It should be clear by now that as the dark forces (dark money, ALEC, Third Way, etc.) behind the Neoliberal (international finance) corporate state consolidate their wholesale takeover of our government and civic institutions, unless the citizenry is able to unite in solidarity against it, the abuses are not only going to continue, but they are sure to get worse with each passing day.
A people united in solidarity against the corporate state, under a common understanding of the true nature of the system, is the most significant threat to its increasingly oppressive and brutal control over the population. Given the fact that the ruling elite is made up of a very tiny group of people who have been able to keep control over the entire society through a system of legalized bribery, mind-numbing ubiquitous corporate propaganda, induced economic insecurity (austerity), induced ignorance, and an increasingly Orwellian total information awareness surveillance police state, any social justice movement capable of uniting at least 3 to 5 percent of the population in a sustained campaign of resistance represents its biggest challenge to their illegitimate power.
Before I move on to a prototype proposal for the movement, let me address two important issues, for the benefit of those who may not be fully aware about what I'm referring to when I mention the corporate state.
With that in mind, I'd like to call attention to some reference material which contains information that clearly explains the nature of the corporate state: "Radical Democracy Against Cultures of Violence" by Henry A Giroux; "On the Sabotage of Democracy," by Bill Moyers; "Zombie Politics," by Henry Giroux; "Dollarocracy - How Big Money & Big Media Undermine Democracy," by John Nichols and Robert McChesney; "This Town - Glitz and Greed in Washington," by Mark Leibovich; "Reality Asserts Itself" series of Chris Hedges interviews by Paul Jay for The Real News Network.
Regarding the importance of sustained and coordinated action, as well as the minimum level of involvement by the population (3 to 5 percent) needed to defeat the corporate state, following is the reference information:
Indeed, Mark Lichbach, a professor of government and politics, has written in The Rebel’s Dilemma, that when more than 5 percent of the population engages in sustained, coordinated civil disobedience, few governments can remain in power whether they are a dictatorship or a democracy. The path to reaching this 5 percent begins when people who are already active in resistance build solidarity and draw more people to the movement. As more people see the movement growing and that there is a strategy to win, they will have the confidence to join it. Achieving the 5 percent tipping point with a diverse cross-section of society then becomes well within reach.
[The emphasis is mine]
Regarding the importance (and effectiveness) of non-violent resistance, the issue is covered masterfully in "
Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, " by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan:
For more than a century, from 1900 to 2006, campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals. By attracting impressive support from citizens, whose activism takes the form of protests, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other forms of nonviolent noncooperation, these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power and produce remarkable results, even in Iran, Burma, the Philippines, and the Palestinian Territories.
Finally, one of the best explanations about the role of activists I've seen is the one put forward by Bill Moyers in "
Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements":
Social movements involve a long-term struggle between the movement and the powerholders for the hearts, minds, and support of the majority of the population. Before social movements begin, most people are either unaware that a problem exists or don't believe that they can do anything about it. They believe the powerholder's societal myths and support the high-sounding official policies and practices, all of which seem to be consistent with the culture's deeply held held values and beliefs...
~snip~
The strategy of social movements, therefore, is to alert, educate, and win over an ever increasing majority of the public. First the public needs to be convinced that a critical social problem exists. Then it must be convinced that policies need to be changed. And then a majority of people must be mobilized into a force that eventually brings about an acceptable solution.
Following I will focus on this: "
The strategy of social movements, therefore, is to alert, educate, and win over an ever increasing majority of the public." In a sea of mind-numbing 24/7 corporate media propaganda, rampant (legalized) bribery of public officials and widespread influence peddling corruption, induced fear and economic insecurity (austerity, etc.), cognitive infiltration at all levels of communications, a total information awareness surveillance police state, and an increasingly brutal two-tiered legal system, it is very very hard to try to organize citizens under a common and accurate understanding about the true nature of the system.
Image: R_Evolution by Guillem Marí
This situation has brought about a corporate ethos based on greed, opportunism, false narratives, fear and apprehension, and profiteering, which has engulfed the entire society. This means that ALL HIERARCHICAL organizations have been highly compromised... And that includes organizations that are purportedly liberal and progressive.
Now, that doesn't mean that many (if not most) of these organizations are indeed doing great work and achieving many of their goals or objectives. What it means is that their full potential is being undermined, sabotaged, and this is being done by design. There are forces behind the scenes working on sabotaging the movement, 24/7.
Because of all these challenges I am of the opinion that there has never been a better moment in history for the
non-hierarchical organization to shine, to rise to the occasion, to break through the gates (crashing them, indeed), the corporate state has so dutifully built to enslave us.
“The globalization of the exchange of services, capital and patents has led over the past ten years to establish a world dictatorship of finance capital. The small transcontinental oligarchies that hold the financial capital dominate the planet… The lords of financial capital wield over billions of human beings a power of life and death. Through their investment strategies, their stock market speculations, their alliances, they decide day to day who has the right to live on this planet and who is doomed to die.”
-- Archbishop of Tegucigalpa Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga (confidant of Pope Francis)
[The emphasis is mine]
Following I'm going to put forward a first draft about what I envision such non-hierarchical movement to look like. But I acknowledge that anything one person (me) can put forward on his or her own, by definition will never be able to encompass the topic appropriately. And that's why I challenge all activists in the non-hierarchical movement to expand on these ideas as they relate to the actual situation on the ground (i.e., the total information awareness surveillance police state).
Movement Ethos
I think this is of utmost importance for obvious reasons. It talks to a common banner, a common understanding:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties as a citizen of this country."
That was jut a reminder about the importance of the Constitution. Now, let me tackle the issue of a movement ethos:
I will adhere to these principles to the best of my abilities: The rejection of greed and consumerism. People would contribute to society according to their abilities and will receive aid in accordance to their needs. They would consume only what they need. They would consider an injustice done to anyone to be an injustice done to themselves. They would consider education, shelter, food, clothing, and health care universal rights guaranteed for each individual by the collective action of all. They would protect the natural environment. Each individual wanting to work would be guaranteed a job. Those who manage to consume the least and to help the most would be considered the most virtuous. Literature, the study of Humanities, music and the arts would be exalted. All science and technological advances would be at the service of humanity, its benefits to be enjoyed equally by all.
What I'm trying to do there is start to define an ethos for the post-corporate state era, knowing full well that the rapacious pace of consumption and exploitation demanded by the criminal unbridled capitalist system is unsustainable.
Again, that's just a very basic draft, hoping that others more versed in these matters can contribute their ideas, kind of like an "open source" development of the post-corporate state ethos.
So now, let me get back to the issue of the methods of control the corporate state has over the population, and why it is important that we now embrace the idea of non-hierarchical organizations (of which Occupy Wall Street provided a very good foundation to build from).
Image credit: "Wake Up America," by Jacquelin Bond
You see, if enough people (initially 1 to two percent of the population, hoping to get to the 3 to 5 we would need for a tipping point) come to a common understanding of the true nature of the system (see fourth paragraph above), AND are then able to unite in solidarity under a common ethos, AND embrace the
non-hierarchical type of organizations for the resistance movement against the brutality of the Neoliberal Corporate State, I argue that then we have a powerful movement capable of standing up to its depravity.
In this essay I've shared my vision (and theories) about the need for a social justice movement based on the non-hierarchical organization ethos. It is part one of two essays. In the next one I will share my ideas about how to put these concepts into practice--boots (or feet) on the ground.
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