Mayday 1971: Most arrests in US history

[Zorra]

More than 200,000 protesters and veterans converged on the US capital to demand an end to the war in Vietnam forty years ago on May 3, 1971.

“The idea was to shut the city down because the war wouldn't stop,” said Eddie Becker, a documentarian who filmed the protests. “The only way to stop the war was to stop the government, and that was by putting your bodies on the road and blocking traffic.”

Protesters blocked roads with cars, trash cans and their own bodies in order to prevent government employees from getting to work across Washington and at the major bridges and roadways leading into the city. Becker was filming protesters blocking Washington’s Dupont Circle.

Police used tear gas and clubs to disperse protesters. Then President Richard Nixon called in the military and paratroopers landed at the National Monument. Retired Lt. Robert Klotz was a police captain working the protests that day.

http://rt.com/usa/news/mayday-usa-protesting-history/

Occupy May 1 General Strike

http://www.occupymay1st.org/2012/04/11/what-is-m1gs/

[Scuba]

1. I can't support a general strike at this point in time....

A general strike would do more damage to our cause than good.

[Zorra]

2. When could you support a general strike? nt

[Scuba]

3. After the election, if Diebold wins....

... right now we have a chance to win a Democratic majority in the House and keep/strenghten our majority in the Senate, plus the Presidency. If we win that, then real, positive change will occur.

A general strike in May greatly undermines the possibility of that happening (not to mention ruining our chances of ousting Scott Walker here in Wisconsin June 6).


I can so no real benefit coming from a general strike. The risk/reward analysis on this seems pretty obvious to me.

[Zorra]

4. Yeah, I truly wish I could have faith in that.

I completely lost all that kind of faith a few years ago.

We had a huge majority in the House and Senate, and A Dem Prez, from Jan 2009 until Jan 2011.

The problem of the 1% was not addressed to any significant degree during that period of time. The excuses were many, all of them pretty lame.

Occupy pretty much came about because progressives expected the Dems to fix a few things that really needed fixing, and when they did not make a significant effort to fix these things, folks concluded that the system was not working and decided to take matters into their own hands.

Unless we get a huge Senate Majority, like 65 Dem Senators, republicans (with a little help from blue dogs) will once again filibuster any significant attempt at constructive change.

As an LGBT person, for many years I've been told to STFU and go the back of the bus, and if I don't STFU, I'll damage the Dems chances of winning. Wait until they win, and when we win I'll have equal rights, and real, positive change will occur.

I'm still waiting. I really do want Democrats to win huge majorities in the House and Senate, and that Obama wins in a landslide. It's way better than having republicans in power.

And, although I respect and understand what you are saying, at this time I personally cannot trust a political party to remove the 1% from power and build a working democracy that places the needs of human beings over profit, regardless of any majorities.

Honestly, and unfortunately, I'm not expecting this General Strike to have the effect that it could, and should, have, because too many folks seem to agree with you, or feel that they're too busy, or have to work that day cuz they need the money, or they don't like Occupy, or they are afraid, or just don't really give a shit. It is this consistent lack of solidarity among the 99% that insures that things will continue to get worse as the 1% polarizes more wealth and gains more control over the people of this planet.

Below is pretty much what I hope to achieve with the strike. I hope we can pull it off. If we don't, I hope your way way works, Scuba, but I personally wouldn't bet on it.

Occupy May Day: Not Your Usual General Strike

Last December, Occupy Los Angeles proposed a General Strike on May 1 “for migrant rights, jobs for all, a moratorium on foreclosures, and peace – and to recognize housing, education and health care as human rights.” The idea has spread through the Occupy movement. Occupy Wall Street in New York recently expressed solidarity with the proposal and called for “a day without the 99%, general strike, and more!” with “no work, no school, no housework, no shopping, take the streets!” Reactions are ranging from enthusiastic support to outraged skepticism. What form might such an action take, and what if anything might it achieve?
-----
Most Occupy May Day advocates understand that a conventional general strike is not in the cards. What they are advocating instead is a day in which members of the “99%” take whatever actions they can to withdraw from participation in the normal workings of the economic system -- by not working if that is an option, but also by not shopping, not banking, and not engaging in other “normal” everyday activities, and by joining demonstrations, marches, disruptions, occupations, and other mass actions.
-----
What Occupy May Day Could Achieve

The Occupy May Day event is first of all a great chance for 99% to show itself, see itself, and express itself – to represent itself to itself and to others. The kinds of plans that are being made by OWS in New York, with a wide variety of ways in which people are being invited to participate, can encourage multiple levels of sympathy, response, connection, and mobilization among the 99%. The result can be a percolation of the ideas OWS has been promoting through workplaces, communities, and other milieus.

May Day can provide a teachable moment. It is an opportunity for millions of people to contemplate the power that arises from collectively withdrawing cooperation and consent. It can propagate the idea of self-organization, for example through general assemblies. If it truly draws together a wide range of working people, ranging from the most impoverished to professionals, from urban to suburban to rural, and including African Americans, Latinos, whites, and immigrants, it can embody the ability of the 99% to act as a group. It can demonstrate the idea of solidarity, for example by the movement as a whole supporting the needs of some particular groups. And because May Day is a global working class holiday which will be celebrated all over the world, it can reveal a rarely seen vision of a global working class of which we are as individuals and as members of diverse groups are part.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/26-8

peace

[Scuba]

5. I can certainly understand your frustration....

I would remind you that we did not have a "huge majority" in the Senate from January '09 to January '11. You'll recall that Al Franken's seat was contested until July of '09, leaving the Dems a seat short of having a "filibuster-proof" majority. Shortly after Franken was seated, Ted Kennedy died, again leaving us a seat short.

