[Occupymendocino] Fwd: Popular Resistance Newsletter - Mobilize for System Change

Wed Oct 18 10:46:58 PDT 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PopularResistance.org <info at popularresistance.org>
Date: Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 6:53 PM
Subject: Popular Resistance Newsletter - Mobilize for System Change
To: BLACKDANTHEMAN100 at gmail.com

We can choose whether a future of solidarity where human needs and
protection of the planet come before profits.
This newsletter is also available
on the web here (https://popularresistance.org/newsletter-mobilize-for-
system-change/) .
------------------------------------------------------------

Decades of neoliberal economic policies in the United States and debt,
which is required by the bottom 90% to survive, have fanned political
unrest and the call for transformation, rather than reform.

Just as Obama and the Democrat’s populist façade disintegrated under a
growing wealth divide, worsening climate change and militarization of our
communities and woke many self-described progressives up to the need for
systemic changes, the Trump presidency could have similar effects on
conservatives. Voters who thought they were ending the status quo,
“draining the swamp,” by voting for Trump may find that loss of health
care, trade deals that drive a race to the bottom and tax cuts for the
wealthy move them to be open to solutions they may have once rejected.

The other possibility, as Richard D. Wolff points out (
https://popularresistance.org/the-political-economy-of-obamatrump/) , is
that if by “playing on race and ethnic (and also regional and educational)
differences, [Trump] postures as their champion, the only leader who will
favor them by protecting them against the threatening long-term descent
into poverty and degradation,” then this would fuel racism and nationalism
and the rise of a violent right.

Thus, tasks of the movement for social transformation are to reject
ideologies and groups that foster white nationalism and demonstrate that
there are root causes to the crises we face and solutions to address them.

Political change begins with cultural change

There is no guarantee that policy changes will bring us to a more just and
equitable society if the cultural norms are still rooted in imperialism,
capitalism, racism and patriarchy. For example, the transition to a clean
energy economy will be primarily for the wealthy if it is based in the
market. Like Internet service, hospitals and banks, low income communities
will miss out while rich communities will have more than they need.

William Hawes writes (https://popularresistance.
org/moral-courage-redefining-progress-and-myth-of-social-democracy/)  that
the reason social democracy works in Scandinavian countries is because
there is a culture of solidarity. Quite the opposite exists in the United
States, particularly for conservatives. Hawes describes four beliefs that
prop up our current culture: The Puritan/Calvinist belief that there will
always be poor people, the Monroe Doctrine belief that the world is ours to
conquer, Social Darwinism that believes certain people are inferior and
Positivism, which neglects to take humanity into consideration. Positivism,
he explains, leads to materialism and over-medication in our population.

An antidote to these beliefs is to promote the common wealth. Rivera Sun
writes (https://popularresistance.org/the-re-emergence-of-common-wealth/)
that pursuit of individual wealth has been destructive to common wealth,
often requiring exploitation of peoples and places. Common wealth is much
broader than material wealth, it includes “our society, communities,
knowledge, beliefs, practices, culture, arts, stories, myths, philosophies,
psychologies, healing arts, education, innovation, expression, and
connection… the ‘wealth and prosperity’ of the forests, oceans, plains,
rivers, skies, glaciers, mountains, deserts, lakes, and so on.” Sun sees
the culture shifting to embrace ways of living that are more cooperative
and sustainable.

At a crossroads

Across the United States and around the world, people are coming together
to do more than protest, they are defining what positive solutions they
want to put in place and are working to change the underlying systems.
There are exciting campaigns and gains that are being made.

People from the United States and Canada who have been fighting the
privatization of water met in Flint (https://popularresistance.
org/coalition-of-water-protectors-call-for-nestle-boycott/) , Michigan to
form a new coalition focused on the Great Lakes area. Nestlé has been a big
problem on both sides of the border because it preys on small towns and
takes water with little compensation to communities, so they are calling
for a boycott of all Nestlé products and are working to end bottled water
as a commodity.

There is also a growing campaign against privatization of education.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is being protested (
https://popularresistance.org/seattle-educators-ready-for-devos/)  wherever
she goes.

Dominion Energy has long dominated politics in Virginia and surrounding
states, but that is changing. People have been organizing to stop Dominion
Energy’s fossil fuel projects and now state agencies have started denying
Dominion’s requests (https://popularresistance.org/is-dominions-grip-on-
political-power-at-a-crossroads/) . In California, where PG&E’s poor
maintenance of electrical infrastructure may have caused some of the deadly
wildfires, there are rumblings about placing PG&E under public control (
https://popularresistance.org/pge-power-lines-linked-to-wine-country-fires/)
. And union workers are calling on the AFL-CIO to fight for a transition to
clean energy (https://popularresistance.org/open-letter-to-union-
leaders-act-on-climate/) . In the past, unions have supported dirty energy
projects because they meant jobs, but those jobs come at a cost to the
planet and the health of workers.

