Tuesday, April 05, 2011

ENOUGH ALREADY!















Our pal Chris Hedges makes the case for civil disobedience.

“The phrase consent of the governed has been turned into a cruel joke. There is no way to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs. Civil disobedience is the only tool we have left. We will not halt the laying off of teachers and other public employees, the slashing of unemployment benefits, the closing of public libraries, the reduction of student loans, the foreclosures, the gutting of public education and early childhood programs or the dismantling of basic social services such as heating assistance for the elderly until we start to carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience against the financial institutions responsible for our debacle. The banks and Wall Street, which have erected the corporate state to serve their interests at our expense, caused the financial crisis. The bankers and their lobbyists crafted tax havens that account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade. They rewrote tax laws so the nation’s most profitable corporations, including Bank of America, could avoid paying any federal taxes. They engaged in massive fraud and deception that wiped out an estimated $40 trillion in global wealth. The banks are the ones that should be made to pay for the financial collapse. Not us. And for this reason at 11 a.m. April 15 I will join protesters in Union Square in New York City in front of the Bank of America. “The political process no longer works,” Kevin Zeese, the director of Prosperity Agenda and one of the organizers of the April 15 event, told me. “The economy is controlled by a handful of economic elites. The necessities of most Americans are no longer being met. The only way to change this is to shift the power to a culture of resistance. This will be the first in a series of events we will organize to help give people control of their economic and political life.” (Click here for the rest)

The secret words are Act and Up

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Drugs are bad!

Your driver said...

Went to a big labor rally in Vallejo, California yesterday. About a thousand people, which is not bad for a Monday in Vallejo. Lots of enthusiasm and lots of attempts to funnel that enthusiasm into the Democratic party. On the bus back to Santa Rosa the conversation was darker. Obama doesn't care about us. The Democrats and Republicans are not our friends. We are on our own.

The Realist said...

Civil disobedience? A passive revolution? The whole "...we can change the world, man!" attitude died long ago, baby. Civil disobedience nowadays is just a quaint reenactment of a bygone era and a 1-minute-long segment on the local news.

Take away fast food, tech-weenie gadgets, a car in every garage, and porn and perhaps these fat, lazy bastards might get angry enough to rise up (at least rise up from the sofa).

stu said...

GOD BLESS AND KEEP THE UKRAINIAN NAVY.i never thought i`d say or write that but i bloody well mean it.

Mike said...

Four Orders of Nuns invoke Wrath of God on Goldman Sachs.
(Mind, Satan protects his own. Where's the Big Fella when you need him?)