True, not enough got done in those six weeks. However, a landslide mandate would give the Dems power to effect real change. I'm willing to hold out until November for that.

Peace,

Scuba

[Zorra]

6. Well, (essentially) 59 Dems to 41 republicans is

a large majority in my estimation. That's an 18% advantage, + the VP Senate president.

(Before I go on, I just want to make it very clear that I plan to vote for every Democrat on my ballot, and I have voted for every Democrat on every one of my ballots in every election since I became of voting age.I have never voted for anyone that was not a Democrat, unless it was a non-partisan contest).

The filibuster can be eliminated by the majority in the Senate at any time, by simple majority vote.

(Here's a recent piece on Senate filibusters that I found interesting)

By the way — the two Democratic candidates who are currently advocating Senate reform on their Web sites? One is easy to guess: Elizabeth Warren, who of course was herself the victim of a threatened Republican filibuster. The other is maybe more interesting. It’s Ed Case, who is running as the more moderate of two candidates in a contested primary in Hawaii.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/neither-party-is-ready-for-filibuster-reform/2012/04/19/gIQAPLrhTT_blog.html

Anyway, instead of doing what was right for the country and just steamrolling republicans, they chose to allow the republicans to filibuster at will. A huge foolish, (or deliberate?) mistake, from my POV.

(Fact: Republicans will never allow the passage of any legislation that is not in the interests of the 1%, if it is anywhere within their power to prevent such legislation).

Consequently but predictably,, we got slaughtered in the 2010 elections. I'm no rocket scientist, but I could plainly see, (and screamed about) what was going to happen if the filibuster was not quashed for the sake of passing necessary constructive legislation, and preserving the Dem majority in both Houses.

There's no question that there's a whole lot of money brokering power in our political system. To me, that means the game is indisputably rigged according to the interests of the 1%. This is not acceptable to me, nor is it acceptable to any Occupier, that's pretty much what Occupy is about. And we completely understand that since money brokers power, there will never be enough progressive democratic voices in Congress to bring about the changes necessary to remove the 1% from power, and create a just and equitable system.


I totally want the Dems to win enormous majorities in both Houses. I want President Obama to remain in the WH. I believe that this is by far the best possible US electoral outcome for the planet, 2013.

At the same time, I can't let a rigged game prevent me from taking steps to rig the game in my favor. So I'm gonna strike, boycott, and protest on Mayday. I'm going to continue to advocate for, and participate in, as many Occupy direct actions as I can, in order to play outside of the rigged game, and in order to try and rig the system, the game, in favor of those who the game is supposed to be rigged in favor of --

We the People.

Solidarity. We are the 99%


☮ccupy

Peace, and best of luck, Scuba, I believe we basically have the same goals; we just maybe have some different ideas of how to attain them.

[Scuba]

7. Thanks. Yes, we have the same goals, and share many of the same ideas about....

... how to attain them. I will continue to support Occupy, our Recall Walker efforts here in Wisconsin, etc.

I certainly respect your supporting a general strike, and believe such action may very well be necessary at some point. We only disagree on the timing.

Thanks for your thoughtful and constructive post.

[truedelphi]

8. I am glad this post finally made it to the Greatest Page.

And Solidarity on May 1st.

[truedelphi]

9. One small detail I feel the need to point out - you say:

The problem of the 1% was not addressed to any significant degree during that period of time.

Although it is true that there were no Presidential addresses about the problems heaped on our society of the 1%, the fact is that almost all of Obama's significant appointments involved allowing and even promoting the 1% to further their hold on our society.

At a time when we need sensible legislation as far as involvement of the Big Financial Firms, we instead got Tim Geithner. He went from his criminal behavior at the New York Fed to the head of Treasury. The Big Banks have become bigger, and de ent people who would have implemented decent policies got to oversee much smaller projects instead. (Neil Barofsky and Eliz. Warren come to mind as a couple of decent people who should have been given much more important positions.)

At at time when we need policies that support family farms, the policies that came down from the Federal Reserve and Treasury meant tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of small family farms went belly up. They couldn't make it through the summer of 2009 without loans.

And meanwhile, Obama appointed Monsanto clone, Mike Taylor, putting him into the top position at FDA, There Taylor has furthered Big Pharma and Big GMO interests.

BP was left alone to actually be in charge of the cleanup resulting from its failures to operate safely. Now reports are coming out as to the fact that the marine life in The Gulf has been so adversely affected that the shrimp and other critters are born without eyes.

Despite Fukushima, Obama plans on offering up some 58 billions of dollars to the nuclear power industry,. so they can do the same damn thing they did in Japan.

And his DOJ, IRS' attacks on the public approved Medical Marijuana clinics in my state indicate that something is really really off about this President. He has set the rights of patients to have cheap ;products to help them deal with their ailments at least fifteen years.