself the weapon of revolution, all the more dangerous because quiet. To succeed, it must suspend everything, stop the entire life stream of a community....That is to say, it puts the government out of operation. And that is all there is to revolt-no matter how achieved.
Civil disobedience, whether it be a strike, refusal to serve in the military, or outright protest, has the ability to bring our monstrous corporate state to its knees. Fearful of this, the corporate gluttons and their puppet political parties spew a messages of "everything is alright, watch more TV" ;their incestuously conglomerated airwaves have poisoned the minds of most. Watch NBC, ABC, CBS, UPN, or the WB, and you will quickly realize that they are not trying to sell entertainment. Our TV networks are selling the idea that everything is okay, just keep buying and drink beer. It reminds me of Emperor Nero, who played his violin as Rome burned to the ground.
For all of Bush's vapid rhetoric about insuring America's security, the fact is that we've never been less secure; the real danger has nothing to do with terrorism or N. Korean nukes. Security is having the ability to receive necessary medical treatment without incurring debts of $10,000 dollars for a broken leg. Security is not having to work at McDonald's until your death at 85. Security is being able to financially support yourself and your children; without having to neglect them because you're working two jobs. Security is knowing that if you can work, you can find a job. Unfortunatly, the politicians continue to deceive the electorate into believing that supporting a military machine will provide us with "security".
We are making less dollars as the value of our dollars decreases, but at the same time, living expenses have increased dramatically. One would think that this would be considered a serious matter. Yet, our politicians have given it nothing but silence. Why? Probably, because credit lenders have become the biggest donars to both of our parties. Americans must wake up and realize that we no longer control thier government. Its actions are against our best interests, it is an Inverted totalitarianism- a peculiar form of Fascism. Mussolini noted, "Fascism could be called Corporatism- the merging of the corporation and the state." Vice President Henry Wallace warned us of American Fascists in 1944:
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.
The ultimate act of citiizenship is not choosing between two white and Anglo-Saxon males of inoffensive personality and orthodox opinions. I have much more to say about this later, but for now I can only tell you to start listening to wispers all around us. Remember the four college students who sat down at a whites-only diner in the early sixties. Remember the labor movement of the 1930's. Remember black and white photographs of protesters carrying signs which read: "I wish ma could vote". Perhaps those mystic chords of memory will remind you of what it really means to be American citizens.
Cross posted at Net Politik
Post a Comment