“No School * No Work * No Shopping. Hit the Streets”
Michael Collins
Originally Published in “Scoop” Independent Media
Washington, D.C.
A general strike is proposed for the United States on September11, 2007, the sixth anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks on New York City and Arlington, Virginia. The general strike movement has no clearly named leadership. It’s described as an Internet viral effort. Wikipedia defines viral efforts on the Internet as:
An object (or an idea) is viral when it has the ability to spread copies of itself or change other similar objects to become more like (it) when those objects are simply exposed to the viral object.
General strikes, more common in Europe, are events that shut down the normal operations of a city, state, or nation for a period of time. These strikes aim to force awareness and action on a single issue or broader set of concerns. The 9/11/07 General Strike has a central location - http://www.strike911.org/ - on the Internet, which is linked to and reproduced on a variety of other internet sites. The site states the rationale for the effort:
The General Strike is a national call to action, from citizens to other citizens. It is not about a single issue. It is not an anti-war protest, a civil rights protest, an election fraud protest. It is not about torture, surveillance, corporate media, the 9/11 coverup, or the environment. This strike is about all these issues and more.
We all have different concerns, but we all have the same concern: we are being lied to and this government does not represent us. Join other Americans in demanding truth, justice, and accountability.
This is our country.
And our world.
We just have to stand up.
A National Call to Action: Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
No school. No work. Buy nothing. Hit the streets (Click “ABOUT”)
LOCK DOWN USA – NO Answers (to anything)
The strike targets key issues facing the American public, issues that have not been addressed in any meaningful way by any branch of government. These include enduring questions and inconsistencies about 911, the Iraq War; violations of civil rights; and election fraud. As the statement above indicates, one key means of the coverup is the corporate media.
Citizen discontent with 911 has been expressed in a number of public opinion polls. One of the most shocking surveyed citizens of New York City. The little reported August, 2004 Zogby Poll found that “Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed.” National surveys also show substantial skepticism about the efforts of “US Leaders.”
Other concerns of the strike include areas of strong public skepticism. As of August, 2007, 64% of Americans oppose the Iraq War and a majority says it should never have happened in the first place. Massive violations of civil rights are occurring with the aid of the U.S. Department of Justice, as reported by its former voting rights head. Confidence in the legitimacy of the Bush government has been voiced in polls in Pennsylvania and in a national sample of registered voters. Both Zogby polls showed that tens of millions of Americans have little faith in the fairness and results of the 2004 presidential election.
Reflecting the disquiet of the American public, Bush popularity is in free fall. As low as 26% approval in recent polls, his decline has been steady and unending since the peak after the 9/11 attacks (with an odd spike on Election Day 2004).
The strike campaign argues that these and other issues rarely covered in any depth by nearly all of the corporate media leave only one move for citizens - a general strike to protest the policies plus the lack of recognition and response.
