Activism

[Hobo87]

Although there are individuals and organizations who do quite a lot. There are a lot more that do nothing more than plan events which either don't happen or too few care enough to show up. It has gotten worse as time progresses because many people think on their ideals but do not act upon them. If we honestly care about these ideas we hold dearest to us we should stand up for them as much as possible. We should not slacken and give capitalism the "content" status. We need those bold leaders we once had to help those who are confused, scared or too apathetic. We all need to be those leaders and make bold statements through activism and not just words. We need to spread out and not just speak with our comrades but everyone. This needs to give capitalism a wake up call that there is an alternative economic system. I remember an activist moment when I went to a Walmart and got on my knees and started praying, "Oh holy Walmart that provides me cheap goods, your exploitation is beyond my comprehension from the children in indochina to the employees barely living off your low salaries, there will be always low prices as long as the manufacturing prices are lower through wages but yours are never affected, your smiley face icon and its fake emotion of what you are. I say praise walmart for not even god will give you prices this low!" It needs to be in faces of everyone so they can no longer escape the reality of the spectacle of consumerism. We need to shatter those candy coated lies of the theory of endless bounty.

[Guest]

Being relatively new to the movement, I have a question. Is our goal to achieve social change or to satiate our own desires to feel as though we are rebelling. What is up with the political position ratings in people's signatures, the absurd U$ thing? Are we here becasue we want to feel rebellious or are we here because we want to change something? If we do want to change the world, I don't think the way we act is moving us toward that end. Have you ever been to a protest? How rediculous are those things? Catchy slogans and dancing and hoodies and smoking are not the way to call the attention of the masses. Protests are not meant to be social events, they are supposed to be trying to fix something. Rebellion has become fashionable and it has diluted our movement, we have no use for "joiners", we have no use for trendy teenagers and college students. We are not taken seriously. Would you take seriously a mob of 11yo capitalists, demanding change? Imagine how the majority of americans and the government in particular view us. Those of us that take this seriously and care to write and research and find and expose truth and theory, should be the bulk of the movement. Think of a mob of college students with dreadlocks and geled hair and hoodies and weed leaf, che guevara, and punk rock t-shirts with jnco and zipper pants, storming pennsylvania avenue with signs and a bullhorns shouting for social change. Whats your first thought? Think of a mob of clean-cut serious looking college students with khaki pants and umarked black t-shirts storming pennsylvania avenue saying nothing. Which in your mind would call your attention? The sad fact is, what we are doing now is not working, and without some new great depression it never will. We have the theory, we have the will, we need the method.

[Phalanx]

America is afraid of communism because they believe the USSR and North Korea are communist countries, when in fact they are totalitarian regimes. But they are too lazy to do research, and instead they watch American Idol.

[ChaosInstructor223]

a truely good statement Khan

[ChaosInstructor223]

Originally posted by [email protected] 2 2005, 07:37 PM
Being relatively new to the movement, I have a question. Is our goal to achieve social change or to satiate our own desires to feel as though we are rebelling. What is up with the political position ratings in people's signatures, the absurd U$ thing? Are we here becasue we want to feel rebellious or are we here because we want to change something? If we do want to change the world, I don't think the way we act is moving us toward that end. Have you ever been to a protest? How rediculous are those things? Catchy slogans and dancing and hoodies and smoking are not the way to call the attention of the masses. Protests are not meant to be social events, they are supposed to be trying to fix something. Rebellion has become fashionable and it has diluted our movement, we have no use for "joiners", we have no use for trendy teenagers and college students. We are not taken seriously. Would you take seriously a mob of 11yo capitalists, demanding change? Imagine how the majority of americans and the government in particular view us. Those of us that take this seriously and care to write and research and find and expose truth and theory, should be the bulk of the movement. Think of a mob of college students with dreadlocks and geled hair and hoodies and weed leaf, che guevara, and punk rock t-shirts with jnco and zipper pants, storming pennsylvania avenue with signs and a bullhorns shouting for social change. Whats your first thought? Think of a mob of clean-cut serious looking college students with khaki pants and umarked black t-shirts storming pennsylvania avenue saying nothing. Which in your mind would call your attention? The sad fact is, what we are doing now is not working, and without some new great depression it never will. We have the theory, we have the will, we need the method.
and the ones who are serious go missing or are imprissioned for being terrorists

[Ele'ill]

When entire cities are shut down and and or declared in a 'state of emergency' I would argue that a very clear message is portrayed. The media cannot intentionally down play large, highly organized demonstrations. Looking back at news snippets from N30, 'we interrupt this empire' in san fransico, even J20, I see that an effort is made to cover up the numbers protesting and their actions but that effort isn't good enough and the real numbers and message are shown. I tend to agree that many of these movements lack the compassion required to change anything. Throwing a rock through window of a corporate whatever, and then having yourself and 300 other protesters literally run from 12 riot police sickens me. Yeah they have armor and clubs, but with you and shit, 30 of those 300 people could rush them. And by rushing them you could complete the simple objective of getting around a barricade, not 'defeating the police at protest X' you are not there to battle with the police, you are there to shut a meeting down, shut a part of the city down, using peaceful yet demanding tactics. This up-coming semi annual IMF/WB meeting in washington should be interesting. None of you are going, or the two people that replied to my other post might think about going, but i'm expecting a small turn out. The end of all legitimate movements in america is soon on it's way. When it becomes a cultural cool to wear a mask and wave a flag of whatever and kick a police line a few times before your battle line collapses completley and you start running like hell. This has been more of a vent of frustration than anything. My predictions on the future of political action in america goes two ways, militant anti capitalism which will further reinforce the militarization of the state, leading to civil war. Or people will catch on that to silently march into the streets and not draw attention to yourself or your political orientation, the media and government will not be able to point and say 'look, an anarchist, look a communist, you are unamerican'. They will have to simply say, 'today 8,000 americans marched in the street against an illegal war.'
I agree, I think it's time we realize that communist, anarchist, socialist, leftist, democrat, whatever, there are three types of people thinking in this country right now, those that think they don't care what happens to their future, those that know what they are doing with the future and are trying to keep it quiet as it benefits themselves in the short only, and those that see injustice in all forms, and those people need to fuse together and not seperate. There are dark times ahead of us, so lets find ourselves common ground and dig in. We can worry about the petty details later.

[Hobo87]

This is exactly what I am talking about. We must really want social change and not just look at it as a pretty dream somewhere in the distance but rather as an approachable objective. We have to really want this and push for it at all costs. For those who think protest as a trend we must break this idea and be the front runners in whatever we do. Everyday we lose more and more foot hold on our lives and the time is well since ripe for change.