Giving Rall full credit for having the balls to say that in a syndicated column, as well as in his book, I see two further problems with his reasoning: 1) The ruling class controls the military, the police, all the mercenaries, and all the big weapons; and 2) the ruling class controls television, so the average American gun owner thinks Muslims or illegal immigrants or the unworthy poor or liberals or commies are the source of his problems. This would lead to a gunfight with 99% of the guns pointed at the left, which would be unlikely to make the rich and powerful surrender much.
So is that indeed all there is? If violence doesn't work, does everyone have to supplicate before power? Beg Obama, the stooge of Wall Street, to please just meet with a progressive now and then?
No, we can have a general strike. Withholding labor hurts money. Take over factories, take over office buildings, threaten to destroy expensive machinery, refuse to work at home. Join the workers in Europe who are doing the same thing. (Ya know, "Workers of the world, unite!" and all that.) If you get enough people, violence is irrelevant. Tell the boss his money is a social construction, and the rest of us refuse to grant its power or even existence any more. We're going to try a new way of doing things. It would take a lot of organizing, but probably less organizing than a successful violent revolution would take. Either way requires a lot of organizing. Neither way is doom. And right now it's a pleasant dream that tens of millions of bankrupt, foreclosed Americans have not even considered. They could even start the revolutionary ball rolling by refusing to leave their foreclosed homes. What could the police do if the million families who are expected to be evicted this year got together and became a million squatters?
When the time comes, even if I don't want to pick up a gun, I'd still like to be part of Ted Rall's Autonomous Guerilla Group. Alternatively, I'd be proud to be tortured with him and Julian Assange at Guantanamo.
CHARLES M YOUNG is a founding member of ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent, collectively-owned, journalist-run, reader-supported online alternative newspaper. His work, and that of colleagues JOHN GRANT, DAVE LINDORFF and LINN WASHINGTON, can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net
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