Jul 17 2008

General Strike 9/11/08

Up until the Supreme Court gave Bush and the Right Wing control of the government in the year 2000 and began the Republican Reign Of Terror that has taken us from a relatively peaceful and prosperous country, to a nation that under a brief period total Right Wing control has become embroiled in two unwinnable wars, has done it level best to destroy the Constitution, is content to destroy the Homeplanets atmosphere as long as they profit from it, and that is teetering on the edge of economic crisis aimed at the lower and middle class while the rich get obscenely richer, …perhaps the Right Wings greatest historical victory was destroying the idea of Union. As well as, of course, destroying actual unions along the way, wherever possible, and with relish. Many individual unions are still around, obviously. Some are trying to make a comeback and regain relevance. But destroying the idea of the workers of the lower and middle class uniting was the real victory.

Because it largely destroyed the idea of Solidarity, as well. The idea of the non-ruling classes banding together to protest and work against the excesses of the ruling class. And the very real idea that we, if we choose to, can shut the whole thing down.

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GENERAL STRIKE 9/11/08

 

IF we choose to.

If we CHOOSE to.

If WE choose to.

Will we?

Will you?

From votestrike.com

Individually we find that we are powerless against corporate media or Big Oil or Washington. Our choices are limited. Our effectiveness diminished. This is not by accident. Unions, social gatherings, clubs that all flourished before the 1960s have all been destroyed by those who find you & me to be a threat.

Without direct action, republican democracy is truly disempowering: our only means of influence are to beg the Very Serious And Important Intermediary – the congressman, the governor, the president, etc. – to do something on our behalf.

We all know how well that has worked out.

The only effective action left to take now in order to stop the gears and levers of this lemming-like perpetual motion machine of destruction is—to do nothing.  That’s right, nothing.  To go on strike.

Will it work?

IF we choose to.

If we CHOOSE to.

If WE choose to.

It is imperative for YOU to promote the General Strike for it to have any success. This should include, but not be limited to: writing/publishing articles, essays, poems, posting in forums, commenting in blogs, starting your own blog, newspaper ads, online ads, local random phone calls, letters to editors, opeds, freeway banners, bumper stickers, car signs, yard signs, street signs, every online newspaper allows comments (NY Times, Washington Post, etc.), call in to talk  radio shows, print & distribute flyers…………

And really, what have we got to lose? Especially relative to what could be gained from a new feeling of solidarity, from a new feeling of power, from a new feeling that WE matter.

Taking the day off, not buying anything. That part is easy. What’s the hard part? Spreading the word, getting the message out, reminding The People that they have the power to…..

SHUT

IT

DOWN.

P. S. Check out their history of strikes page!

54 comments

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  1. Photobucket

    • brobin on July 17, 2008 at 20:20
    • #

    shut it down.

    If you won’t go along with it

    shut it down.

    If you believe in the power of good over evil

    shut it down.

    I’ve had enough.

    I’ll spread the word.

    • robodd on July 17, 2008 at 20:25
    • #

    Specific Suggestion: General Strike

    http://harpers.org/archive/200…

    It is one thing to endure abuses and to carry on in spite of them. It is quite another thing to carry on to the point of abetting the abuse. We need to move the discussion of our nation’s health to the emergency room. We need to tell the doctors of the body politic that the treatment isn’t working-and that until it changes radically for the better, neither are we.

    * * *

    How much better if we could say to our next administration: Don’t talk about Bush. We dealt with Bush. We dealt with Bush and in so doing we demonstrated our ability to deal with you. You have a mandate more rigorous than looking good beside Bush. You need a program more ambitious than “uniting the country.” We are united-at least we were, if only for a while, if only in our disgust. . . .

    * * *

    Might I be pardoned if, fearing civil disorder less than I fear civil despair, I said, “Well, we could do this.” It has been done before and we could do this. And I do believe we could. If anyone has a better idea, I’m keen to hear it. Only don’t tell me what some presidential hopeful ought to do someday. Tell me what the people who have nearly lost their hope can do right now.

  4. Yet what you need is not marches, demonstrations, rallies or wide associations; all of them are important. What you need is direct action. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we’ll begin to change things. –Arthur Scargill

    The General Strike has taught the working class more in four days than years of talking could have done.  –Arthur Balfour

  5. particularly those that have already shown themselves to be capable of action.  

