I am writing to follow-up on Ministry of Truth's excellent diary on the Bailout the People Movement's March on Wall Street coming this April 3-4. Specifically, unless I'm missing something, it seems that 1) this action has not gained the traction it deserves, considering the economy, and 2) it risks espousing and attracting too many issues to have a meaningful impact on policies that attack the well-documented class warfare that has been accelerating for going on 30 years now. (My personal favorite resource being Kevin Phillips' "Wealth and Democracy".)
If I'm not missing something, then I believe the progressive movement could miss a huge opportunity to establish national populist progressive solidarity, which could provide the Presidwent with significant impetus and capital to further expose and take more direct, expansive action on class warfare. IMO, failure to take this opportunity on the part of the progressive community would be a foolish tragedy given the slaughter taking place around us and the potentially small window of opportunity in front of us to address roots causes: government policy, programs and regulatory inaction enabling concentration of wealth/economic injustice; traditional media complicity.
I know there's a lot of debate about the efficacy of demonstrations. In recent years, so many have been ignored by the corporate media. It seems the resources of so many have been wasted. Movement activists and historians say otherwise, knowingly and convincingly. I recommend Paul Rogat Loeb's "The Impossible Will Take A Bit Longer," a compendium of essays, as an authoriative resource on this topic.
Still, as I recall, even kos, in his excellent book, "Taking On the System", questions the relevance of public demonstration given other means of organizing against and influencing the powers that be.
Nevertheless, I think it is much more than reasonable to bet that the zeitgeist is entirely different from any WE have seen before. Over the past eight years, demonstrations have been met by an oppositional Bush administration and a complicit media, cowardly at best, intentionally deceptive at worst. While the traditional media inscrutably has changed little, we at least have the advantage of an administration that is at least partially sympathetic to employing populist solutions to our economic problems. I'm fairly confident that the administration will respond to this March if it is well organized and executed, which includes a heavy requirement for substantive participation, always the most challenging component of "progressivism". In fact, as I've already suggested, I think an effective action would be used by the administration as a stick to continue and expand its efforts to address economic injustice and the not only unfair but also unhealthy concentration of wealth.
Looking at Bailout the People Movement's website today, (under "Find an Organizing Center Near You"), I see an HQ/Solidarity Center at:
Solidarity Center
55 West 17th St. Suite #5C, New York, NY, 10011
212-633-6646
http://www.bailoutpeople.org/
Email:bailoutpeople@safewebmail.com
and additional organizing centers identified in:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Buffalo
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
College Park (MD)
D.C.
Hartford
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
Nashville
Newark (and several other locations in New Jersey),
NYC (represented in all burroughs, Long Island and Westchester County),
Philadelphia
Providence
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
San Diego
San Francisco
Springfield (MA)
Tuscon
This is a solid list and I am impressed by the effort and accomplishment of those who have taken this Movement upon themselves on behalf of everyone else across the country. I also notice several holes in the list, particularly among some remaining large metropolitan areas, other cities in the northeast (relatively "near" Wall St) whose states are not represented at all, and numerous state capitals (or surrogates; e.g., Omaha for Lincoln?, St. Louis or KC for Jefferson City, etc.) across the country that could send delegates and/or hold local events. And I wonder what kind of response the existing centers are getting, especially the ones far removed from the action at ground zero. I plan to follow up and report on that in a future diary soon, unless another kossack in the loop beats me to it (more power to ya).
What Can You Do?
- Visit Bailout the People Movement's website
- Download and read the "Fightback Confernce Draft Working Paper"
- Endorse the March on Wall Street
- Volunteer to help organize/execute the March on Wall Street
- Attend the March on Wall Street
- Become a Local Organizer
- Volunteer for a locally organized event supporting the March
- Participate in a local event supporting the March
- Blog, write editorials to increase awareness and coverage
- Contact your representatives and the White House
- Contact local government officials
- Contact local labor leaders (especially if there is no movement in your area)
- Creatively identify and execute other actions supporting the Movement and the March
- As many of the above as possible
Done well both on Wall Street and nationally, this particular event (among the several that the Movement has identified) WILL be observed by and responded to by the administration. Regardless of how far the response goes initially, the Movement will, by definition, require sustained action, so that awareness and influence grows until no one, not even the traditional media, can ignore it, and no one, not even the corporate and investment class elite, can resist it. Whether that happens this year, next or never is in each and all of our hands.
As to the second concern I raised in my opening, that of a diffusion of effort against several related yet nevertheless distinct targets, which could easily cause the Movement to succumb to one of the cardinal weaknesses of effective advocacy (lack of focus), I refer you to Bailout the People Movement's working paper and some of the notes included in the directory of organizing centers. Thus, to the above list of things to do I would humbly suggest adding:
- To the degree you participate, help focus THE March and/or your local March on
a) exposing the fact, unfairness and unhealthiness of concentration of wealth,
b) exposing policies that promote excessive concentration of wealth,
c) promoting solutions to provide economic justice and health, and
d) holding financial terrorists accountable.
I recall recently reading a paper by the Ruckus Society (can no longer locate it) that message focus, like media communications, is critical and failure to attend to it does often kill demonstrations.
"Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience."
-Dr. Laurence J. Peter
The misfortune is all around us, expanding in all directions, a micro-mirror of the universe, a drama of entropy. The rare opportunity for good fortune exists in this Movement in general and the March On Wall Street in particular. I urge all kossacks to stop to observe, recognize and consider actively participating in this truly singular moment--when the broad, global populace and administration are ripe for massive influence--carefully and wisely.