Today, three of us had a very provocative conversation here at this hostel in the middle of nowhere ‘Now Here’ in Portugal; a Portuguese guy, an Argentinian IT worker I’ve come to know in the last week and myself. We talked about how the media uses fear to manipulate people, how Pharma companies have lied about and manipulated the entire world towards feeling fear and guilt about vaccines (along with truths about Covid) and how one very inexpensive and effective cure Ivermectin has been quickly denounced and silenced. We talked about cell phone addictions and ultra materialism….and that many of the political satirists, from George Carlin years ago foreseeing how the government and media are puppets to multinationals who are actually the elite in control.
The Portuguese guy says that it’s almost the same as an authoritarian dictatorship, except that a tyrannical ruler has a face you can point to and blame, whereas this convoluted machine of money and power driving people to busily occupy themselves with just trying to survive with high costs and who are complacently consuming social media (addictively and incessantly) wind up not really questioning or even being consciously aware of the degree to which they are being controlled.
The NY Times has had one after another super frightening article in the last days, yesterday about Philadelphia being rife with guns and shootings, more than NYC or LA. And today an article about a MASSIVE PERFECT STORM that will at any time hit California. Not earthquakes, droughts or fires, but a brewing mega storm with water building from Hawaii, to the extent of the Mississippi river in the sky…and that when it hits the mountains of CA, it will bring biblical rains. This was in today’s paper. So though it may very well be true, the media does its job of keeping people at a high pitch of fear and dread, because this is an excellent vehicle to control people.
The one guy was saying that George Carlin was so right on…and yet few people are aware enough to even question or seek to know. He and I have seen families, sitting with each parent looking down at their phone while their toddlers are acting out, simply seeking to get attention from a parent who sits there entranced, absent and unavailable to properly give he child attention.
I just made a list of (some) of the political satirists from whom I’ve been enlightened about issues, plus another Brit I hadn’t yet heard of till today, Ricky Gervais. If you haven’t listened to Russel Brand, Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Hasan Minhaj…I suggest that you do.
They discuss truths in depth, which mainstream media averts talking about. And the three wealthiest men in the world – Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson – who each coordinated their rocket launches with their massive carbon footprint and complete audacity to ignore the global warming occurring that is causing the massive droughts, floods, mass extinction, as if they are above it all and act with impunity with absolutely no regard for what is occurring on the earth – rather than using their money and power to instigate massive action to begin to heal the world, they are guilty for soaring mass delusion.
What can we do about it? It seems not much. Except that the more that people become aware that our financial system is perpetuating our demise –
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0G6obeUKWmw&t=166s – the more that the massive population – and the industries profiting from misinformation and disinformation – and government officials who are millionaire pawns pocketing their gifts and continuing as if we aren’t in the middle of a disaster of magnanimous proportions – can hold them accountable. But as long as people are sleep walking and bent over looking down at their phones rather than looking up and speaking personally with one another, nothing will change.
Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook and music composition. The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.
Basically, I looked at Naomi Klein’s facebook page posts, and decided to share the information. Shamelessly, judiciously; regarding fascism, racism and environmental injustice. The text below accompanying the article on the need to abolish fascism, I was unable to select/copy/past the text on Chrome or Safari on my iPad, so I typed it in order to share.
It’s basically about the fact that abolishing racism needs to go hand in hand with abolishing capitalism that is in the reins of corporations, rather then the people owning and operating their resources and utilities, and putting their own effort and mutual trust into the commons, from which they also profit. Racism is a part of a larger picture of objectifying nature. Therefore we need to look differently upon how we utilize and share our resources. When we are in control of how we use our land, we will be approaching differently. Instead of viewing ‘work’ and ‘jobs’ that sabotage the natural world and spoil our immediate surroundings, we can choose to put our insights, time and labor into ‘re-creating’; contributing to beautifying, cleaning, and manifesting sustainable energy, housing and land that enhances the habitats of the other creatures with whom we share our planet.
Kristallnacht is all about the normalization of fascism that lead to the Holocaust of Nazi Germany.
