Heres something I wrote after a recent march in Bisho by the Unemployed Peoples Movement and alied organisations.
Comments welcome.
Recently I joined a march of some 1000 people to the Bisho legislator. (You will not read about this march in the mainstream press, or about the thousands of similar protests which take place on a daily basis around the world. ) The aim of this march was to let the politicians know that people are unhappy with the job they are doing. To remind them that they work for us. To put power back in the hands of the people. A wide variety of organisations were represented and each presented a memorandum to the legislature outlining their grievances of their constituencies. No doubt it will get passed off as another service delivery protest, but it was so much more than that. It was but one instance of a revolution sweeping the planet.
So what was I, a white middle class student doing there- one of two white faces in a sea of black? Surely this is not my struggle. Friends and family are concerned for my safety. Should I not be? Am I not - by accident of having a pale skin- the enemy of the people gathered here? Most (though certainly not all) members of the middle class ( predominantly white) believe that this gathering, and the worldwide insurrection of which it is a part poses a threat to them and their way of life. They believe that in the eyes of the people here they are the enemy, that the people want to take away their cars and their houses and their land and their jobs. This is simply not true. There is in fact, with proper management, more than enough for everybody. So why do why do they feel so threatened? We should be working together.
I was at the march because I believe that we are all (white black pink brown yellow red and blue ) oppressed and imprisoned by the ‘mind-forged manacles’ of the present system. Look around you speak to your friends, ask questions. How many people are happy with the way things are? Are you? Certainly millions of people around the world are not and are taking to the streets. Why are they unhappy? I cannot begin to list the ills of the present system without launching into a thesis on the subject . If you are not aware of the crisis I suggest you do some research- find out for yourself.
Where to begin? How about the effect of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals on the environment? The deliberate suppression of sustainable alternatives? The massive inequity of distribution of world resources? The disastrous effects of the present systems of food production and distribution? The destruction of the eco-system through genetic modification of foods? The corruption of our governments by corporate interests and capital? The increasing militarisation of our society and the unrelenting drive to military solutions and police control? The increasing willingness to kill to maintain the status quo? The absolute insanity of viewing the disappearance of ice at the polar regions as an opportunity to scavenge these last wildernesses on earth for yet more fossil fuel? The inhumanity bred by a system where people have become mere tools for the accumulation of wealth? The brutal rape and destruction of a fragile ecosystem of which we are an organic part and without which we cannot exist? ( I would also suggest some writers- Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Richard Pitthouse) EDUCATE YOURSELVES.
As you read you will see a pattern begin to emerge. It becomes apparent that the resources and wealth of our planet, which in fact are the common heritage of all humanity, have been co-opted by a small elite who pursue their own agenda for material wealth with no regard for the cost. They control the worldwide economy through the massive corporations they have created, manipulating and imprisoning us all. They colonise our minds and drive us through their obscene obsession to the edge of the precipice from which emerge the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Poverty, War, Famine, Disease.
Read Revelations lately? Its all in there- rivers turning to blood, horrendous plagues, nations laid waste by fire and greed, gruesome monstrosities created by genetic manipulation, and relentless never-ending war. Whats next? The Mark of the Beast? A microchip inserted into every one of us so that our every movement is monitored and controlled. This is the future promised by the corporations. A planet laid waste, unable to sustain natural life, inhabited by new forms of warped, mutated beings , which feed on toxic waste to survive. Humanity itself, diseased corrupt and mutated, in perpetual slavery to the New Lords of the earth who live in obscene wealth in sealed domed fortresses from which they regularly unleash genetically manipulated bacterial and viral horrors to destroy the unnatural monstrosities they have created so they are not overwhelmed by them. As the gulf between rich and poor widens and more and more of humanity finds themselves wretched and starving, the greater the chances for a descent into a vicious spiral of violence as we turn on each other in desperation to wring the last scraps of food and water from the tomb of a dead planet.
