I had hoped to take something of a break from politics during our holiday of conspicuous consumption. I usually use this time of year to think generally about what needs to be done in the coming year but not to set things in motion until our high holy Day with its bowl games has passed.
Unfortunately the real world is not cooperating this year. We are confronted with a few major crises that simply will not wait. There can be no timeout in the fight for universal health care, the struggle to end the war on Afghanistan, and of course the ever present threat of climate change. There are, of course many other issues that top progressive agendas, including equal rights for all, economic justice, education, etc.
In some cases there is nothing we can do but bitch and moan and demonstrate. In others, however there are clear actions to be taken, and I will detail those over the fold.
achieving health care.
the political process has failed completely and we must start looking for new strategies. In my opinion, it is time to take to the streets and bring some civil unrest to bear on the profiteers. It is no longer sufficient just to carry signs shout slogans We will have to confront the profiteers in their own offices, in large numbers, with tactics including civilians and especially with getting our hands on evidence of their crimes that is sitting on the hard drives in their offices.
The only weapons needed for this struggle our flash drives and smart phones. All we need to do is invade their offices, plug in the flash drive into their computer, make copies of their dirty files, and then post them using a laptop or smart phone. This is not a very complicated procedure and can be achieved easily adjust a few dozen activists.
Of course such actions are in violation of law, but all civil disobedience is by definition a violation of law. I strongly believe that an action of this sort is far more useful than lying down the street and blocking traffic. Very few people are inconvenienced, and only those guilty of being part of the profiteers pirate actions will be targeted.
Ending the war on Afghanistan
I'm not really sure what we can do to stop the war. We should certainly continue demonstrations in the streets, if only to send a message to the world that not all Americans are behind this illegal and immoral war. We can, of course, refuse to vote for anyone who backs this massacre.we will have to monitor congressional action and make sure that the enablers of war are punished at the polls.
Saving the planet
We must do as much as possible to discredit the crisis deniers. They will continue to repeat their lies as long as they are breathing and as civilized people there really isn't anything we can do to stop them from spewing. we can, however, confront them where ever possible. We must destroy their reputations in so far as we can. We need to dig up evidence of their previous anti-human activities, and put them under greater scrutiny than Tiger Woods.
I do have quite a number of specific ideas about working toward marriage equality but I'd rather save those for a different diary as my proposals tend to be highly confrontational and controversial. I am still designing campaigns for the major confrontation in San Francisco on January 23 and will post those when they are a little more polished.
On none of these issues do I believe that out reach will be useful. I think we have already exhausted our ability to try to talk nicely about this and convince people that peace, health, and equal rights are worth fighting for. Our enemies are well funded and controlled the media. We can't do much about the money except to give what we can, but as far as the media is concerned we can displace the propaganda with major actions that will force the media to spend time discussing rather than repeating corporate lies, though they will do that the moment that their coverage ends.
It is time for civil unrest at least on the scale that we saw in the 1960s, which did read many benefits, though not immediately It is time to take to the streets, to use sit-ins and mass demonstrations.
We must also continue our political activities even though we now realize that even if we elected 90% "Democrats" we can't achieve anything given the lack of leadership in the Senate and the White House.
There are times in our history when the revolution has been necessary. Most of the time, however, we can achieve our goals with civil unrest that falls short of actual revolution. In 2010 we must adopt such means or surrender to the will of the profiteers. There is no middle ground.