[Peace-discuss] were it not for the rack monster
Jenifer Cartwright
jencart13 at yahoo.com
Tue Jan 31 13:45:52 CST 2012
What's to be done is continue to use the systems in place (before they're eroded any further) to get small but significant changes: recall Walker in WI (ditto other states); prevent Repub takeovers (a Dem wouldn't have put Roberts and Alito on the Court); prevent redistricting and voter disenfranchisement; speak truth to Dems in power (Medicare for all, etc). And yes, somehow Occupy and Labor have to work together to make an impact -- no more snafus w/ the former closing a port w/o consulting/getting consent of the latter. And Activists have to think things thru before they act -- organize sit-ins at their enemies' (not their supporters) venues. Right now, I'm trying to educate an econ professor who's been brainwashing students about the glories of capitalism = democracy (my tax dollars at work). Embarrassed to say I had no idea...
--- On Mon, 1/30/12, David Johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net> wrote:
From: David Johnson <dlj725 at hughes.net>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] were it not for the rack monster
To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>, "Brussel, Morton K" <brussel at illinois.edu>
Date: Monday, January 30, 2012, 10:35 PM
"A good
list for a fair society, but the question remains: How do we get there (or even
partially there) from here? What is to be done? "
--mkb
Agitate, Educate, Organize, Occupy, Resist
David J.
----- Original Message -----
From:
Brussel,
Morton K
To: E. Wayne Johnson
Cc: Peace-discuss
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 10:08
PM
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] were it not
for the rack monster
A good list for a fair society, but the question remains:
How do we get there (or even partially there) from here? What is to be done?
--mkb
On Jan 30, 2012, at 7:20 PM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
"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
Ten Steps for Radical Revolution in the US
by 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._______________________________________________
Peace-discuss
mailing list
Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
_______________________________________________
Peace-discuss
mailing
list
Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
_______________________________________________
Peace-discuss mailing list
Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20120131/feaceaa6/attachment.html>
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list