It always troubles me to hear people who believe in peace using violent metaphors to communicate their ideas. I entirely agree with the goals, but I could not disagree more with the imagery used to plot the way forward. There are several levels to this. Going to "war" with the forces in society that oppress us is ineffective, and it will bolster their position not ours'. Further, using their language to communicate our ideas only gives them power. Those who have succeeded at the game with only one rule--self interest and greed--are not our enemies. Indeed, for as long as they remain our enemies they will continue to oppress us. We must overcome our rivalry with them in order to gain their respect for our ideas of egalitarianism. This will not be achieved through combat. In fact, combat will only further entrench them against us. "Fighting back" is not in our self interest, as much as it may satisfy our desire for revenge in the face of their success.
What we must do is succeed on our own terms, create the world we imagine, and put them in the position of resisting us. I realize this is the intention of others, and we are allied in this, but joining sides and waving flags and deepening the divide will only serve the interest of the very powerful and successful ideology that rules the world today. It is up to us to devise a better model that will replace this one as it inevitably fails.
I have participated in street protests, I have been assaulted by the police, I am impoverished and homeless and live as close to the ground as anyone I know. For the most part I have chosen this life, but I would love to enjoy the accoutrements associated with modern living. As it is, I cannot. What I have learned from my condition is that this can all be turned to my benefit and yours. I can find inspiration and creativity where others might find despair and hopelessness. I do not blame my condition on the success of others. I do not resent the fact that my family is not as fortunate as some. I am happy to point out to those more fortunate that there are consequences to their wealth, and I find them to be effected meaningfully by my reasoning. Going to war with them is not going to improve my life, and it is not going to favorably modify the condition of the world. In fact, it is far more likely to worsen it.
Fairness is an idea, discovered by the minds of human beings. I was reading an article this morning about a woman who was recently attacked by a black bear. This was particularly curious to me because I cross paths with bears regularly. Though this woman was savagely mauled, and will bear the scars of the attack for her lifetime, she was beyond forgiving the bear. In fact, she saw no crime in his behavior. She even went so far as to express her pleasure in the fact that the bear had not been captured, but instead was still free in the forests around her home. This is a revelation to me, and it serves to teach us something valuable. We do not blame the bear, or the storm, or the heavens above when they betray us. Yet we hold every indignity we are subjected to by another human being gravely against them, as if they were not beasts and forces of nature themselves.
If we wish to see a future that reflects our ideas, it is up to us to refine and cultivate them and labor tirelessly on their behalf. It is not to our benefit to identify others as the source of our suffering and "fight back" against them. To the contrary, it will serve us most profoundly to befriend them and demonstrate to them and model for them the world we see in our minds, the world where fairness is more than an idea.