David Sirota: People, Not Presidents, Bring Change

[Hannah Bell]

David Sirota: People, Not Presidents, Bring Change Cody's Books -

David Sirota discusses The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street & Washington.Job outsourcing. Perpetual busy signals at government agencies. Slashed paychecks. Stolen elections. A war without end, fatally mismanaged.Ordinary Americans on both the right and left had had it with corrupt politicians of both parties and are organizing to change the status quo.In his invigorating new book, David Sirota investigates whether this uprising can be transformed into a unified, lasting political movement.Sirota, the author of Hostile Takeover, is, Naomi Klein writes, "...a clearheaded and principled hell-raiser for economic justice" - Cody's Books

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgj03m_david-sirota-people-not-presidents-bring-change_news

"People are intensely angry in a way they haven't been..."

"Washington (DC) is the *last* place that embraces change, not the first place."

"All of these politicians are political weathervanes. It's our job to make sure the wind is blowing in the right direction"

[lib2DaBone]

1. These days life in the U.S. feels like Poland before Lech Walesa....

At one time we had strength in Unions.

In their race to the bottom... our politicians have busted all the unions and are working on dismantling what few remain.

IMHO... the U.S. desperately needs a major work stoppage to get Washington's attention. But how do we organize?

We need a Lech Walesa.. where are you?

[Hannah Bell]

5. we don't need a lech walesa. poland's unemployment has been from 9 to 13%

for more than 3 years.

17% of the population lives below the poverty line.

or more, according to eurostat:

Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, found that two thirds of Poles cannot afford an annual holiday away from home and 21 percent are not able to have a meal with meat or fish every second day. As many as 17 percent of Poles cannot afford to own and run a car.

Thirty two percent of Poles are seriously materially deprived.

Although the stats are quite bleak for a European nation in the 21 st century, the country is still ahead of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Portugal when it comes to material wellbeing.

http://www.thenews.pl/international/artykul124022_thirty-two-percent-live-in-poverty-in-poland.html

lech walesa was a tool of the west & disappeared quickly after the "rev"

[progressoid]

6. What does Poland's current unemployment/poverty rate have to do with Walesa?

What about the other Baltic states - is that his fault too?

Although the stats are quite bleak for a European nation in the 21 st century, the country (Poland) is still ahead of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Latvia and Portugal when it comes to material wellbeing.

[Hannah Bell]

7. it shows that walesa's "revolution" failed the poles.

[progressoid]

8. And yet Poland is doing better than her neighbors.

At least according to the link you provided.


And a quick wiki read says:

Poland's high-income economy<52> is considered to be one of the healthiest of the post-communist countries and is currently one of the fastest growing within the EU. Since the fall of the communist government, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a primarily market-based economy. Poland is the only member of the European Union to have avoided a decline in GDP during the late 2000s recession. In 2009 Poland had the highest GDP growth in the EU. As of November 2009, the Polish economy has not entered the global recession of the late 2000s nor has it even contracted.<53><54>

...

Warsaw leads Central Europe in foreign investment.<55> GDP growth had been strong and steady from 1993 to 2000 with only a short slowdown from 2001 to 2002.

The economy had growth of 3.7% annually in 2003, a rise from 1.4% annually in 2002. In 2004, GDP growth equaled 5.4%, in 2005 3.3% and in 2006 6.2%.<56> According to Eurostat data, Polish PPS GDP per capita stood at 61% of the EU average in 2009.<57>

...

According to a Credit Suisse report, Poles are the second wealthiest (after Czechs) of the Central European peoples,<64> this in turn makes Poland an attractive destination for many guest workers from Asia and Eastern Europe (an average Polish citizen is three times richer than an average Russian<65>). Even though Poland is rather an ethnically homogeneous country, the number of foreigners is growing every year.<66>


Seems like Poland isn't doing half bad considering the state of the worldwide economy and Lech's apparent failed revolution. :shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

10. wow, richer than the average russian. lol. citizens in all the former communist states

have high poverty rates.

and many of the former communist states had their own "lech walesa moment".

high foreign investment, high growth during the boom years, lots of foreigners: those are signs of a colonized economy, not a healthy one.

poland hasn't contracted?

ok, so 9-13% unemployment + 17% poverty = their "normal"?

i'd hate to see the "contraction" then.

[progressoid]

11. 9-13% unemployment + 17% poverty

Sounds like the United States.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. K&R, and thank you. :) n/t

[MagickMuffin]

3. As I recall Candidate Obama mentioned this in almost every rally he held

Change Starts from the Bottom Up.

[walldude]

12. Yeah.. what ever happened to that guy?

Vanished into thin air...

[MagickMuffin]

13. He became President Obama: Again; Change Starts from the Bottom Up.

What are you doing to change things?!?

[walldude]

16. Well for the past 10 years I have worked for candidates

I have phone banked, donated money, been to caucuses and protests, I have written to and called my reps. I have been a good little Democrat.

And you know what it got me? Illegal Wars, Torture, Corporate Rule, A Class War, Drone Attacks, Inflated Prices, Stagnant Wages, A Divided Nation and a Democratic party that stands for Republican ideals.
Gee you know what? I want more of this! Oh yeah let me spend MORE time working for losers instead of playing with my kids. Let me spend MORE money on political candidates instead of my family. Let me join in with people like you who want to bash me at every turn because I don't stand up for Obama and his Corporate rule policies and appointments.
Oh yeah more of this please.


You know what I am doing now? With the time and money I spent on politics? I'm making music. I'm bringing something creative and new into the world. I'm trying to add the tiniest bit of light to the darkness.


What are you doing?

[MagickMuffin]

17. I am a Precinct Chair in a VERY red county

Making music is a good way to effect / affect change. I wasn't being critical of you as I don't know you that is why I asked. No need to be so defensive.

Being creative is a good outlet. It can bring about change if that is where your focus is directed. I too like to be creative. It is a excellent way to relieve tensions that cannot be satisfied by trying to bring change through the political process.

I don't bother with my congress critters because they would not listen to me anyway. Being from Texas means my concerns don't matter to them. However, I can be effective by making sure the elections run smoothly, which is why I decided to become a Precinct Chair. This past election had me being very concerned about my safety as during the primaries I was called an election nazi for telling a voter to be quite as he was being disruptive. I notified the County Election office about better training dealing with out of control teabaggers. We had several correspondence over the course of several days.

Then on election day although everything went pretty smoothly, there was one voter who inquired about bringing a gun to vote. We told him it was illegal, and I inquired why he left like he needed one to vote and got the regular brush off.


Glad you've been a player. Of course the Democratic Party has been afraid of the republicons for far longer then Obama has been around. They started caving in the 80's with the War on Drugs. They didn't like being called "soft" on crime.


:hi:

[KG]

4. the ballot box is the last place to go to enable 'change'

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[Scruffy1]

14. Great post-K&R

[Octafish]

15. Well, Dave. In a DEMOCRACY, We the People VOTED for change.

Can't say that nothing happened, but it wasn't as, eh, advertised.