I was at the march because I believe that humanity faces a struggle for its survival. The mind-colonisers have convinced the middle classes of the world that their best interest lies in alliance with them. They would have us sell them our souls for material wealth. They have us believe that if we spend our lives slaving away to fulfil their demonic quest of converting the abundant natural resources of our planet into cold, hard, inedible and largely IMAGINARY money, the “wealth” so created benefits us all by allowing them to create more jobs, in truth binding us all in wage slavery to the corporations. The wealth they say will “trickle down” to the less fortunate. The only thing trickling down is their poisonous waste. They are shitting on us. The truth is we are in a war against a demonically inspired 0.01% of the population who have ransomed our future . The unemployed, the poor and the homeless are on the frontlines of the battle. They bear the brunt of the horror and the suffering inflicted by the brutalisers and their minions. They are our natural allies. They have the numbers to resist. They are survivors.( Contrary to popular belief it is the capitalist accumulators, not the poor who are lazy(and fat) . What do they do but push imaginary piles of money around and plot and scheme to make more. The poor work bloody hard just to survive each day.) They offer hope for humanity’s renewal.
It is time for us to say enough. We are all fighting the same struggle. The majority of people in the world have no wish to fight one another. There is no need for violence. The living planet we inhabit provides more than enough for all to live in relative comfort and harmony. We need to put aside our differences and work together. We must build alternative networks of power, creating communities where we grow our own food, generate our own power through use of natural, renewable resources, educate our own children, make our own decisions about what crops we grow, what substances we choose to put in our bodies.
We do not need to rape the earth to extract fossil fuels. Oil should stay in the ground it has an important part to play in lubricating the massive plates which constantly move around, preventing earthquakes. This is true of all the minerals, resources and creatures of the miraculous planet we inhabit. Together they form a living bio-system in which each plant, each animal indeed each rock plays a part in sustaining the whole. The death of even the smallest of creatures sets in motion a chain reaction of dire consequences. Think of what would happen if bees became extinct. We are not the lords of nature, as our arrogance leads us to believe. We tamper with nature at our peril.
We need to de-colonise our minds and radically rethink our values—co-operation must replace competition, sharing of resources must replace capitalist accumulation, personal fulfilment through meaningful work must replace wage slavery.
There is , at least on paper, a wonderful system for creating co-operatives in place in this country. Like everything to do with the present government that system has become corrupted and the money intended to go to the people ends up in the hands of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. We need to educate ourselves about the process and begin building co-operatives so that businesses are owned by the people doing the work and taken out of the hands of the capitalists accumulators.( We need to be wary of nationalisation passed off as socialism-- putting business in the hands of the state is not the same as putting them in the hands of the people. This was the mistake made in the Soviet Union and led not to communism but state capitalism).
We do not need centralised states,( a fairly recent invention in the history of mankind and one designed for control) with politicians and bureaucrats legislating our lives away. We can govern ourselves by coming together as communities in a system of participatory democracy where all members of a community have a say in the making of any decisions that affect that community. And we definitely do not need corporations.
Capitalism is not the result of a natural historical process . it is not the peak of human evolution . it is not a sane a rational way of distributing or managing the resources of our world. It is an abomination, born in the blood and agony of genocide, rape and slavery. Again if you are not aware of your history do some research.. read up on the genocide of the Aztecs, the Incas, the North American Indians. The enslavement of the people of Africa. The rape of nations called colonisation. The death of millions today ignored as though it never happened. And still it continues. Today the corporations enslave us all through debt and send their own citizens to kill and die for oil. They are the only ones who today benefit from the atrocities of the past and the present.. Money= blood. The only debt crisis is the debt owed, in blood, by the corporations to the rest of humanity. We owe them NOTHING. It is time we removed this abomination.
It is time for a new system. We do not have to repeat the errors of the past. We have not yet come up with a system that works. Historically all our political systems have lead to bloodshed and chaos eventually..... So what?.. Does that mean we must settle for what we got....no.... We keep trying till we get it right. Innovation, experimentation --CHANGE. The very things the corporations have us fear are most vital for our survival. I believe that we are rational and intelligent enough to create a new system... from the ground up. Not based on capitalism or communism or any other ideology but something new. A system that works for everyone. But first we have to destroy the present system of corporate rule before it destroys us.
The first step is to remind the governments of the world that they work for the people not the corporations. They must decide , as must we all, if they stand with the people or the corporations.
That’s why I was there. I know which side I’m on. The people on the march know the system isn’t working. They know it’s time for change.
