"WHAT CAN I DO?"

One of the followers of House On Fire made the following comment and I was eager to answer it. I have done so at some length. Please forgive me that: It is hard to address such a topic without being somewhat expansive. And, of course, the answer/s will continue to evolve.

This was the comment:

tacymarie said...
As I was growing up from the early 60's to the late 70's we were taught by our educators, each American had the privilege of living in the land of the free and the righteous, many opportunities, and so forth.... After high school we began to do in-depth research and analysis. Basically within the Government as a whole, what was then is just as worse now. Endless promises made yesteryear has been the same outcome in today's generation. Broken promises. Who is at fault here? We as voters elected these officials into their respective posts. We believe their lies and when we become dishearten, what do we do? Yes, we do have our freedom of speech but when said more than we should, our right to exist is taken from us.

Besides writing to our Congress representative; Is there another avenue that takes action on our behalf? We put Mr. President into the Oval Office with ease, why not take him out the same way...

This is my answer:
I really appreciate this comment, Tacymarie, and the questions it contains. It raises the issue that so many activists raise: What can I do?

Let me work through your questions one at a time.

“Who’s at fault here?”: Well, let’s switch things around a fraction and remember that significant progress has been made over the decades: women’s rights; civil rights; etc. That said, I tend to feel that asking who is to blame within the current electoral system may not be as useful to us as asking: Why do we still have the systems we have? (i.e. Why is our socio-economic system not a more egalitarian model? And, at a less advanced level, why is our electoral system not more democratic?)

The answer, I believe, is because powerful entities have the resources to maintain a status quo that benefits them. On the flipside, one could also say because we, the people, have not become fed up enough to demand change en masse in a systematic way. I’m certain we have the numbers but, apparently, we haven’t reached a critical mass that the average person sees as critical enough to really want to do something.

Even though we have the numbers, we are up against a sophisticated status quo that works very well at self preservation.

And, I mean, some folks buy into the same thimble and pea trick again and again. Republican or Democrat? Well, it probably only matters marginally. As we say back home in Australia, it doesn’t matter who you vote for, you still get a politician. That CAN be changed, but not under the current “democratic” system, and not while there’s so much money in elections.

Electoral reform is a step in the right direction under the current system. We should all fight for that. Getting big money out of elections (campaign finance reform). For that matter we could push for the removal of the electoral college fiasco in presidential politics and have every vote holding equal value. The playing field should be leveled so that ANYONE can run for office: white or black, rich or poor. As independents or third party candidates if they like. As things stand, the average person is priced of running for higher offices unless they sell their souls to a major party.

These are worthwhile things to fight for.

“…when we say more than we should, our right to exist is taken from us”: I think you’re saying our right to free speech can be suspended or compromised and we can be locked up if we use our First Amendment rights to the serious detriment of the powers that be. Well, I would say yes and no. In the U.S. and Australia and other Western countries, we enjoy quite a lot of freedom. Much more than in patently totalitarian states, for example. We can speak up, rally, march, organize, petition and on and on. But yes, you do have a point: If you put enough pressure on a center of power, you will get a response. Those responses can vary. They might mean tear gassing in Seattle or being locked up for a sit-in. There are many examples of excessive or oppressive measures taken to damp down populist protests. And in some cases persecution can take place. The military and the police both have valid roles in society. But they can also be used as instruments of suppression/repression and there are many many examples of this. The most extreme might be things like Kent State University, the murder of Black Panther figures, civil rights oppression in the South in the 60s, and things like the Seattle protests and DemocracyNow.org’s Amy Goodman’s arrest in more recent times.

I feel there is plenty of latitude for protest of various forms. In addition, I know for a fact that things like emailing or calling your Senator or Rep on a given issue CAN sometimes sway them on that issue. Remember that while politicians are often bought with lobby money and other swill from the trough, they have to pay attention to their constituents if they want to get reelected. So don’t feel that your voice doesn’t count within the constraints of the current, inadequate system. It does.

Obviously I’m just talking about the U.S. here as that’s the country your comments are based on.

“Besides writing to our Congress representative; Is there another avenue that takes action on our behalf? We put Mr. President into the Oval Office with ease, why not take him out the same way...”: Yes, yes and yes. It just depends on how much time and effort you want to put in. We live in a society where so much is monitored and recorded. It’s a bit creepy; and sometimes it’s an invasion of our privacy. But it can be used to your advantage. For example, every time an item you purchase at the supermarket is scanned, you are essentially voting for the kind of food you want. E.g. organic. Enough demand will create change. If enough people buy organic, it will be noted, supply will go up and prices come down and a message will be sent to the mega corporations who operate those disgusting industrial farms. The same theory applies to all of our actions and if we combine our efforts, we can initiate change.

Getting a president removed from office is not a likely outcome of protest or agitation. And they’re pretty interchangeable. You get one corporate lapdog out and he’ll be replaced by another. Until we develop alternatives to the current institutions – political, economic, media – we should pressure those in power to do OUR bidding and call them out whenever they break the rules. It’s all about persistence, collaboration, communication and strategizing.

In this blog I often mention activist and intellectual Noam Chomsky. His wife Carol has said the question people ask her husband the most is “What can I do?” A very smart and active lady herself, she answers the question this way: “Lead an activist’s life.” Everything you do, every decision you make, feeds into the larger problems or solutions. Whether you occasionally walk, bike or use public transportation instead of driving. Whether you turn off lights and appliances when not in use. Whether you eat healthy foods that support farmers rather than corrupt corporations that are slowly poisoning us and the environment. Whether you recycle everything you possibly can. Whether you minimize your use of water. These are everyday things that anyone can do and they won’t cost you time and energy. But they all count!