Last week, Popular Resistance and allies organized actions in Washington,
DC (https://popularresistance.org/protesters-demand-end-to-
corporate-courts-transparency-in-nafta/)  to protest the re-negotiation of
NAFTA during the fourth round of talks. The Trump administration is pushing
to include many of the provisions we opposed in the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership such as
corporate courts (https://popularresistance.org/left-and-right-have-
nothing-in-common-on-nafta/)  and other corporate power grabs. We are
calling for a new model of trade that protects people and the planet. The
next round in the United States will be in December. We need to have an
even greater presence there. Please sign up at TradeforPeopleandPlanet.org (
http://tradeforpeopleandplanet.org/)  if you are willing to join us.

Recent victories include a New York Supreme Court ruling (
https://popularresistance.org/supreme-court-rules-in-
favor-of-gov-transparency-against-private-prison-corps/)  against a private
prison’s attempts to hide information on immigrant detentions. In Colorado,
the ACLU wrote a report (https://popularresistance.org/colorados-alamosa-
municipal-court-tramples-on-rights-of-poor-people/)  about the unjust
practices of a particular judge, and now they are working with the city
council to reform the court. In Chicago, youth have organized amazing days
of actions (https://popularresistance.org/rahms-police-academy-plan-
met-with-youth-led-backlash/) to stop a $95 million police training academy
and redirect that money back into communities where schools have been
closed.

Public banks are gaining traction in Los Angeles (https://popularresistance.
org/los-angeles-public-bank-effort-gains-more-steam/)  and Oakland (
https://popularresistance.org/forum-in-oakland-brings-
to-light-how-public-banks-can-fund-renewable-energy/) . Public banks save
cities millions of dollars that would otherwise go to Wall Street and can
be used to fund projects that benefit local residents. Ellen Brown of the
Public Banking Institute also writes (https://popularresistance.
org/how-to-erase-puerto-ricos-debt-without-hurting-mom-and-pop/)  that
Puerto Rico’s debt can easily be erased by quantitative easing, the same
mechanism that bailed out the banks in 2008.

And the call for peace is rising. Thousands of women, both Israeli and
Palestinian, marched together (https://popularresistance.
org/palestinian-and-israeli-women-walking-hand-in-hand-for-peace/)  for two
weeks calling for peace talks. Next weekend, the Divest from the War
Machine (https://popularresistance.org/calendar1/divest-from-the-
war-machine-summit/)  summit will take place in Washington, DC. And
Veterans for Peace are calling for Veteran’s Day (https://popularresistance.
org/armistice-day/)  to be celebrated as it was originally intended,
Armistice Day, with activities focused on peace.

Which way forward?

In “A Tale of Two Islands (https://popularresistance.
org/a-tale-of-two-islands/) ,” Vijay Prashad compares the situations in
Cuba and Puerto Rico after the devastation of recent hurricanes as a way to
compare a socialized state with a neo-liberal state. In the poor country of
Cuba, steps were taken prior to the hurricane to protect people and
infrastructure and to prepare for their needs after the storm. As a result,
fewer people died and power was restored within a few weeks. In Puerto
Rico, a US colony ravaged by debt and austerity, the death toll continues
to rise as people go without water, food and power. It will take many
months to restore the electrical infrastructure.

We too can choose whether we want a future of solidarity where human needs
and protection of the planet come before profits or whether we will
continue down the path where corporations and the politicians they fund
deny access to basic needs to satisfy their shareholders. The impacts we
are experiencing are the result of human-made systems and those systems can
be changed and must be changed if we are to solve the crises we face.

William Hawes closes with a quote from Marcos about building “…an
intercontinental network of resistance against neoliberalism… in which
distinct resistances may support one another. This network of resistance is
not an organized structure; it doesn’t have a central head or decision
maker; it has no central command or hierarchies. We are the network, all of
us who resist.”

There is much to do and we can all do something from helping each other to
meet our needs, educating ourselves and others about what is going on to
participating in campaigns to end harmful practices or build new systems.
You are the Popular Resistance.

As we celebrate our sixth year since the Occupation of Freedom Plaza in
Washington, DC, enjoy this video compilation (https://www.facebook.com/
PopularResistanceOrg/videos/1590575687687749/) of some of the actions we
have organized or joined.

============================================================
** follow on Twitter (Twitter Account not yet Authorized)
| ** like on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
pages/Stop-the-Machine-Create-a-New-World/128235120588487)
| ** forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=
33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413&id=e8cb620199&e=39ec9f6178)

Our mailing address is:
PopularResistance.org
402 East Lake Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21212

** CLICK HERE TO DONATE. (https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7315/donate_page/now)
"Because a sustainable future depends on the people willing to see the
truth for what it is, and for those to stand up in unison in order to make
a difference." — Jake Edwards Keli'i Eakin
** unsubscribe from this list (https://popularresistance.
us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413&id=
fda709da4c&e=39ec9f6178&c=e8cb620199)
| ** update subscription preferences (https://popularresistance.
us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=33602bebba8fb7dd6e71fb413&id=
fda709da4c&e=39ec9f6178)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20171018/cdaeb17f/attachment.html 