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The Culture Of Resistance Comes To The Good Old U.S.A.

By Frank Rummel

01 April, 2011
Countercurrents.org

I have been keeping an eye on the recent protest movements around the
planet; Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, UK, US, to
name a few.

Each country has it's own particular style of uprising. Tunisia and
Egypt were seemingly quick and relatively peaceful (as far as
political upheavals go) and actually resulted in ousting the ruling
despots. At least, the crooks...left town.

Saudi Arabia's protest was crushed by police power before getting off
the ground. But in fairness to their Wahabi masters, the Saudi people
were not motivated enough; perhaps because the Saudi sheiks are
sharing the wealth a little; they are giving their subjects billions
of dollars in uh...er...bribes...no, I meant financial benefits.

Libya's protests broke into civil war and resulted in NATO's "kinetic
military action" costing the U.S. perhaps 500 million dollars. But
what the heck, we can afford it.

Libya is quaint because our old buddies, al Qaeda, support the rebels
(they may even be members of the rebellion) in whose behalf we bomb
"humanitarianly" to level a playing field that Qadhafi previously
dominated. Indeed, politics makes strange bedfellows.

The UK's civil unrest was mostly about government cuts of services and
wages; discontinuing laundry service for old folks, closing libraries
across the country, cutting wages for government workers and such.

The people of Wisconsin fighting to retain collective bargaining
rights for its unionized government employees was the US's blossoming
of popular unrest. This was followed by the US Uncut demonstrations
against Bank of America, Fed Ex and other corporate tax dodgers. US
Uncut mobilized in 40 cities across the US in peaceful demonstration
and without any big media help.

Now, the "Sounds of Resistance Concert" and protest against the big
corporate banks will convene in New York City at Union Square Park at
11 AM on April 15, 2011, demanding that banks stop foreclosures, pay
their fair share of taxes, and be broken up to moderate their abuse of
power.

The festivities "will feature political hip-hop/rock powerhouse
Junkyard Empire with special guests Broadcast Live and Sketch the
Cataclysm. Chris Hedges will speak about the growing culture of
resistance. Other performers and speakers are invited."

At first, I have to admit I was a bit disturbed by this
party/circus/rock-concert approach to addressing important political
grievances. After all, hundreds of children, women and men are dead
and wounded across North Africa and the Middle East for standing up to
the powers that be; shot, beaten and raped by the minions of the
super-rich masters. Hopefully this will not be necessary to resolve
our own deep-seated problems.

Then I remembered the first Internet political happening formed by
"Anonymous" against the Church of Scientology. This impromptu group,
according to accounts, formed on a message board called 4chan.org and
proceeded to give the Scientology organization a lot of grief. They
bombarded Scientology offices with "black faxes" and hacked and
cracked their websites to the point that the Scientologists had to
switch to videos instead of text to communicate their message on the
web.

What was significant about this "Anonymous" action was that it was
leaderless and amusing. They met in protest at Scientology offices
wearing Guy Fawkes masks and had a lot of fun and laughs while making
their point.

The lesson to be gained from the success of this "Anonymous" happening
is that the coming civil disobediance should represent no political
party, faction or power group. No Republicans. No Democrats. No
Libertarians. No Tea Baggers. No Communists. No al Qaeda. No, no, no.

It is to be ordinary citizens working/playing against and triumphing
over injustice, unfairness and just plain exploitation by the greedy
corporate powers.

Our corporate masters were not satisfied with trillions of dollars in
profits. No, they had to rip us off and then make us pay for their
mistakes on top of it all. Screw that. We are not going to take it.

Furthermore, we have had our share of violence and death during social
upheavals in this country. The activism of the 1960s and the
government crackdowns on labor unions throughout American history are
the kinds of events that come to mind.

Wouldn't it be a real kick to rid this country of the poverty and
abuse we suffer at the hands of the corporations and special interest
groups and have some fun doing it???

This is the wonderful lesson of the "Anonymous" happening. In their
culture they liked to say they did it for the "lulz" (lulz is a
corruption of LOL and means to take sadistic pleasure in someone's
misfortune).

If us (US) peons can actually succeed in overthrowing our corporate
masters by taking to the streets, having fun, kicking back, whatever,
and get important politics done at the same time, I think we would all
be entitled to one really great jinormous laugh at the expense of the
corporations.

So if you have a problem getting off the couch, if you are content to
be made a fool and be financially bled to death, perhaps you might
prefer the joy of socking it to our corporate masters just for
revenge.

Do it for the lulz!

Frank Rummel is a Jack of All Trades; writer, musician, traveler,
salesman, computerist, cable guy, whatever...I have a B.A.G.S.degree
from the University of Arizona and have served my corporate masters
well in numerous menial, low-paying jobs. I am a Mensa, so my dim
financial lot is not because I have a low IQ.

 


 




 


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