[Peace-discuss] In the streets

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Nevertheless, I'm glad the US followed the English judicial system (innocent until proven guilty) rather than the French system (guilty until proven innocent). Yes, design is one thing, and implementation another, and the US courts are far from perfect... but it still remains that it's lots harder to prove a negative.
 --Jenifer

--- On Sun, 2/1/09, John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] In the streets
To: "LAURIE SOLOMON" <LAURIE at advancenet.net>
Cc: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>, sf-core at yahoogroups.com, "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
Date: Sunday, February 1, 2009, 10:57 PM





On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 11:24 AM, LAURIE SOLOMON <LAURIE at advancenet.net> wrote:




Which is why - despite it being a French saying - the saying "the more things change the more they stay the same" has become an American description.  Until the masses of ordinary people get off their asses and take to the streets with a willingness to shut things down and prevent business as usual even if it means their inconvenience and discomfort, there will be no significant change in the US - only minor symbolic reforms at the periphery.
This is true.  But there are certain fundamental differences between French society and American society.  In general, the law and law enforcement are tilted much more in favor of the French citizen than of his/her American equivalent.  French citizens frequently sue their government, and have a decent chance of winning such suits.  French gendarmes are much less brutal in their methods of crowd control and law enforcement in general.

All of which is to say that American citizens would be risking much MORE by taking to the streets, with less chance of success.  And since the average American still thinks of himself as "middle class" and buys into the Horatio Alger myth, he doesn't want to or see the necessity of taking the risk..






Instead of the corporations and the establishment elite getting 3 trillion of the common person's money, the government will only give them 2 3/4 trillion; and instead of demanding final control and veto over the operations of those corporations and the use of the money, the government will get for the public only minor symbolic control which only those behind the closed doors will be able to know about.  Indeed, the French demonstrations have much more authority and impact than any placard carrying or letter writing demonstrations that we have in the US will ever have.  Our demonstrators do not even get off the sidewalks and block traffic for fear of being called irresponsible and losing respectability, for fear of being arrested and getting a record or having to pay a fine, or because they do not want to be seen as being disruptive.



 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G. Estabrook
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 12:46 AM
To: peace-discuss
Subject: [Peace-discuss] In the streets
 
      Paris When it Sizzles:
      The French Say No to Fat-Cat Bailouts                 
 
You have to admire the French. The ordinary people there know how to stick up  
for themselves – instead of meekly bowing down and accepting whatever bitter 
gruel the elite tries to cram down their throats. And they don't just write a 
few angry letters (or blog posts!), or send checks to some worthy progressive 
organization to organize a few mildly admonishing ads or press releases on their 
behalf. Hell no, they take to the streets, by the millions, they shut things 
down, they make some noise, they put their time, their jobs, and their bodies on 
the line.
 
Yesterday saw another remarkable display of this national trait, as an 
astonishingly broad spectrum of the French citizenry surged through the streets 
of Paris to express their outrage at the government's response to the economic 
crisis. This response has been the usual doling out of billions in public money 
for the fat cats who caused the crisis, coupled with increasing demands for 
"sacrifice" from the hoi polloi: less pay, longer hours, fewer benefits, a 
bleaker life for you and your children while the elite party on.
 
But on Thursday, an estimated 2.5 million people – blue-collar workers and 
white-collar professionals, educators and students, doctors and train drivers, 
native-born and immigrants – came out to tell the government: "We are not going 
to pay for the greed and corruption of the elite! Find another way!" The 
contrast to the stunned, herd-like reaction of the American and British publics 
to their governments' gorging of corrupt oligarchs with no-strings largess could 
not be more striking...
 
Full article at <http://www.chris-floyd.com/>
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