Monday, February 21, 2011

What just might be happening in Madison


Do you know what we just might be looking at here?  Do you know what this thing in Madison might mean?  If you don't, I'll tell you.  It is just possible, my lefty liberal bleeding-heart one-worlders, my Howard Zinn disciples, my closet Trotskyites, that something Really Bigtm is afoot.

After 6 days of protest and paralysis, the people in Wisconsin are yet refusing to submit.  By resisting Governor Scott Walker's union-busting budget bill, they're standing up to the oligarchy.  Reports from Ohio and Michigan are that sympathy protests are being planned in those states.  The Badger State folks are showing amazing determination.

Is it too much of a stretch to imagine that the people of Wisconsin might be inspired by the recent scenes that took place in Cairo's Fahrir Square?  They saw what happened in Egypt.  And they learned from it.  Just as everyday people all over the world are learning a very powerful secret.

And that is this:  If we all stand together, there is nothing they (the plutocrats, the robber-barons, the swindlers and usurers) can do.  

Think about it:  a worldwide populist movement.  

Oligarchs and plutocrats must be more than a little troubled about what is happening.  All of the millions of dollars they spend pitting people against each other could prove to be wasted.  And, more importantly, their ultimate impotence in the face of an organized and determined populace will be laid naked before the world.

This isn't a left-right thing.  It's a distribution of wealth thing.  The people at the top of the economic pyramid want people to be afraid of each other.  Be afraid of the Muslims!  Be afraid of the gays!  Be afraid of the Mexicans and the kids with earrings in their noses and the people who put ketchup on their scrambled eggs!  Because if you're afraid of them, you don't pay attention to the guys who are systematically robbing you blind.

And here's the big news for all the people who are afraid:  Unless you're one of the richest 2% of people in the world, you have a lot more in common with the people rallying in Madison, Wisconsin, (and with the people that gathered in Fahrir Square in Cairo, or anywhere else in the "Jasmine Revolution") than you do with the war-mongers and robber-barons that are pitting you against them.

So, if what we are seeing with all the recent popular demonstrations really is, or really might someday become, a huge worldwide populist movement, the next battle is occurring right now in Madison.

Support your brothers and sisters in Wisconsin.  And in Bahrain, and Libya, and Jordan.  

Solidarity!

2 comments:

Dan Binmore said...

Just an FYI, Dade, you are really close to pushing the top 2% envelope. You are surely in the top 10%, as am I.

Anonymous said...

Great to see you at the workshop. This is a great blog!

PEACE