The article is basically about the fact that abolishing racism needs to go hand in hand with abolishing capitalism, which is in the reins of corporations, rather then the people owning and operating their resources and utilities. We can put effort and mutual trust into creating and developing our commons, from which they also profit. Racism is a part of a larger picture of objectifying nature. Therefore we need to look differently upon how we utilize and share our resources. When we are in control of how we use our land, we will be approaching differently. Instead of viewing ‘work’ and ‘jobs’ that sabotage the natural world and spoil our immediate surroundings, we can choose to put our insights, time and labor into ‘re-creating’; contributing to beautifying, cleaning, and manifesting sustainable energy, housing and land that enhances the habitats of the other creatures with whom we share our planet.
Here’s the writing that accompanied the article, by Naomi Klein:
“Calls to ‘Defund the police’ and ‘Abolish the police’ are not just a call to reign in the arm of the state that is brutalizing and murdering African-Americans and minorities, it is rightly a call for community control of state institutions.
This call is in line with what happened at Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021, for the police have now exposed themselves as being predominantly white supremacist, leaving a minority of officers not knowing what was going to happen, to defend Capitol Hill….against police officers and US military tied to fascism and white supremacy.
Of the 72 million voters for Trump, about 15,000 laid siege to the Capitol. Of about 75 million Democratic voters, there is still disillusionment with both parties.
What does that mean? If reflects 5 things:
1. The economy after 2008 has changed. It is now based on and surviving on debt. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) saw the US govt. hand $ trillions to banks (but not to people) …and it is this govt. debt that is keeping capitalism afloat. (Yes, the debt that future American youths will have to pay off).
In the GFC, people lost their homes, jobs, were evicted, and houses sat empty with windows smashed and graffiti after banks sold them, while people moved into cardboard boxes and ate from charities.
2. Capitalism globally is unable to create jobs. It is no longer a job-creating machine.
The main areas where jobs are now being created are in mining (yes, digging out things that don’t belong to American corporations, for they belong to First Nations) or clean energy.
The exceptions are a few countries like China which has bounced out of a Covid-driven recession.
3. Where there is economic crisis, there will be political crisis.
The alternative to Trump that is being offered in the US, is what the US had before Trump…which are the very conditions that led people to vote for Trump.
This i no rib-digging, please listen carefully. It is unfortunate that the Democrats have never been able to answer this question:
“What will you do to increase job security and create job opportunities?” This is why they have lost a chunk of workers’ votes.
The crisis of capitalism will continue to affect the Biden administration as it needs to choose between “subsidizing and defending corporations”, or “funding people and cutting their purse strings from corporations”.
4. Let’s look at the phrase “All Live Matter”. Capitalists and Republicans are all about ‘gas-lighting-, which is a form of abuse and violence. They have no respect for people’s demands.
In Australia, a royal commission investigation into abuse of the elderly in nursing homes, and of people with a disability in institutional care, saw the govt. immediately adopt the recommendations.
This also happened after an investigation into the hotel quarantine system that allowed Covid-19 to rip through the elderly in nursing homes.
But the govt. hardly took up any recommendations after the commission investigation into why so many First Nations people have been dying when in contact with the police in a police van, in an overnight jail cell, or in custody. Yes, police have been murdering Aboriginal people regularly.
Since that investigation that released 339 recommendations in 1991, over 440 Aboriginal people continue to be killed by the police, without any police conviction.
And when people say ‘Black Lives Matter’, the Australian conservative govt. says ‘no, all lives matter’. It’s like saying to the investigation into the elderly or disabled…’Elderly Lives matter, we need to fund services for the Elderly properly’, they instead say ‘No, all lives matter, we don’t need to fund services for the Elderly anymore than for anyone else’.
Call it out as gas-lighting. They use a statement of equality to undermine our “call for equality”. Throw back at them phrases like ‘Racist, racist, racist…’ when they question our chants of ‘Black Lives Matter’….because they are gas-lighters and abusers.
5. Capitalists do not care about our free speech. The corporations fired Colin Kaepernick when he expressed himself under the 1st Amendment. If they believe in free speech, they would not be trying to capture Edward Snowden or Julian Assange.
The capitalists’ push for ‘free speech’ for fascists, is to normalize and spread racism, hate speech and fascism.
FREEDOM FOR THE FASCISTS AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS IS DEATH FOR THE REST OF US.