Of course the real question is “why were you not there?”
Comments welcome.
Recently I joined a march of some 1000 people to the Bisho legislator. (You will not read about this march in the mainstream press, or about the thousands of similar protests which take place on a daily basis around the world. ) The aim of this march was to let the politicians know that people are unhappy with the job they are doing. To remind them that they work for us. To put power back in the hands of the people. A wide variety of organisations were represented and each presented a memorandum to the legislature outlining their grievances of their constituencies. No doubt it will get passed off as another service delivery protest, but it was so much more than that. It was but one instance of a revolution sweeping the planet.
So what was I, a white middle class student doing there- one of two white faces in a sea of black? Surely this is not my struggle. Friends and family are concerned for my safety. Should I not be? Am I not - by accident of having a pale skin- the enemy of the people gathered here? Most (though certainly not all) members of the middle class ( predominantly white) believe that this gathering, and the worldwide insurrection of which it is a part poses a threat to them and their way of life. They believe that in the eyes of the people here they are the enemy, that the people want to take away their cars and their houses and their land and their jobs. This is simply not true. There is in fact, with proper management, more than enough for everybody. So why do why do they feel so threatened? We should be working together.
I was at the march because I believe that we are all (white black pink brown yellow red and blue ) oppressed and imprisoned by the ‘mind-forged manacles’ of the present system. Look around you speak to your friends, ask questions. How many people are happy with the way things are? Are you? Certainly millions of people around the world are not and are taking to the streets. Why are they unhappy? I cannot begin to list the ills of the present system without launching into a thesis on the subject . If you are not aware of the crisis I suggest you do some research- find out for yourself.
Where to begin? How about the effect of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals on the environment? The deliberate suppression of sustainable alternatives? The massive inequity of distribution of world resources? The disastrous effects of the present systems of food production and distribution? The destruction of the eco-system through genetic modification of foods? The corruption of our governments by corporate interests and capital? The increasing militarisation of our society and the unrelenting drive to military solutions and police control? The increasing willingness to kill to maintain the status quo? The absolute insanity of viewing the disappearance of ice at the polar regions as an opportunity to scavenge these last wildernesses on earth for yet more fossil fuel? The inhumanity bred by a system where people have become mere tools for the accumulation of wealth? The brutal rape and destruction of a fragile ecosystem of which we are an organic part and without which we cannot exist? ( I would also suggest some writers- Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Richard Pitthouse) EDUCATE YOURSELVES.
As you read you will see a pattern begin to emerge. It becomes apparent that the resources and wealth of our planet, which in fact are the common heritage of all humanity, have been co-opted by a small elite who pursue their own agenda for material wealth with no regard for the cost. They control the worldwide economy through the massive corporations they have created, manipulating and imprisoning us all. They colonise our minds and drive us through their obscene obsession to the edge of the precipice from which emerge the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Poverty, War, Famine, Disease.
Read Revelations lately? Its all in there- rivers turning to blood, horrendous plagues, nations laid waste by fire and greed, gruesome monstrosities created by genetic manipulation, and relentless never-ending war. Whats next? The Mark of the Beast? A microchip inserted into every one of us so that our every movement is monitored and controlled. This is the future promised by the corporations. A planet laid waste, unable to sustain natural life, inhabited by new forms of warped, mutated beings , which feed on toxic waste to survive. Humanity itself, diseased corrupt and mutated, in perpetual slavery to the New Lords of the earth who live in obscene wealth in sealed domed fortresses from which they regularly unleash genetically manipulated bacterial and viral horrors to destroy the unnatural monstrosities they have created so they are not overwhelmed by them. As the gulf between rich and poor widens and more and more of humanity finds themselves wretched and starving, the greater the chances for a descent into a vicious spiral of violence as we turn on each other in desperation to wring the last scraps of food and water from the tomb of a dead planet.
