UPDATE 1 - Breaking with form, I'm placing this update at the top as a response to several commenters below. I have to say I think there are some great points made below - rather than calling for a full-on general strike on Black Friday, I'd say perhaps following an #Occupy theme to piggyback on Black Friday might be more practical and effective. Keep up the good thoughts.
The original text of the diary follows below the squiggle of great truth.
Over the past several weeks, we have seen what ability we still have to change the conversation in this country.
We have seen that a general strike can be organized in a short period of time by a dedicated group. Well, the time has come to take the general strike to the national level.
Later this month, on November 24, many of us will gather for Thanksgiving dinner with our families. As is tradition, many of us will give thanks for all that we have been given.
And then the next day, many of us will make our way to shopping malls, or Wal-Mart, or your other neighborhood big box retailer and spend a lot of money (perhaps on a credit card) on Christmas gifts.
But this year, many Americans will not have this opportunity. And every year that number grows as the wealth and power moves away from the 99% and into the hands of the 1%.
So this year, rather than sending our hard-earned dollars to and through these corporate monoliths, let's send a message instead.
Therefore, I propose that on Friday, November 25, we engage in a nationwide general strike. Rather than going to work or school (and I realize most schools are not in session on that date), workers and students should come together, converging on big-box retailers, shopping centers, centers of government, and media outlets to make our voices heard and shut down our cities.
Oakland showed us just what we can do when we dare to attempt great things.
Let us make it our mission to redefine "Black Friday" by not participating in the "busiest shopping day of the year", but by standing firm against the economic assault on the 99% and the media who have failed to do their jobs for the last 30 years.
When someone is consistently wrong about something for an extended period of time, sane people must not be afraid to call them what they are - charlatans. Yet while it is far too easy for the media to dismiss Harold Camping as a joke, why does the media give any credence to the economic policies of those who drove our economy to ruin?
We must stand firm against the charlatans who would continue the path to ruin and those who enable them. And by striking on what amounts to the largest holiday of the year in the religion of capitalism, we can do just that.
This is our civil rights movement. This is our moment.