So in conclusion, of the 72 million Trump voters who did not lay siege to the Capitol, we need to break the backs of the fascists to show voters that there is an alternative hope in the hopelessness offered by capitalism.
This means that in the US, it’s time to join our “Labor Actions to Defend Democracy”, “united against Hate”, First Nations’ movements, our ‘Black Lives Matter’ groups, and importantly our unions…and organize national movements.
We know it’s possible to have mass movements on the streets that are Covid-safe, political, strong and can move the state to make changes in our call for solutions and answers that we need to hear.
In the rise of racism and fascism, we need to build a militant, non-compromising, anti-racist movement that fights for a better world, a better way of doing things.
This is the only way we can push the Biden administration to go further in prioritizing the people over corporations. This is the only way we can stop Trumpism even when Trump is gone.
In other countries, there will be equivalent organizations. We all have racists to address, by setting the example that we will fight for a better society on our own terms, defy capitalism, and will break the backs of fascism.
From the fascism in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Chile, India, Hungary, Israel and other places, past and present….we say ‘Never Again’.
And also featured as a post on Naomi Klein’s facebook page, is this article about what is neglected to being mentioned in the news, day after day, week after week.
“Nuclear weapons are stockpiled, to make the world a safer place.”
I am profoundly moved and awakened, each time that I’ve listened to Arundhati Roy’s ‘Come September’ speech which she boldy presented at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico 2002, in which she states
“Nuclear weapons are stockpiled, to make the world a safer place.”
Roy quotes Thomas Friedman talking about the US policy of using war to support their control of resources. Each of the recent US wars fought for oil.
I read Arundhati’s book “God of Small Things” and have listened to her recently as a guest of Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. She is still active and bold in her declarations. She’s a heroine for sure.
“Our Squad Is Big”: Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley Condemn Trump’s Racist Attack in a news conference Monday. All are sharp and dignified, each mentioning that Chump’s actions are a distraction. None of them take the bait, all are dignified and articulate in their speeches.
Democratic Congressmembers Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, condemned President Trump’s spate of racist attacks against them in a news conference Monday.
Turns out that I wrote too hastily before knowing the facts, therefore the initial message of my post was a misinformed hunch. I hadn’t realized that there’s a minimum age limit of 35 years to be president of the United States of America. Therefore, at best, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is campaigning to make sure that the Green New Deal plays a major role on all platforms. And as her popularity sky rockets because of her cleverness, authenticity and passion – as this article in the Guardian stresses – who she endorses will be a major issue for all contenders.
Democrats covet an endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez
This would be the time for Trump to throw out yet another executive order – bypassing laws – to lower the age limit of running for president. 🙂
Get Ready for the Green New Deal as expressed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
As she states in this rally for the Green New Deal at Howard University in Washington D.C.
“We can not allow ourselves to be bullied out of our values, any more. Our history may be written, but our future is not. Cynicism is what the established 1% want you to have. Yet, the average every day person has never been more powerful than it is today. We all need to have these conversations, to elevate our collective consciousness. Big Money has never been weaker.”
Get Ready for the Green New Deal as being a central issue for whomever Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorses as a democratic runner for President.
“No More”“Basta”
She says, “We can not allow ourselves to be bullied out of our values, any more. Our history may be written, but our future is not. Cynicism is what the established 1% want you to have, yet the average every day person has never been more powerful than it is today; to have these conversations, to elevate our collective consciousness. Big Money has never been weaker.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Green New Deal speech
The Green New Deal campaign rally will convince the American public of the importance of taking care of our relationship to the earth, and to one another, above anything else.
Inequality and Earth Injustice ‘No More’
I’m all over it! For non-native English speakers that means, I’m full-on 100% aligned and in support of the Green New Deal and everything this beautiful, brave, articulate and erudite woman says. She’s extremely well educated and intelligent. She knows what she’s talking about AND she has the passion and down-to-earth humanity to communicate the feeling that you can trust her. I am so grateful that she is putting massive energy into putting many topics out in front, that have been side-lined or simply taboo to even discuss.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Green New Deal speech
I trust that the American people can listen and be convinced if they are on the fence, and fully embrace what she is saying from the heart about how much industrial and corporate powers have gotten away with at the expense of people who they trampled over. I believe that whoever she endorses, she will be continue to put on the heat and emphasize diplomatically to the world what needs to be on every leader’s table.