Don’t create a demand for bad systems and institutions! Ween off them as much as possible. Look to alternatives (e.g. farmers markets; solar power) and let the current corporate behemoths start to atrophy.

This leads me to the “bigger things” I can tell you are alluding to. I’ll answer as best I can. Jim Morrison of The Doors once sang: “They’ve got the guns but we’ve got the numbers.” That’s actually a truism. The money, the infrastructure, the media and, yes, the guns are primarily in the hands of the elites: the powerful cluster of people who basically run the planet (though not as a regimented unit, mind you). But we do have the numbers! We often feel helpless and isolated. That’s because the other side is very smart (give them credit for that). They understand the strategy of “divide and conquer.” And they have the mass media to send out divisive and discouraging messages – or just selective information that leaves out vital things we should know. But we are the majority! And gradually more and more of us are learning this. And the elites know it too! We have to rally together and increase our power. So you should join “leftist” groups and become active within them. Many are “single issue” groups (e.g. gay rights; Net neutrality; the nuclear issue). Some organizations, like Corporate Accountability International, cast a slightly wider net by “attacking” major corporations – which, since corporations are a major institutional pillar of the status quo – has profound ramifications for us all.

My personal goal is to channel my efforts – over the course of time – into a restructuring of society. In helping a new, more altruistic and egalitarian socio-economic structures to evolve. So I am very interested in working to, in some cases, rid our world of the current institutions (corporations, PR industry) or radically alter them (the media, government). This will take a good deal of time as leftists of all stripes will have to come together and, by sheer weight of numbers, develop their own alternatives to these things, and/or remove their dependence on them, and make them obsolete. We don’t have to burn down Wall Street, we just have to make it redundant. But this will be an evolutionary thing that can only be achieved when the left – and finally, the “average person” – is coordinated enough to “rebuild” rather than be splintered by concentrating on single issues.

Some theorists even believe that capitalism is already on a self-destructive course. I can see that. Greed tends to turn on itself; lies and vast inequalities cannot last.

That is how I currently see the “big change.” But I’m always reading and learning so I may refine my view. You should read too. There are many smarter radicals out there than I.

But remember: Real change takes time. One of the reason that folks get discouraged is because they can’t see change taking place before their eyes. Unfortunately, revolutions aside, big change doesn’t happen that way. And yet, we have HISTORICAL PROOF that real change can and does happen. Think of the civil rights movement. The women’s movement. Workers’ rights. How different these things were just a century ago! But real change did happen because enough people put in enough time to make them happen. The popular protests to the Vietnam War was a groundbreaking time in Western history! That truly is power.

And people will still rally when awakened: The Million Man March, The Million Mom March, the NAFTA Seattle protests, and the massive street marches that preceded the first invasion of Iraq – a truly historic event! And there are constantly victories taking place that we just don’t hear about in the mass media: victories of tenants rights or rezoning or preventing the building of another Wal-Mart.

But yes, there is a price to pay. People do get arrested or beaten. Many make other sacrifices. All who would act to make the world a better place have to give up time or be inconvenienced – a small price to pay for true life and liberty.

Some would-be activists think that change only comes through exciting protests. The “hot” moments. They join a mass march then go home and wait for things to change. The reality is that, like any endeavor in life, there are the mundane and difficult and tedious and repetitive things that have to be done to create and sustain an effective movement for change. That’s why it’s called “organizing.” Every non-profit organization does mass mailings, funding drives, and news clipping collections. I’ve licked many envelopes, made many funding calls, and pasted clippings into files: and every little bit helped towards the cause. Real organizing is a lot of work but the payoff is huge for so many people. And these days, we’re talking about a fight for the very existence of the planet (global warming; the nuclear threat).

What can we do? Anything and everything! Learn, discuss, join, recruit, badger, march… these are the atoms of change.

Make up your own lists of daily things you can do: Don’t buy clothes or sneakers made in sweatshops; Don’t over consume, whether it’s food, clothing, toys, cars, oversized houses – keep your ecological footprint as small as you can and buy what you need rather than what you want and put the capitalist greed machine in its place. Starve out the elites and their machinery! And keep the pressure on the politicians every day.

If you want to really rebel – like the young men who burned their draft cards during the Vietnam War – withhold your taxes, since billions and billions are given to corporations as tax breaks and bailouts, to heinous outfits like Halliburton and Blackwater in the form of government contracts, and other wasteful and cynical things. Of course, this will eventually get you into trouble. If you are willing to bite off some trouble, I have some advice: Make sure you can make some noise with it. Try and tee it up as a media story before you take the action. Otherwise you’ll possibly do some jail time, pay a fine, and nobody but your friends will ever know.

Radically different – and kinder – social structures ARE possible. The peaceful anarchist society of the Basque region of Spain is an excellent example. Nearer to home, things like college faculties and 12-step groups like AA are quite democratic/socialist/anarchist in the way they operate and so far they haven’t lead to the end of the world!

And remember this: A President is not a god. Once you start thinking that way, they move beyond rigid accountability. Politicians and police are PUBLIC SERVANTS paid with YOUR TAXES. That’s right: They work for you!

I hope this is goes some way towards answering your question, Tacymarie. I can feel your frustration. I’ve been there too. But the worm is turning and things will get better. It’s people like yourself that guarantee that.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

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