Lately, at events, I’ve seen a growing trend towards pro-authoritarian ideas. Everyone is looking to their governments to save them. The liberals are claiming the occupy movement now, and I’ve all but lost faith in it. I do agree that corporations are not people, and I agree with many of their other ideals as well, but the problem is that they expect their governments, a few wasps, to fix everything. The reality is that the government played a huge role in creating these problems and they have no intention of fixing them.
I cannot support any pro-authoritarian legislation, even if it does put corporations in their place. Governments are a bigger concern than corporations because governments have much more power. You’re born into them. You cannot resist. In the case of corporations, they cannot, at least not yet, coerce you to buy their products. Also, the government is completely polluted by the men who run the corporations, e.g., Michael Taylor, a former executive of corporate monster, Monsanto, is the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. Therefore, even if anti-corporate legislation was introduced, it would never pass.
We have to get over the fallacy that governments can save us, or this movement will only go backwards.
So, that brings us to the question, “How can we push back the corporate beast?” The answer is this. We stop buying their products. Are we so much like sheep that we need the governments help to protect ourselves from our own bad habits? Boycotts have proven to be extremely effective. One of the earliest examples was the boycott in England of sugar produced by slaves. In 1791, after Parliament refused to abolish slavery, thousands of pamphlets were printed encouraging the boycott. Sugar sales dropped between a third and a half. By contrast sales of Indian sugar, untainted by slavery, rose tenfold in two years.
Other ways to push back would be through direct actions, such as occupations (taking back land), sabotage, black blocs, education, buying locally, starting your own farm, etc.
Corporations are not immortal. They fall, as do governments. We need to, rather than working with our oppressors, destroy their means of oppression. Conflict Gypsies unite!
P.S. Anyone going to NATO summit in Chicago? Should be fun. Hope to meet some travelers.
I cannot support any pro-authoritarian legislation, even if it does put corporations in their place. Governments are a bigger concern than corporations because governments have much more power. You’re born into them. You cannot resist. In the case of corporations, they cannot, at least not yet, coerce you to buy their products. Also, the government is completely polluted by the men who run the corporations, e.g., Michael Taylor, a former executive of corporate monster, Monsanto, is the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. Therefore, even if anti-corporate legislation was introduced, it would never pass.
We have to get over the fallacy that governments can save us, or this movement will only go backwards.
So, that brings us to the question, “How can we push back the corporate beast?” The answer is this. We stop buying their products. Are we so much like sheep that we need the governments help to protect ourselves from our own bad habits? Boycotts have proven to be extremely effective. One of the earliest examples was the boycott in England of sugar produced by slaves. In 1791, after Parliament refused to abolish slavery, thousands of pamphlets were printed encouraging the boycott. Sugar sales dropped between a third and a half. By contrast sales of Indian sugar, untainted by slavery, rose tenfold in two years.
Other ways to push back would be through direct actions, such as occupations (taking back land), sabotage, black blocs, education, buying locally, starting your own farm, etc.
Corporations are not immortal. They fall, as do governments. We need to, rather than working with our oppressors, destroy their means of oppression. Conflict Gypsies unite!
P.S. Anyone going to NATO summit in Chicago? Should be fun. Hope to meet some travelers.