Ocasio-Cortez blows roof off building with EPIC speech
And it could be this heroic woman will actually, despite perhaps fear, reticence and reluctance at first, lead all of us to actually participate in saving our planet and as many species as we can.
I stand by her. I’ve been impressed with every speech. Therefore her campaign for the Green New Deal will certainly require anyone who she endorses, to be someone who will completely support it and promise to lead the public to make the dramatic changes that we need to make across the world, to save as many life forms of the planet from extinction and ourselves, and to change the course of the mainstream consciousness.
Just as with the actions and presence of Greta Thunberg, the Swedish girl who started the school strikes to end her governments and the world’s silence about global warming and extinction, I feel very hopeful that AOC has taken the world stage!
We Can do this, We Must do this Together and We Can Have a Great Time As We Make the Changes Together
> Learning, Creating, Inspiring and Conspiring <
Corporate Greed and Corpocrisy No More
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Jane Goodall Everything is Connected Everyone Can Make a Difference
It was estimated that up to 50 million tons of electronic waste—mainly computers and smartphones—was dumped in 2017 alone (UNEP).
Jane Goodall The Forest is Calling Answering it is our only Hope
Jane Goodall Recycle unwanted Mobile Devices
Jane Goodall Terribly Important Recycle Old Cell Phones
Kate Raworth has an essential concept to consider in her TEDtalk regarding redesigning our economic strategies, away from the dependency on continued growth, in a world with finite resources and space, to one which nourishes the natural world and recognizes the worth of allowing all life to thrive. – an Economy Designed to Thrive not Grow
Kate Raworth Economy Distributed vs. Centralized
Kate Raworth TED talk Economy Designed to Thrive not Grow
Kate Raworth Economy Ecological Ceiling Social Foundation
Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition
The PayPal donation button functions in Safari and Firefox, however is broken in Chrome.
Chomsky claims that the rejection of healthcare and lack of a real labor presence is symbolic of the much larger issue in the United States > that people do not participate or defend democracy, but are willing puppets of a political realm ruled by a wealthy few, to whom the population simply does not oppose, but subjugate their passions and dreams to agree to the system dictated by a ruling class – who the population could overpower with their force, if they simply wished to stand up for their rights to represent and govern themselves.
I’ve basically excerpted the article, juggling it around a bit to put the most poignant parts from the conclusion – at the beginning – for those who have no time to read. Hence it’s a sort of ‘cliff notes’ version of the article.
And as I posted on Facebook regarding this Truthout article, thank you so much Noam Chomsky for being the expansive and insightful person whom you are!
Noam Chomsky-information website
“The US health care system has long been an international scandal, with about twice the per capita expenses of other wealthy (OECD) countries and relatively poor outcomes. The ACA did, however, bring improvements, including insurance for tens of millions of people who lacked it, banning of refusal of insurance for people with prior disabilities, and other gains — and also, it appears to have led to a reduction in the increase of health care costs, though that is hard to determine precisely.
Returning to your question, it raises a crucial question about American democracy: why isn’t the population “demanding” what it strongly prefers? Why is it allowing concentrated private capital to undermine necessities of life in the interests of profit and power?
….The question directs our attention to a profound democratic deficit in an atomized society, lacking the kind of popular associations and organizations that enable the public to participate in a meaningful way in determining the course of political, social and economic affairs. These would crucially include a strong and participatory labor movement and actual political parties growing from public deliberation and participation instead of the elite-run candidate-producing groups that pass for political parties. What remains is a depoliticized society in which a majority of voters (barely half the population even in the super-hyped presidential elections, much less in others) are literally disenfranchised, in that their representatives disregard their preferences while effective decision-making lies largely in the hands of tiny concentrations of wealth and corporate power…
Turning finally to your question again, a rather general answer, which applies in its specific way to contemporary western democracies, was provided by David Hume over 250 years ago, in his classic study of the First Principles of Government. Hume found “nothing more surprising than to see the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and to observe the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is brought about, we shall find, that as Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. `Tis therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular.”
