There Is A Deeper Wave Than This
By David Swanson
A wave of action is coming on April 4th, the date they killed MLK, the date Cindy Sheehan lost her son, the date cherry blossoms and resisters to fascism begin to show after an endless winter of many, many years.
Take a look at https://waveofaction.org
Electing a different president six years ago was not a partial step, a failed attempt, a warm-up round. It was a halftime show of circus clowns and cheerleaders. The partial step, the failed attempt, the warm up, the ground work, the base of experience and training and testing was Occupy.
And what's happened since? We've learned more about how close Occupy came to shifting the balance.
We've learned more about how scared the bankers and the warmongers and their servants in the unconstitutional police-state acronym crowd were (the FBI-DHS-CIA-NSA-SOBs). We've learned about the plans in Houston to murder Occupiers. We've learned about the infiltration, the instigation, the expropriation. We've looked back at the counterproductive results of tolerating a bit of violence on the side of justice and peace. We've marveled at the mistake of calling violence inclusiveness and tolerance. We've wondered at the humor, heroism, and effectiveness of nonviolent creative action.
The movement has grown, indoors, online, and off the radar. It's developed strategies for taking on debt and homelessness and war. Awareness has grown, education has spread, and ideas have sunk in. People now know that we can't lift up the poor without pulling down the plutocrats. It's understood that we can have democracy or billionaires, not both. The notion of shifting priorities is even making headway; behind the screaming of "no cuts!" and "less spending!" there's a steady, rising voice -- ebbing and flowing like the ocean -- insisting that we can move the money from the military and the oil corporations and the bankers to green energy and schools and trains and parks and actual aid to everyone on earth, with plenty of tax cuts to spare.
"The country is broke" is understood as a lie on the scale of "the Defense Department makes us safer" or "the marketplace benefits us all" or "this weather is part of normal cycles" or "the corporate media is independent of the government" or "the government is independent of the corporations."
When public pressure stopped missiles into Syria in September the educational work of years and years was paying off. When public pressure helped stop new sanctions and war momentum against Iran in February, a new pattern was developing. When Obama began this week at least pretending to turn against the NSA he'd been defending for months, a crack opened up in a wall of unaccountable abuses. Opportunities are opening up all around us. Students are taking on Israeli crimes. Towns are taking on fossil fuel fanaticism. Parents on taking on corporate-educationism.
A new Occupy should have crowds of DiFi masks (the one person Senator Dianne Feinstein objects to spying on). A new Occupy should hold joint events in the United States and Russia demanding peace from both governments, nuclear disarmament, and investment of those nuclear dollars in defense against real threats, like climate change, disease, and guns.
Things are not getting better. The earth is dying. Weapons sales are skyrocketing. Russia and China are being groomed as new enemies. Real healthcare reform remains almost incomprehensible to millions who need it. Pay Day loans are growing at the rate that prison terms for profiteers ought to be. But resistance to the downward slide is growing as well. Whistleblowers are appearing. Courage is catching and spreading. States are setting up conversion and transition plans. Obamahopium is wearing off without Hillareoin taking hold.
If there was ever a moment to put survival and well-being ahead of politeness and obedience, this is that moment. The weather is right. The climate is right. The experience is fresh, but the participants rested. April 4th is opening day. Will you throw out the first pitch in your town? Will you do it now? Will you re-occupy everything and never give it back? Find an event, create an event, or enliven an event near you or far from you: https://waveofaction.org
This is not for show this time. This is not to send a message. This is not to make a few friends. This is to make millions of friends. This is to change the course of our culture. This is the big leagues. Rest up. Get ready. Know your power.
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David Swanson's wants you to declare peace at http://WorldBeyondWar.org His new book is War No More: The Case for Abolition. He blogs at http://davidswanson.org and http://warisacrime.org and works for http://rootsaction.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook.
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