[Peace-discuss] were it not for the rack monster

[E. Wayne Johnson]

   "I'd start a r[3vol]ution...if I could get up in the morning" - Aimee 
Allen

*
I found this piece in Common Dreams this morning and find several good 
points here,
and it might be an interesting discussion piece.


Published on Monday, January 23, 2012 by Common Dreams 
<http://www.commondreams.org>


    Ten Steps for Radical Revolution in the US

by Bill Quigley <http://www.commondreams.org/bill-quigley>

/"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world 
revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values." 
/* --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1967*

*One.* Human rights must be taken absolutely seriously. Every single 
person is entitled to dignity and human rights. No application needed. 
No exclusions at all. This is our highest priority.

*Two.* We must radically reinvent contemporary democracy. Current 
systems are deeply corrupt and not responsive to the needs of people. 
Representatives chosen by money and influence govern by money and 
influence. This is unacceptable. Direct democracy by the people is now 
technologically possible and should be the rule. Communities must be 
protected whenever they advocate for self-determination, 
self-development and human rights. Dissent is essential to democracy; we 
pledge to help it flourish.

*Three.* Corporations are not people and are not entitled to human 
rights. Amend the US Constitution so it is clear corporations do not 
have constitutional or human rights. We the people must cut them down to 
size and so democracy can regulate their size, scope and actions.

*Four.* Leave the rest of the world alone. Cut US military spending by 
75 percent and bring all troops outside the US home now. Defense of the 
US is a human right. Global offense and global police force by US 
military are not. Eliminate all nuclear and chemical and biological 
weapons. Stop allowing scare tactics to build up the national security 
forces at home. Stop the myth that the US is somehow special or 
exceptional and is entitled to act differently than all other nations. 
The US must re-join the global family of nations as a respectful 
partner. USA is one of many nations in the world. We must start acting 
like it.

*Five.* Property rights, privilege, and money-making are not as 
important as human rights. When current property and privilege 
arrangements are not just they must yield to the demands of human 
rights. Money-making can only be allowed when human rights are 
respected. Exploitation is unacceptable. There are national and global 
poverty lines. We must establish national and global excess lines so 
that people and businesses with extra houses, cars, luxuries, and 
incomes share much more to help everyone else be able to exercise their 
basic human rights to shelter, food, education and healthcare. If that 
disrupts current property, privilege and money-making, so be it.

*Six.* Defend our earth. Stop pollution, stop pipelines, stop new 
interstates, and stop destroying the land, sea, and air by extracting 
resources from them. Rebuild what we have destroyed. If corporations 
will not stop voluntarily, people must stop them. The very existence of 
life is at stake.

We respect the human rights and human dignity of others and work for a 
world where love and wisdom and solidarity and respect prevail.

*Seven.* Dramatically expand public spaces and reverse the privatization 
of public services. Quality public education, health and safety for all 
must be provided by transparent accountable public systems. Starving the 
state is a recipe for destroying social and economic human rights for 
everyone but the rich.

*Eight.* Pull the criminal legal prison system up and out by its roots 
and start over. Cease the criminalization of drugs, immigrants, poor 
people and people of color. We are all entitled to be safe but the 
current system makes us less so and ruins millions of lives. Start over.

*Nine.* The US was created based on two original crimes that must be 
confessed and made right. Reparations are owed to Native Americans 
because their land was stolen and they were uprooted and slaughtered. 
Reparations are owed to African Americans because they were kidnapped, 
enslaved and abused. The US has profited widely from these injustices 
and must make amends.

*Ten.* Everyone who wants to work should have the right to work and earn 
a living wage. Any workers who want to organize and advocate for change 
in solidarity with others must be absolutely protected from 
recriminations from their employer and from their government.

Finally, if those in government and those in power do not help the 
people do what is right, people seeking change must together exercise 
our human rights and bring about these changes directly. Dr. King and 
millions of others lived and worked for a radical revolution of values. 
We will as well. We respect the human rights and human dignity of others 
and work for a world where love and wisdom and solidarity and respect 
prevail. We expect those for whom the current unjust system works just 
fine will object and oppose and accuse people seeking dramatic change of 
being divisive and worse. That is to be expected because that is what 
happens to all groups which work for serious social change. Despite 
that, people will continue to go forward with determination and purpose 
to bring about a radical revolution of values in the USA.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20120131/59ba3989/attachment.html>