I was at the march because I believe that humanity faces a struggle for its survival. The mind-colonisers have convinced the middle classes of the world that their best interest lies in alliance with them. They would have us sell them our souls for material wealth. They have us believe that if we spend our lives slaving away to fulfil their demonic quest of converting the abundant natural resources of our planet into cold, hard, inedible and largely IMAGINARY money, the “wealth” so created benefits us all by allowing them to create more jobs, in truth binding us all in wage slavery to the corporations. The wealth they say will “trickle down” to the less fortunate. The only thing trickling down is their poisonous waste. They are shitting on us. The truth is we are in a war against a demonically inspired 0.01% of the population who have ransomed our future . The unemployed, the poor and the homeless are on the frontlines of the battle. They bear the brunt of the horror and the suffering inflicted by the brutalisers and their minions. They are our natural allies. They have the numbers to resist. They are survivors.( Contrary to popular belief it is the capitalist accumulators, not the poor who are lazy(and fat) . What do they do but push imaginary piles of money around and plot and scheme to make more. The poor work bloody hard just to survive each day.) They offer hope for humanity’s renewal.
It is time for us to say enough. We are all fighting the same struggle. The majority of people in the world have no wish to fight one another. There is no need for violence. The living planet we inhabit provides more than enough for all to live in relative comfort and harmony. We need to put aside our differences and work together. We must build alternative networks of power, creating communities where we grow our own food, generate our own power through use of natural, renewable resources, educate our own children, make our own decisions about what crops we grow, what substances we choose to put in our bodies.
We do not need to rape the earth to extract fossil fuels. Oil should stay in the ground it has an important part to play in lubricating the massive plates which constantly move around, preventing earthquakes. This is true of all the minerals, resources and creatures of the miraculous planet we inhabit. Together they form a living bio-system in which each plant, each animal indeed each rock plays a part in sustaining the whole. The death of even the smallest of creatures sets in motion a chain reaction of dire consequences. Think of what would happen if bees became extinct. We are not the lords of nature, as our arrogance leads us to believe. We tamper with nature at our peril.
We need to de-colonise our minds and radically rethink our values—co-operation must replace competition, sharing of resources must replace capitalist accumulation, personal fulfilment through meaningful work must replace wage slavery.
There is , at least on paper, a wonderful system for creating co-operatives in place in this country. Like everything to do with the present government that system has become corrupted and the money intended to go to the people ends up in the hands of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. We need to educate ourselves about the process and begin building co-operatives so that businesses are owned by the people doing the work and taken out of the hands of the capitalists accumulators.( We need to be wary of nationalisation passed off as socialism-- putting business in the hands of the state is not the same as putting them in the hands of the people. This was the mistake made in the Soviet Union and led not to communism but state capitalism).
We do not need centralised states,( a fairly recent invention in the history of mankind and one designed for control) with politicians and bureaucrats legislating our lives away. We can govern ourselves by coming together as communities in a system of participatory democracy where all members of a community have a say in the making of any decisions that affect that community. And we definitely do not need corporations.
Capitalism is not the result of a natural historical process . it is not the peak of human evolution . it is not a sane a rational way of distributing or managing the resources of our world. It is an abomination, born in the blood and agony of genocide, rape and slavery. Again if you are not aware of your history do some research.. read up on the genocide of the Aztecs, the Incas, the North American Indians. The enslavement of the people of Africa. The rape of nations called colonisation. The death of millions today ignored as though it never happened. And still it continues. Today the corporations enslave us all through debt and send their own citizens to kill and die for oil. They are the only ones who today benefit from the atrocities of the past and the present.. Money= blood. The only debt crisis is the debt owed, in blood, by the corporations to the rest of humanity. We owe them NOTHING. It is time we removed this abomination.
It is time for a new system. We do not have to repeat the errors of the past. We have not yet come up with a system that works. Historically all our political systems have lead to bloodshed and chaos eventually..... So what?.. Does that mean we must settle for what we got....no.... We keep trying till we get it right. Innovation, experimentation --CHANGE. The very things the corporations have us fear are most vital for our survival. I believe that we are rational and intelligent enough to create a new system... from the ground up. Not based on capitalism or communism or any other ideology but something new. A system that works for everyone. But first we have to destroy the present system of corporate rule before it destroys us.
The first step is to remind the governments of the world that they work for the people not the corporations. They must decide , as must we all, if they stand with the people or the corporations.
That’s why I was there. I know which side I’m on. The people on the march know the system isn’t working. They know it’s time for change.
Of course the real question is “why were you not there?”
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