General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBelieve It! Resistance to Corporate Power and Warmongering Is Growing All Around Us
http://www.alternet.org/activism/believe-it-resistance-corporate-power-and-warmongering-growing-all-around-us?akid=10962.1147163.44Q1zr&rd=1&src=newsletter899558&t=21This week we reflect on the second anniversary of Occupy Wall Street and the fifth anniversary of the financial collapse.
There are reasons to celebrate despite continued economic stagnation and growing debt: the culture of resistance in the US is here and its having an effect. The corporate power that has so blatantly stomped on our rights and whipped Congress to do its bidding is faltering and losing its grip. There are cracks in the pillars of power, and its up to us to pry them open and shine light on the lies and corruption that have been used to steal our future. We see a movement that is building momentum.
We look back over the events of the past two years and we feel cautiously optimistic. We remember wondering as we watched the Arab Spring bloom and the encampments grow in Spain and state capitals like Madison whether people in the US were ready to rise up and demand more than the crumbs weve been convinced to accept for decades.
A turning point for us was in December, 2010 at an action in front of the White House to protest war. Many spoke that day about the need to build a culture of resistance in the US. Following that action, as we met with allies over the next few months, there was agreement that we needed to do something different. The traditional tools used to create change werent working. One-day protests, usually on a weekend, are ignored. It was time for something new, time to bring an occupation to the national capital.
As we met to organize the occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, there was a strong sense of suspense. Some said that Americans werent feeling enough pain, that we hadnt reached the tipping point. We decided that we would only find out if we tried, and so what if it didnt work the first time. Most mass movements dont arise spontaneously; they come after years of organizing and multiple failed actions. A key ingredient is persistence.
grahamhgreen
(15,741 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)pasto76
(1,589 posts)nobody 'capitulated'. the very real threat of missile strikes forced assad to the table.
I cant believe so many people refuse to acknowledge this, and have made up dozens of other explanations so they would not have to admit that PBO is not a warmonger like Bush, and you were wrong the whole time.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)It tends to go well with disempowering activists.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)This was undoubtedly a disappointment for those in our government who really *did* have certain ulterior motives for getting involved in Syria.....namely, the BushCo factions of the MIC & the CIA.
BelgianMadCow
(5,379 posts)I believe. Chris Hedges' world view is about mine, but he sees baby step revolution. Two steps forward, one back. It's time for forward again
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread, xchrom.
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)ruffburr
(1,190 posts)It would be the best news i've heard in quite a while, Rise people Take Back our Country!!
Zorra
(27,670 posts)and all things relative, as our primary enemy.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)"We are winning. Don't forget."
This was, indeed, one of the slogans of the alternative or anti-globalization movement of those days. Before that, it was a slogan among anarchists and environmentalists I used to protest with in the 90's (they imported it to the anti-globalization scene), and before that, various autonomous movements. Might even go back to May 68: We are winning. Don't forget.
We've been winning for a long time, apparently.
With winning like this, though....
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)with a far more informed Global Population, it is far more difficult to 'implement the policies of the New World Order', he was talking about Syria this time but acknowledges that 'knowledge is power' and that people are far more informed today than even ten years ago.
That of course is why they are so determined to try to demonize, bloggers, new Media such as the International Al Jazeera, RT, CCTV, and media from around the world which we now have access to, Africa eg, and they can no longer control the 'message' as they call the 'news media'. They thought they had when they bought OUR media.
2banon
(7,321 posts)one's mileage does vary...
I have very young grandchildren who are inheriting the socio-economic cost of these monstrous disasters I had once thought could never happen if only we had Women in Congress and in the WH. I mean Women are about nurturing, care for the well being of children and the elderly, the environment, humanity across the globe, the health of the planet.
Helping to elect Feinstein and Boxer for the Senate back in the 90's was a major milestone toward fulfilling that dream...
but then wait..
Turns out DiFi is an authoritarian, bloodthirsty war profiteer.
I generally like Boxer I think she means well most of the time, but rather ineffective a lot of the time.
Don't even get me started on Nancy Dimwit Pelosi.
When Bill Clinton was in the WH, I had at the time wished Hillary was actually POTUS.
If a woman can't get into higher office without being a Corporate/MIC shill, I'd say we're a long, long ways off from winning.
I guess I need to re-position the goal post yet again.
I'll try to see where we are right now as winning..
dougolat
(716 posts)or one could call it the "1% Megaphone"
Either way, it takes a lot to leak around the slanted walls of corporate media.
handmade34
(22,757 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)There's no place else to go but beyond this shithole we're all standing in.
We made it.
We will un-make it.
- K&R
leanforward
(1,077 posts)I don't pipe up very often. But, this got to me . Whether it's occupy or populism, the corporations are not people and they need to get their money and hands out of our government for the people. Anymore, I don't trust any corporate interests. To me, anyone not paying taxes or holding taxes offshore is NOT a Patriot.
John Maynard Keynes said something about a homogeneous society. When the corporate interest deliberately withhold payment of the benefits they have received from our stable society, they are not supporting the extraordinary benefit they've received. Time to make a change in their benefit plan.
With regards to the warmongering. As a country, we were thrust into a leading roll. But, simply because we have the power does not mean we annihilate. To me it means lets work this out peaceably. I was a child in the cold war. The US and the USSR were nose to nose. But, good sense prevailed and "voila" the wall came down. When you have the wherewithal to do serious damage, back-off. Let's look for a way around the dispute and avoid serious damage.
nightscanner59
(802 posts)I can't slap their faithful into sense, the few I know of. Honestly, I thought we'd seen the last of the GOP with the "moral majority" nonsense and 2 terms of RayGun. But then there came Faux nooze. They were far more subtle then, I even tuned in their news channel until I recognized the subtle messages they carried. They became more blatantly right wing during the Clinton years, but still recognized some "balance" of views. Nowadays they just seethe as the hate channel, every dirty trick in the book, blame every problem their politicians have caused on Democrats, and have polarized their audience so much it seems like inciting a riot.
God I hope this OP is right, and demographics do support that conclusion, as the GOP loses it's biggest voting bloc, the elderly.
Snake Plissken
(4,103 posts)I was in a restaurant a few weeks back having a sandwich at the bar and their tv was tuned to fox news. I asked the bartender if he could put on another news channel, He said I wasn't the first one to ask this but, unfortunately fox news is the only new channel available on the lowest tier of the Dish package which they have.
Murdoch is basically giving that channel away and his rating still suck. being that it's the only news channel available on the lowest tier packages their ratings should be about 5x higher, but nobody is interested in their garbage.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)I like it!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)The Third Way is doing untold damage to our Party. With Citizen's United behind them I expect they will make a surge in 2014.
There is going to be a big fight for control of the Democratic Party and the 1%'s money is on the side of The Third WAy.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)They are not interested in issues unless those issues allows them to bully. They use the alert system to bully.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)There is a lot of money flowing through Washington. Were talking the Mississippi of corporate funded lobbyists and groups like ALEC. Constantly wining, dining and slow dancing with every politician and media player they can get their hands on. Makes it great for companies like Dow, Chevron & Lockheed, makes it worse for anyone concerned with the suffering of others or the future lives of our offspring and every other living or soon to be extinct pitiful creature.
As Carlin would say "It's a big club and you ain't in it."
All that corporate money and its a wonder we get any Democratic principles represented in DC.
If people truly want to stand for democracy, they might want to stop standing with ALEC.
You can hold hands with Halliburton or hold signs of change.
"You know, for kids."
BillyRibs
(787 posts)surprised as to the lengths the barons will go to keep their workers in slavery.-Mother Jones