Implicit submission is not imposed by laws of nature or political theory. It is a choice, at least in societies such as ours, which enjoys the legacy provided by the struggles of those who came before us. Here power is indeed “on the side of the governed,” if they organize and act to gain and exercise it. That holds for health care and for much else.”
The House of Representatives, dominated by Republicans (with a minority of voters), has voted over 50 times in the past six years to repeal or weaken Obamacare, but they have yet to come up with anything like a coherent alternative.
…
Comparison of the attitude toward elementary rights of labor and extraordinary rights of private power tells us a good deal about the nature of American society.
…
The expulsion or mass killing of Indigenous nations cleared the ground for the invading settlers, who had enormous resources and ample fertile lands at their disposal, and extraordinary security for reasons of geography and power. That led to the rise of a society of individual farmers, and also, thanks to slavery, substantial control of the product that fueled the industrial revolution: cotton, the foundation of manufacturing, banking, commerce, retail for both the US and Britain, and less directly, other European societies. Also relevant is the fact that the country has actually been at war for 500 years with little respite, a history that has created “the richest, most powerful¸ and ultimately most militarized nation in world history,” as scholar Walter Hixson has documented.
…
Administrative costs are far greater in the private component of the health care system than in Medicare, which itself suffers by having to work through the private system.
Comparisons with other countries reveal much more bureaucracy and higher administrative costs in the US privatized system than elsewhere. One study of the US and Canada a decade ago, by medical researcher Steffie Woolhandler and associates, found enormous disparities, and concluded that “Reducing U.S. administrative costs to Canadian levels would save at least $209 billion annually, enough to fund universal coverage.
…
Another anomalous feature of the US system is the law banning the government from negotiating drug prices, which leads to highly inflated prices in the US as compared with other countries. That effect is magnified considerably by the extreme patent rights accorded to the pharmaceutical industry in “trade agreements,” enabling monopoly profits. In a profit-driven system, there are also incentives for expensive treatments rather than preventive care, as strikingly in Cuba, with remarkably efficient and effective health care.”
Carol Keiter the blogger
Carol Keiter aka nomadbeatz welcomes donations for her writing, photography, illustrations, eBook & music composition
On Saturday May 14th, all over the world, a coordinated action to break free from fossil fuels will take place. These actions will take place at strategic locations where people can come together. The southwest central hub is Los Angeles, California. People will meet at the City Hall at 1pm, 200 N. Spring St.
I wish to join from my current location in Tucson, Arizona, however I don’t have a vehicle or disposable income. It’s a 7.5 hour drive along Interstate 10. I just hitched to San Francisco 10 days ago, and frankly, would prefer to join people in a ride. nomadbeatz@graffiti.net If anyone reads this, perhaps a few vehicles could be coordinated. https://la.breakfree2016.org/transport/
Californians and people of the southwestern states will convene in L.A., home to the nation’s largest urban oil field in the United States—ground zero of California’s climate fight. We will demand that our elected leaders put an end to the oil and gas production that threaten the state’s health, environment and future. If California wants to uphold its legacy as a global climate leader, then we must keep oil and gas in the ground as we work toward establishing a sustainable energy economy.
In my case, I wish to attend the Los Angeles action. If anyone is interested in joining, here’s the link to get involved. https://la.breakfree2016.org/#join
Having not lived in the United States for a while, I’m not familiar with this writer nor his column, yet the contents of his words reverberated. Heise holds a Ph.D. in economics and is professor emeritus of economics at Lebanon Valley College. This was published in the Opinion section of the Lebanon Daily News, January 5th, 2012. He suggests that Americans let go of their fears and apprehension, and open their minds to seizing new opportunities; through actively taking proactive steps and taking responsibility for creating the life that we want, to once again set examples for the world to follow!
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A happy new year, if we will work at it
By PAUL HEISE
The new year is a good time to seek out and celebrate the opportunities that life presents us.
The actual happiness of this new year will depend not on fate or accident but on how we respond to the opportunities we face. The opportunities are there, and we face a bright future so long as we do not panic and retreat into fear.
