For the first issues of the Political Activist's Guide To Saint Louis, please go to this page:
http://pag2stl.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
This is a re-post from the Occupy Public Transportation In St. Louis blog (http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-world-new-revolution.html)
"Voting and calling representatives won't do any good, we need a
revolution! The whole system has to change!" I have said this myself in
the past, and I have heard this from other people countless times.
"They would rather kill us all than change the system!" Said about the 1%.
I
spent ten years in a revolutionary movement. I've never lived through a
revolution, but I have talked to many people from Central and South
America that have, and read about many revolutions in history.
Violent
revolution is not a solution. It does change a lot of things in a
seemingly "quick" fashion, but only because of years of work by a few
individuals that were prepared for the moment of a mass uprising, and
had a plan to take power. These people- for the most part- had their
own agendas, and just ended up replacing the faces in power, and making
cosmetic changes to the power structure. The masses of people have
never been in power. There has never been a "people's government."
(Iceland might be, but I haven't researched it enough yet. They did
make a lot of changes without violence.)
And
revolutions are wars, and wars are a nightmare. Everybody suffers. (A
few psychopaths, like George H.W. Bush, prosper and thrive, and usually
live to propagate more wars.)
There are 7 billion
people on this planet, twice the population of all the civilizations
before us, twice the population of the world in 1970, and we are running
out of drinkable water on a global scale. Any mass death requires
disposal of the dead, and treatment of wounded. We really don't have
the resources for this. Our species can't afford to solve problems with
violence anymore.
The American Revolution created a
kind of Republic that is unique in the world. Freedom of and from
religion, democratic mass voting (except for the President), the
Constitution, all of these things were created after the revolution
against the monarchy. People had to think up these new modes of
government and bring them into existence. There was debate and
disagreement, countless discussions.
None of the
bloodshed and sacrifice of the revolution would have made a damn bit of
difference without the work that came afterward.
For
the first time in history, we could actually accomplish everything
WITHOUT the violent uprising and war. We could create a whole new mode
of government power, run by and for the people, without killing each
other.
From roughly age 16 to age 26 I advocated armed
revolution in the U.S. I sold newspapers and talked to people and went
to demonstrations and organized conferences and rallies. I don't hold
the same beliefs anymore but I learned a lot and talked to a lot of
people about politics and things that really matter in their lives.
Back
then (the 1980's) there was no internet and no cell phones. I remember
trying to get information on the MOVE massacre in Philadelphia. I had
to go to different libraries, look in card catalogs and at microfiche,
track down people that had videotaped news segments. (Video machines
were still very new then, and personal video cameras were cumbersome and
heavy.) Then a leaflet had to be written and photocopied and
distributed on the street in my spare time.
To talk to people I had to have all of the facts in my
head or on a piece of paper in front me. Most people don't really want
to know about things that are happening because it is disturbing. (Most
people in our country have the luxury of avoiding political interaction
with their government. This is very different than avoidance in poor countries
where leisure time of any kind is very limited, and simply questioning politicians can mean imprisonment and/or death.)
Even
in areas that were responsive and sympathetic - in the MOVE example we
went to South Central Los Angeles- we were encountering people when they
were out shopping, or running errands. They could buy the paper or
take a leaflet, but to find out more, they had to keep in touch with us,
calling the bookstore to find out when an action might be, or we had to
call them.
It was a lot easier for people in power
to lie and cover up dishonest and deadly actions. And many people who
didn't want to be disturbed by cold, hard evidence of their governments
misdeeds were able to dismiss the few people like me that they might
encounter.
Research that took months and even years in
1985, can be found on line in minutes. Tens of petitions can be signed
on line in an hour. Hundreds of elected officials can be emailed
instantly in the time it took to write one letter and mail it.
A
lot of people that say "there has to be revolution" really mean "I am
not going to do anything until it gets so bad that I can't ignore it
anymore." But a lot of people really don't think that anything can be
done unless we overthrow the existing power structure, with violence.
Which means they have to wait around until enough other people will
revolt with them.
Which means things have to get really, really bad.
This
is the first time in 35 years that I have felt like a revolutionary
uprising might occur in the U.S.A. The only other time was in Los
Angeles after the police that beat Rodney King were acquitted in 1992.
The
revolt that is brewing is another sign of a new world. It's not the
usual suspects this time. It's the Good Ole Boys that are taking over
government buildings and hoarding guns and ammo. As someone said to me
at a Ferguson protest "Equality feels like privilege or special
treatment to the oppressed, and it feels like discrimination to the
oppressor."
In Ferguson it was the mostly white
Peacekeepers walking around with guns, not the Black Panthers. The
paranoid delusions of the Dylan Roof's and the Donald Drumpf's are not
completely paranoid or delusional. They are losing their privilege.
America is not "Great" for racists anymore. The status quo no longer
serves them first, because the rest of us demanded a more equitable and
fair society.
The Armchair Revolution and Phoning It In
are more effective now than an armed uprising. For the first time in
history, we can make revolutionary change without making revolution. We
can, literally, "call them on their bullshit." Make them answer to you
and work for you.
Make this country great. Not
"again", but for the first time. Your mind, your time, and your phone
(or computer), are the only weapons you need.
PAG2STL is to be published monthly. The first issue, 5 March 2016, is the Template For Change. Subsequent issues will focus on themes and local power structures (transportation, courts, education). Join the Armchair Revolution and Phone It In. Commit to 5 additional actions for change, 11 months a year. REGISTER TO VOTE! (Even if you don't vote.) A city of 100% registered voters would make us a very powerful political entity. That alone would create positive change.
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