The Leaderless Revolution (Blue Rider Press, $10.99) is a guide to what's wrong with the current system and how to put it right. Judge the current economic and political system by its outputs: rising inequality, climate change, and mounting economic volatility. Things are not going as planned.
Across the world, and in the Occupy Wall Street movement, the shouts of protest are getting louder. But will protest alone be enough? Experience suggests otherwise. Instead, we need to consider new methods of political change. Not lobbying politicians, not signing petitions, but action, by ourselves, now. This is the old school way - if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself.
Here are 9 principles to consider in guiding that action. This is a different form of politics where we set up better systems to replace the old: non-profit banks, cooperative companies, and truly inclusive participatory forums of decision-making. And this method - non-violent, consulting those most affected -- offers a route to real and lasting change, not more "politics as usual."
For more information, visit the book's Website
Follow Carne Ross on Twitter: www.twitter.com/carneross
Chris Holden: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party: How They Appear on the Web
In Mexico in the mid-'90s Wall Street engineered a currency coup that tripled the debt owed by small businesses and family farms and also allowed for them to be massively ratejacked on top of it. Mexicans consequently formed the "el Barzon" movement and pushed back Wall Street and deposed their ruling party of 60+ years. In this country YouTube phenom Ann Minch has already declared the debtors' revolt and begun going after them.
If you've been pushed under, you can read every other page of my book for free: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25443175/Debt-Hope-Down-and-Dirty-Survival-Strategies-Evaluation-Version-Complete
Occupying Parks, the peoples mic and such have become a new orthodoxy very quickly. Stickin with that will just mean the movement will fizzle out.
This article pointed out a couple of pertinent points. One was to identify who are the problem causers. The banks and lobbyists work on 50 fronts at once and that is very hard to defeat stuck in a park, adamantly disorganized by intention.
The Occupy movement should adopt the tactics of the 1% and work on 50 fronts at once. Why? In order to be on the same battle field, not off to the side, irrelevant. The OWS movement has natural advantages that should give us victory.
But to appeal to the 99% we have to do more than the few who want to sit in a park and repeat things said in a loud tone. At one rally you could hear the speakers without the peoples mic and when the peoples mic was used you could no longer hear the speakers anymore. It is metaphorical. It is a refusal to pay attention and to evolve and be revolutionary.
Do what we are doing, do more, organize, disorganize. Run for office, boycott the elections. Do 50 different things at once or vanish is my suggestion.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/03/1042159/-A-Call-For-Unity?showAll=yes&via=blog_708966
The tech is here, just buried under corporate greed that we "must" buy in to because the alternatives are "kept" too expensive.
Robotics make all sorts of things for really cheap (and take away jobs). If robotics were used to make the (best kind of) solar collection and batteries, there would be MORE jobs as there are hundreds of thousands of square miles of potential installations!
This, I believe, is the silver bullet...
So the solution is in "all of us" forming a corporation complete with lawyers to fight off all those anti American (actually, anti-industrial) fee's, regulations, and overly redundant enviro laws.
Said corporation needs to be able to mine the dirt, make ALL the parts, distribute and hire installers (just as oil companies "do it all") in order to make the diffuse nature of sunlight... the UNLIMITED solution.
Sure, the solar energy infrastructure will cause some enviro damage... but only a small fraction of what the fossil fueled infra does today, therefore we must demand solar!
www.yesonsolar.com
Make them work for your money.
How many of you know "friends" that never vote?
How many of you know "friends" that live BEYOND THEIR MEANS on Credit Cards?...or used to?
Living beyond ones means on credit is a FORM OF TOXIC DEBT INSTRUMENT.
Wall Street preys on this behavior.
Do you buy Made in China? Or do you try to find Made in USA?
Some of my main contacts:
Huffingtonpost; nyt; wsj;washpost; npr; bbc
Campaign Information: campaigns@adbusters.org
Now What? Ideas: campaigns@adbusters.org
kono@adbusters.org
editor@adbusters.org
artdirector@adbusters.org
campaigns@adbusters.org
general@occupywallst.org
takethesquare@gmail.com
contact.takethesquare@gmail.com
Alliance for Global Justice Headquarters
afgj@afgj.org
Kathy Hoyt_National Co-Coordinator
kathy@afgj.org
James Jordan_National Co-Coordinator
CLRlabor@afgj.org
Jamie Way_Communications and Media Coordinator
info@afgj.org
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf
Many revolutions around the world, past and present, have used the methods outlined by Sharp. The Occupy Movement could use some of his wisdom.
- KarI Marx