Certainly, our highest hopes flow from the physical sciences because they are the base of the technology that sustains us. The theoretical scientists, working in real time, promise new worlds as yet undreamed of.
For example, in biology, DNA research offers the opportunity to change the very nature of humanity. In physics, the search for the boson particle offers us the excitement of a possible fifth dimension. These opportunities are so stunning that they are and should be frightening.
America as a nation spends huge sums on scientific research. While too much of that is military, a lot does spill over to the private sector. Advances in robotics in regard to artificial limbs have been applied to the general population. GPS technology is good for more than just smart bombs targeting terrorists. Similarly, drone technology has been applied to rescue people as well as to slaughter them.
Managing these technologies promises a future of both jobs and wealth, if we are willing to spend the research money directly on domestic needs.
Technically and economically, the world can produce enough to feed, clothe, house, medicate and educate to a reasonable middle-class standard. The only problems in the way of that are political. The 30-year stagnation of the wages of the middle-class and therefore much of our poverty are not accidental. They are the result of class warfare.
We now live in a plutocracy, government by the wealthy, with extremes of inequality in wealth and income not seen for more than 80 years. These inequalities are also the underlying cause of our current depression.
America will get a growing, prosperous economy in 2012 only if we give the middle-class a wage increase commensurate with their increased productivity.
If we want to have a prosperous new year, we must put our political house in order. The financial sector does not have a right to the money it stole or the political power it purchased with that money. We need to demand accountability for the criminal behavior of bank presidents and not just crack addicts.
Our Constitution and all of our universal and unalienable rights, especially freedom from warrantless search and seizure, must be defended and not given up because we are afraid. Corporations have limited liability, uncontrolled size and immortality; no person I know has any of those attributes.
The tea party and the Occupy Wall Street movement agree on at least this much, so the country is surely ready to fight those battles. Coordinated SWAT team action and pepper spray should not deter us.
America is still the most powerful cultural force for good in the world, and politically the world is going our way despite what you hear.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, with its attack on income inequality, was quickly copied across the developed world. Divergent forms of democratic capitalism are emerging and being welcomed. The repressive aspects of Chinese state capitalism are being challenged by the Chinese people themselves. India’s combination of socialism and capitalism is still emerging. Latin America is quietly slipping free of the IMF and North American corporate control. A democratic Arab Spring is outperforming militant Islamism. Across the world, the creation and spreading of wealth is becoming more important than political ideology.
If we revive the middle class here at home and reach out to others, we will have a great year, and the world will go along. Instead of projecting power in the Far East with aircraft carriers, we will share with China the development of an emerging Southeast Asia. Instead of threatening Iran, we will recognize its natural position as a leader in the Middle East. Instead of fighting the world consensus on global climate change, we will be leading the repair of the planet. Instead of fearing science, we will complete that stalled particle accelerator down in Texas. Instead of closing our borders and our hearts, we will open them so we are still the land of the free.
List your own favorite tasks, and we will all have a daunting but exciting agenda.
America and the world face the prospect of a prosperous and peaceful world. But America is still the only country that can lead us all forward. If we succumb to a bickering fear – of technology, of dark-skinned people, of ourselves – we will not lead.
Let’s look at the new year not just as a gift of opportunity but as a task to be accomplished. Then it will be a really happy new year!
A resident of Mt. Gretna, Heise holds a Ph.D. in economics and is professor emeritus of economics at Lebanon Valley College. His column appears every other Thursday. He maintains past columns and can be reached through his blog, paulheise.blogspot.com.
Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? …a proposal from Michael Moore
“Occupy Everything” Discussion panel on Democracy Now with Michael Moore, Naomi Klein…guests of Amy Goodman.
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
Friends,
This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement’s “vision statement” to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
The next step will be to develop a specific list of goals and demands. As one of the millions of people who are participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I would like to respectfully offer my suggestions of what we can all get behind now to wrestle the control of our country out of the hands of the 1% and place it squarely with the 99% majority.
