Posts Tagged ‘movement’

Bill Maher Speaks Out Against War Machine

Sunday, April 14th, 2013

Hooray! A prominent voice from the US mainstream media finally spoke out against their Military Industrial Complex. And it was none other than the illustrious Bill Maher, someone who I once disparaged on this very blog.

Maher pleaded with the American people to do some well needed self-reflection on their own warmongering. After two centuries of perpetual war, it’s time Americans realized “We’re the gun country. Come on, we’re the war people.”

After breaking down the history and concluding the problem lies with America itself, Maher went on to say “America needs to start defining peace as strength. Do you know who the role model for every president should be? Jimmy Carter. He was the one out of all of them who figured out how to sit in office for four years and never fire a shot. And every president’s negative example,” he concluded, “should be Dick Cheney, who even shot his friends in the face.”

I cannot express how thrilled I was to hear these words on an influential US show. When a population of 313 million people – most of whom are surrounded by strife and a crumbling infrastructure – look to their sputtering economy, more and more people need to actively point out the giant elephant in the room.

Right now, America’s military industrial complex devours half of its government’s spending. It doesn’t take a rocket  surgeon to see that drastic cuts in military spending would likely yield equally drastic improvements for American families across the land.

But, for the most part, politicians and mainstream media sources remain chillingly silent. This is, as you may well know, due to the entrenched talons of the Military Industrial Complex itself. With billions of dollars to throw around, the war machine can buy both political parties and align all the major news channels, effectively keeping enough anti-war rhetoric from the ears (and off the lips) of the American public.

So, as with all great movements, the struggle to rid our world of war falls on the shoulders of those outside the established seats of power. While it’s great when the Bill Maher’s and John Stewart’s of the world finally vocalize some anti-war sentiments, until there are millions and millions of us doing this every single day, the war machine will keep on rolling.

Fortunately, uniting against war is exactly what we are doing. All it will take is the right spark, the right catalyst, and a Occupy-esque movement can rise against the Military Industrial Complex, and the struggle towards peace will become the latest trendy battle for the masses, maybe even earning the privilege of being trivialized by the mainstream media.

The Whole World is Watching Montreal

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

109 days. That’s how long they’ve been protesting in Montreal. Over 3 incredible months. What started out as a demonstration against an impending 80% tuition hike has now blossomed into a full-out fight for civil rights.

Now, whether you’re Canadian or an unCanuck (a term I’ve never heard used until just now), there are many great reasons you should be paying attention to what is happening in Quebec. Here’s three:

Reason 1: It’s massive. Over 400,000 people – 1/4 of Montreal’s total population – have been out in simultaneous protest.

Reason 2: It’s about more than tuition fees. The movement has always targeted the systemic corruption in government, highlighting the way powerful corporations and big business get taxpayer-funded benefits while taxpayers themselves get the shaft.

But now that Premiere Charest clumsily stifled the right to protest, the movement morphed into protecting individual liberties, saving our precious democracy, and, most importantly, sending a clear message that we will not stand idly by while civil rights get violated.

Reason 3: The Montreal uprising is just a sign of things to come. Humans everywhere on earth are undergoing a great awakening. The internet is fostering a social revolution, shifting unprecedented powers into the hands of the masses. Governments, corporations and other major institutions will prove no match for millions of coordinated humans working together in real time.

A new day is coming, where actual democracy gives everyone a voice. With this newfound solidarity we will build a more just global civilization. People will take priority over profits, cooperation will supersede competition, and a brighter, more secure future will be upon us.

Evolving Towards Peace

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

At this very moment, wars are ravaging our world, just like they have done since the dawn of human civilization. Like a festering wound, so ingrained has armed conflict become that to espouse the hope of healing can be met with ridicule and scorn.

But, despite the prevalent pessimistic prophecies, wars are fast going obsolete. Researchers, like Dr. Steven Pinker, have shown that people alive today enjoy the most peaceful world we’ve ever had. Better yet, an internet enabled social revolution is building bridges and resolving conflicts faster than ever before, strengthening our burgeoning global society. (more…)

Ten Tips for Revolutionaries

Friday, February 17th, 2012

The Occupy movement is sailing over uncharted waters, mostly figuring out where to go with each new step. Helping guide us and inspire us, social futurist Sara Robinson offers 10 excellent tips to spark change:

  1. The world is different now. The rules have changed, and methods like petitions and mass demonstrations are proving themselves invaluable tools for reform. (more…)

Breaching Barack’s Bubble

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

A protestor handed President Barack Obama a note during a meet and greet in New Hampshire today. The note (pictured above) reads as follows:

Mr. President: Over 4000 peaceful protesters have been arrested while bankers continue to destroy the American economy. You must stop the assault on our 1st amendment rights.  Your silence sends a message that police brutality is acceptable. Banks got bailed out. We got sold out.

Unfortunately, even if the President wanted to do something, his hands are tied… bound by the forces which allowed him to become Commander in Chief in the first place.

See, the American political system is structured to prevent any truly revolutionary figure from getting elected. Only those willing to cater to the oligarchs could ever raise the finances needed to see the White House.

This is precisely why Americans are out in the streets in the hundreds of thousands – because their 2-party dictatorship has failed them. Lacking any other option, they must forge an entirely new channel through which to reclaim their democracy.

And this is why, if you aren’t going to take to the streets yourself, you should at least lend support to the protestors. Power to the people!

