If you consider the Declaration of the Occupation of NYC, a key point
is "ALL OUR GRIEVANCES ARE CONNECTED."
The proposed meme, "Our Debt is Their Wealth" reinforces that point with the added benefit of providing guidance for a specific course of action. Debt slavery is nothing new. Tennessee Ernie Fords classic American song, "16 tons," is famous for it's refrain:
"You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store."
What is new is the connection of that meme to the 99%. A coordinated and committed campaign to make debt the new drunk driving would herald a dramatic shift in American consumer culture.
The beauty of this action is its success does not require legislative action. It is something anyone can do, and thus it empowers people to make a statement by voting with their wallets. Finally, and most importantly, this is not a merely symbolic act. Treating debt as the new drunk driving would choke the banks and cut off their oxygen very dramatically. It cuts to the core of their power.
Working with Occupy DC LIVE Radio and talking to Occupations across the country, I have noticed a growing consensus that the tactic of encampments has probably peaked in terms of its effectiveness. After discussing this matter one evening with some people in local media, I was surprised to receive the following email. It comes from a Washington correspondent for a national nightly TV news broadcast. I will not divulge the author's identity. However, I will say, their observations carry the weight of decades of experience covering social upheavals all across the globe. I provide it in its entirely with permission to publish. I welcome your feedback to improve this concept and help develop a campaign that will Occupy the Economy in a significant, sustainable, and tangible way.
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Now……Occupy the Economy!
Congratulations. You have woken up the world. You have helped usher in a new era of activism and purpose. Your energies have been well spent, and you have brought society to a certain tipping point. Take a bow. Say a prayer. Raise a glass. Do whatever you do, and then get ready for what must come.
Bringing this movement to the tipping point is an historic accomplishment, but the work is still not done. Now its time to tip it. Now is the time to ensure the status quo sways beyond the point where the forces of gravity and inertia can keep it in its present position. When it creaks beyond the mark where it can no longer rest where it has, and falls headlong into the future, where things can be dramatically different.
You've proven that you have the energy to move it. Now the energy needs to be eirected and orchestrated to bring about the next, biggest revolution in our social order.
How, you may wonder, can this be done?
The answer is simple, and the course of action is even simpler, and very easy, because it's all about you, and something you and everyone you know can start doing right this very moment.
Remember the following the few words, and think about how they apply to your own life, and to the lives of those closest to you:
Your Debt = Their Wealth.
This is the single most powerful , most harmful relationship between those at the bottom levels of our chaotic social pyramid and those at the top. It is the one thing that the propaganda forces of the status quo never mention, and , as you know, indebtedness is actually encouraged and celebrated by the corporate machine 24/7.
They talked about this in the Bible. Islam actually forbids the collection of "interest." Were they on to something? You bet they were.
Yes, we're up against a lot here, but the good news, the GREAT news, is that this is one the thing that can be changed. Right now.
Imagine if you, and everyone you knew, started to actively think about the above equation every time you bought something, every time you get a credit card statement and have the option of paying off the balance or financing it until the next month. Imagine, if only , say 5 per cent of the time, consumers took the option to not voluntarily engage in some kind of obligation to a financial institution. If this happened even only 5 per cent of the time, the cumulative effect would be enormous and transformative. While the Wall Street tycoons may have just laughed at the "rabble" in Zucotti
park this fall, they'll be shitting in their Brooks Brothers suits if their market intelligence starts to tell them there is a new trend, a new fad out there, that suddenly DEBT IS NOT COOL and the kids just aren't doing it anymore like they used to.
Say it to yourself again: Your Debt = Their Wealth.
I Imagine some of you are doubtful, that the human propensity to get as much as possible now and worry about the consequences later is too strong, and the banks are too persuasive. Sure.
But have you ever seen "Mad Men?" Notice all that smoking they did back then? Well nicotine is actually as physically addictive as heroin, but somehow we don't smoke like Don Draper anymore. Smoking became uncool, along with wearing real furs and eating Trans Fats. Sure, Big Tobacco is still around, but in a much diminished, chastened form, that's still paying out Billions as part of numerous settlements and lawsuits. Sounds like something the banks ought to be doing…….
So here's the takeaway, here's the action plan going forward as you celebrate what you've accomplished and come in from the cold and the rain and the police cordons:
Your Debt = Their Wealth
Live that philosophy, and through your own increased autonomy and resilience, you'll be an inspiration to those around you, of how you have become conscious of this and organized your life differently and become better. Once this virus spreads, it will do more to level the playing field between the 99 and the 1 per cent than any other single thing. We don't need to pass legislation, win over the the mainstream media, get the police to back off. The power to do this is in our very hands. It's in your hands the next time you decide to dig coins out of your couch to buy a coffee instead of putting it on the plastic. It's in your hands if you convince a friend not to sign up for a new credit card. It's in your hands if you, and everyone you know moves their savings to a Credit Union the first chance you get.
Occupy was a necessary and overdue moment in history. It is the call to change, but it is not enough to make change. That needs to happen now. Occupy has articulated what it is against, now it is time to show what you are for. No movement for change can succeed if is only about being against something, if it is about talking about how much of a victim you are. That's exactly what the 1 per cent want.
What the 1 per cent are deathly afraid of , is that the 99 will awaken to the simple equation printed above, and start to act on it. Not all the time, just some of the time. As our aggregate power and autonomy grows through avoiding consumer debt as much as we can, the power of Big Finance will weaken. Their ability to pay protection money to Congress, to run predatory marketing campaigns will be diminished. The Pendulum will start to swing our way.
Now go and remind everyone:
Your Debt = Their Wealth.
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