Here is what I will propose to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
10 Things We Want
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
6. Reorder our nation’s spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can’t run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)
10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a “second bill of rights” as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
Let me know what you think. Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of millions. It is a movement that cannot be stopped. Become part of it by sharing your thoughts with me or online (at OccupyWallSt.org). Get involved in (or start!) your own local Occupy movement. Make some noise. You don’t have to pitch a tent in lower Manhattan to be an Occupier. You are one just by saying you are. This movement has no singular leader or spokesperson; every participant is a leader in their neighborhood, their school, their place of work. Each of you is a spokesperson to those whom you encounter. There are no dues to pay, no permission to seek in order to create an action.
We are but ten weeks old, yet we have already changed the national conversation. This is our moment, the one we’ve been hoping for, waiting for. If it’s going to happen it has to happen now. Don’t sit this one out. This is the real deal. This is it.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com
Back in Rhode Island when I was bicycling 6 or so miles from Providence – to swim in the only nearby lake at Lincoln Woods State Park – I encountered a dead deer along the road. The Police were already standing next to it. It was upsetting. It’s an area where Power lines cut through […]
Gabor Mate transcript Gabor Mate speaks the truth, eloquently. 10 years ago!!! It is essential to read Gabor Mate’s transcript, for the emotionally, psychologically and spiritually sick population of the Wealthy western world (specifically the USA and its derivatives, exporting sick values from a hypocritical social and economic system of Capitalism) because healing and awareness […]
Startling, frightening, no Hollywood horror movie could be more chilling than this political documentary. A Brown University study reveals that the USA has engaged in conflicts with 100 countries. The corporate media has colluded in all the conflicts, acting as stenographers for the Pentagon, rather than questioning and investigating. “20 Years After Iraq Invasion: “War […]
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Regardless of the shape or species of your pet, Pet á Portrait will deliver the hard copy after you send via the internet pics or videos of your fav! Animals Watering Hole Africa – Dec. 20, 2018 < > the process
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I propose building tiny house communities to provide affordable housing, with an emphasis on living harmoniously with biodiversity in a clean and sustainable manner within the local geophysical environmental parameters. The community members investment prioritizes clean land, water, energy, transportation, shared gardens – as part of an ‘economic’ commons – in which shared ownership encourages […]
I dreamed last night to post the current page I’m editing of my book. For one thing, I made it over the psychological hump of not having opened the book in months. Now I’m back in the swing, and perhaps wish to as much also display the kind of book I am writing. I was […]
Speaking of cultures exported from the USA and particularly in Italy, embracing ‘style and fashion’ as a high priority and status symbol. This graffiti ‘street art’ in a pedestrian tunnel in Verona, Italy eloquently displays how humans are drawn to wear clothing and shoes ~ sporting a handbag or hat or the most updated phone […]
So, i’m off to the Apple store again tomorrow to click 1430 times, deleting 50 emails per click, of 74,000…which built up when upon using exclusively an ipad to check email, and didn’t quite understand what these other folders where mail was being ferried to;ie ‘social’, ‘promotions’, also needed to be cleared out. I didn’t […]
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Yes, it had to be a dream, because i was feeling euphoric about Berlin, and then i woke up. The point of this, is that what I noticed and attended to when viewing documentations of history in museums, was fed by the associations I made with recent conversations and my web of insights through the […]
What could be the change? Which do you choose? Amassing stuff & money, or interacting with nature, in body and spirit, for free? I don’t know about you, I have only my experiences from my own family life where i was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania among cats, dogs, trees and lots of exposure […]
Startling, frightening, no Hollywood horror movie could be more chilling than this political documentary. A Brown University study reveals that the USA has engaged in conflicts with 100 countries. The corporate media has colluded in all the conflicts, acting as stenographers for the Pentagon, rather than questioning and investigating. “20 Years After Iraq Invasion: “War […]
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The Bell pepper was the first option, before I had a pan. After borrowing a shallow baking pan, I halved an acorn squash, scooped out the seeds, put it face down on a slightly oiled (olive oil) pan, and halved an onion, and plucked a few garlic cloves, leaving their skin on to retain moisture. […]
Posting a ‘job/home/community relocation’ info ad for myself! I, Carol Keiter, blogger, writer, musician, composer, environmental and nature enthusiast and animal activist need to relocate within weeks. I need to hone into> the right location, community and sources for work that will fulfill the job description which has evolved, as I’ve been writing this! I […]
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