The Movement Won’t Stop

Monday, November 14th, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVejS6oazEk

Just because armor-clad goons can overwhelm non-violent civilians doesn’t mean the Occupy movement – and what it represents – is going anywhere. We may get beaten on, but we will never be beaten down.

As disruptive as these initial clashes may be, don’t be fooled into thinking the educated and enthusiastic protesters spearheading this people’s uprising will be discouraged one single iota. No matter how hard this establishment (and their hired thugs) cling to the status quo, we the people will not quit until the system either bends to our will or breaks completely.

Just the fact that these clashes are happening is a victory in itself. Not for the violence aspect, but for what it signifies, which is that the beacon has now been lit. Something has changed, and we will never go back. What humanity has been hatching has finally cracked its shell. It won’t be long until we break through to fly in a world of limitless opportunity.

Look how the discourse has changed, evident with a mainstream media discussing issues completely taboo just two months ago. Important concepts, like income inequality, social injustice and the influenced wielded by multi-millionaires, are finally getting their due consideration in the social consciousness.

Along with progressing ideas and inspiring hope, these protests serve as a focal point, showing us just how many others share the same dissatisfaction with the way things are. Pretty soon, we’ll discover that the more noise we make, the less politicians will be able to ignore us, which would be a great start in the co-creation of our new global civilization.

We’re On the Verge of Real Democracy!

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Street protesters, unions, and regular people everywhere are coming together to say:

We are tired of being crushed by a system that works only for the super-rich, so we are going to replace it with a better one.

This movement might take years to reach the momentum it needs to uproot the establishment. But that day is coming!

Finally! I was ready for this to happen a decade ago, as we’re countless others. But the moment is here at last. Let us seize this opportunity for all it is worth.

Post-Capitalism Currency

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

(Surprising how little has changed in the past century.)

Over the coming few years, humankind will keep growing more and more interconnected. Eventually, we will harness our planetary solidarity, rising against today’s global system of division and exploitation, disrupting the established economic system to enact a major redistribution of wealth and power.

Once this great social movement transpires, we’ll still need a way to buy and sell things. For an idea of what a more just economy may look like, there’s a few places we can look to.

Open Money

The open money project aims to “create the global infrastructure, tools, governance mechanisms and platforms that will give communities the capacity to create their own currencies with just a few clicks and thereby liberate their wealth potential.” It’s like an open-source platform for commerce, free from the tyranny of fluctuating global markets.

The Venus Project

The Venus Project is an organization that advocates improving society by moving towards a global sustainable social design that they call a “resource-based economy”. Such a system incorporates sustainable cities and values, energy efficiency, collective farms, natural resource management and advanced automation.

A resource based economy relies on the principle of ‘post scarcity’, meaning our technology has progressed to the point of readily meeting the basic needs of every human on earth – something which is fast becoming possible.

Bitcoin

Bitcoins are digital currency which runs on an open-source, peer-to-peer network, allowing users to exchange wealth without the need for a centralized payment processor. While these coins only exist in the virtual realm, they already hold real world value.

 

So what will we end up using? Maybe a combination of all three, or something entirely different. Who knows.

But one thing is reasonably certain – a world full of united and empowered individuals will never tolerate an economic system that caters solely to the fortunate few sitting atop.

Milestone Achieved by Civil Uprising in Tunisia

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

The past month’s civil uprising in Tunisia reached a milestone today, when President Ben Ali announced he will be stepping down – in 3 years! Ben Ali also stated that he will be cutting the cost of food, has ordered security forces to stop killing civilians, and will be ensuring freedom of speech and internet access.

While this speech – delivered in the Tunisian’s native tongue – may placate a few protesters, the bulk of the dissenters are unlikely to be satisfied with mere words. They want justice, and will not rest until their repressive regime gets removed.

The collective voice of regular Tunisian people has been saying “We’ve had enough!” Enough with the corruption in the government and the oppressive oligarchy. No more will Tunisians tolerate the injustice of suffering in poverty while Tunisia’s leaders hoard too much of the pie.

What is happening in Tunisia should serve as a microcosm for our entire world.

Right now,  the top 1% of the world’s people control 40% of all the world’s wealth. Meanwhile, about 20% of the world’s people are dying in extreme poverty, and another 20% are barely making enough to survive. This grossly distorted distribution of wealth allows preventable human suffering to persist.

The world’s wealthiest humans are content to keep things as they are.  It is up to the bulk of humankind – those who’ve been getting a disproportionately small slice – to let their collective voices be heard. Only then will some of the world’s most egregious injustices come to and end.

Fortunately for everyone on earth, this social revolution has been gradually brewing for a very long time. Within the next decade or two, we will come together as a species to fundamentally alter our world’s system and permanently establish a more just global civilization.

Michael Moore Bails Out Wikileaks Leader Julian Assange

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

It is uplifting to see Michael Moore, once again, taking on the pillars of the establishment. Today, Michael posted $20,000 to bail out Wikileaks founder Julian Assange,  stating:

We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off. The only reason they thought they could get away with it was because they had a guaranteed cloak of secrecy. That guarantee has now been ripped from them, and I hope they are never able to operate in secret again.

Michael Moore is in a special position to help out the progressive movement financially. But we don’t all need to be multi-millionaires to make an impact. The influence of wealth can be overruled by the power of large groups working together.

Whenever you see injustice happening remember – silence is consent – and always let your voice be heard.