1
1
1
Occupy America for Change - by Stephen Lendman
There's no turning back now.
Good ideas spread fast. This one's long overdue. Real grievances launched it.
They include out-of-control corporate power, complicit politicians, systemic corruption, predatory finance capital, capitalism itself, frustration turned to rage and activism, growing poverty, depravation, unemployment, imperial wars, environmental destruction, unprecedented inequality, rigged elections, and a nation no longer fit to live in for most in it.
There's no turning back now. A sign in New York's Liberty Plaza read, "The Beginning Is Near!" Struggling for change just began. Expect years before it ends. This fight's the mother of them all. Committed activists are putting their bodies on the line, facing off against brutal cops.
It's activist class struggle, pitting organized people against entrenched power.
Nothing short of changing America is needed. One OWS statement said:
"We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments."
Another said:
"The beauty of this new formula....is simplicity: we talk to each other (in) physical gatherings (and) people's assemblies. We zero in on what our one demand will be (that) awakens the imagination and, if achieved, would (achieve) radical democracy....and then we go out and seize a square....and put our asses on the line to make it happen."
Participants are independent, multi-racial and ethnic, and in the streets. They include many religions and age groups, kids and grannies, men and women, workers and unemployed, professionals, veterans, rich and poor together to change America.
They're a cross-pollination for a new nation, united in the fight of their lives too important to lose.
Rebuild the Dream.com posted a "Contract for the American Dream," saying:
"Today, the American Dream is under threat. Our veterans are coming home to few jobs and little hope on the home front. Our young people are graduating off a cliff, burdened by heavy debt, into the worst job market in half a century."
America's the world's richest nation. They want its resources used responsibly for everyone. They want jobs, not cuts. They listed "10 critical steps" to address, including:
- rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure;
