Reply #53: I beg to differ [View All]

[dpibel]

So, I think, would your avatar.

You have described the slavery of fear. If freedom is defined, as it is in modern America, as the freedom to choose a Ford instead of a Chevrolet, but you must be fearfully tied to the job those kind rich folk "give" you, then it's not much freedom at all.

Not all jobs can be outsourced (although many can). There are 300 million Americans. Legalizing a few million folk who cross the border to do stoop labor and keep clean the houses and lawns of LA and Houston and Phoenix could not offset the effects of a general strike.

Most importantly: They can't outsource consumption. That's where the American propagandized analytic breaks down. We've been trained to see it as a question of losing our jobs. In reality, if we all stocked up on a few weeks of food and walked off our jobs and out of the stores we'd see our true power. And I know that some people can't buy two weeks ahead on food. That's why some of us would have to help our neighbors.

Americans are trained from birth that they have no power beyond a quadrennial jaunt to the ballot box and no freedom other than the choice of brands (which freedom is vociferously defended by advocates of one or another).

In fact, we do power the whole economic engine. We provide the sweat and the skills and we give all the money back.

It's axiomatic that those who rule do so only with the consent of the ruled. Once that consent is gone, rule breaks down.

Don't think it's possible? Check out the Seattle general strike. For that matter, check out Ghandi's salt march, and the other instances where Ghandi convinced great masses of people to simply withdraw their consent.

The odd thing about this is, when you suggest this sort of economic action, people say, "But people will lose their jobs! People will suffer."

Guess what. People are losing their jobs. People are suffering.

People should do something. Better, people should do nothing. What're they going to do? Send out the National Guard to make people shop?

Do I think this will ever happen? Not in fear-based America. Do I think it would work? I surely do.

This is not a precise quote, but it's close, from Giovanni Ettor, one of the IWW organizers who was jailed for his work in the textile strikes:

"All the workers need to do to bring things to a halt is cross their arms."