  6. THIS

    MOTHER-FUCKER

    DOWN!

  7. I sent a message to Chris Rice about our GENERAL STRIKE – 9/11 support, articles and comments here.  I even mentioned that several of us have even changed our sig lines to say something about GS 9/11.  Here is her email back to me:

    Wow. Reading those posts brought tears to my eyes. THANX.  

    “Sorry I haven’t been able to do more.”   You’re kidding right. This is AWESOME. But you saw how easy that was. There’s 1,000s of forums and blogs out there that know nothing of this strike. We can only be successful if we have the numbers. I’ve even seen riot police back down when you have enough protesters. But the politicians won’t listen unless we can shut down the country and hit their big business freinds in the pocket book. I have 2 lists of blog contacts on my site, I’m trying to contact them all and let them know about the strike. If you have the time, feel free to send them emails on the strike. I started at the top of the list of ‘Impeachment Blogs’ page but will never get through to all of them. The other page is called ‘Blog Contacts’ and I haven’t contacted any of them. But forums are a GREAT way to spread the word and there’s all kinds of forums out there. I was just posting on a truckers forum. But hey, YOU have already done more than most. Keep your head up.   -chris

    Maybe some of us can contact those other blogs and forums about this!  What do you think?

  9. other. The real reign of terror began when the Supreme Court appointed W.

    • RUKind on July 18, 2008 at 07:19
    • #

    If it looks like it might actually go off as planned Bush could make a public call for a day of national commemoration or some such. Who knows? The Dems could probably be steamrolled into making it a national holiday between now and then. That way, all the people not showing up for work would be just a natural occurrence. What strike? Never happened! It was a national holiday.

    Sounds preposterous doesn’t it? To me that just makes it more possible. These guys never cease to amaze me at how low they can go. Every time I think they couldn’t possibly scrape the bottom of the moral barrel any lower they find a way. And they don’t do it incrementally. They do it in leaps and bounds. Ever lower.

    I think if they live long enough their bottom will be human extinction. Hell, Cheney is already part-Borg. ;-(

  11. If you signed up for a General Strike on 9/11, I want you to know that this is a ‘series of strikes to end the two-party hypocrisy and the third-party myth.’ This is NOT a one-day strike. Strikes require 1. strikers, 2. grievances, 3. negotiations, 4. a strike, 5. settlement. The only ‘settlement’ that we will accept is 1. the prosecution of those elected officials who aided/abetted Bush & Co. 2. The complete restoration of our Constitution & Bill of Rights and a return to the rule of law. And Bush & Co. sent to the Hague for prosecution.

    Anyone interested in just protesting on Sept. 11th we’re more than happy to have you.  EVERYONE ELSE:

    This is a DYI (Do it YOURSELF) General Strike. I cannot, nor do I have the time or organization to set up protest in every town, city & hamlet throughout the U.S.

    This has now turned into a Global General Strike. With 4 other countries participating, so far.

    I have tried to provide all of the necessary information that YOU will need to plan/set up & hold your own local protest at: http://votestrike.com/shut_em_…

    I also encourage those of you who have signed up to vigorously promote your protest. To contact local activist groups, through http://www.meetup.com, http://www.tribe.net, Myspace, Youtube, all social networks via the internet or elsewhere such as your church groups,  etc.

    YOU need to recruit enough people locally to shut down your town/city.

    It is imperative for YOU to promote the General Strike for it to have any success. This should include, but not be limited to: writing/publishing articles, essays, poems, posting in forums, commenting in blogs, starting your own blog, newspaper ads, online ads, local random phone calls, letters to editors, opeds, freeway banners, bumper stickers, car signs, yard signs, street signs, make/post Youtube videos, every online newspaper allows comments (NY Times, Washington Post, etc.), call in to talk  radio shows, print & distribute flyers…………

    IF YOU FAIL AT PROMOTION BUSH & CO. WILL WALK AWAY………SCOTT FREE, with congressional medals of honor & big fat speaking checks from Halliburton.  (And we end up on the ‘list’)

    What is the number one thing a strike requires?   STRIKERS

    How easy/hard is it to find people who want to protest against Bush & Co.???

    HAS ANYONE CONTACTED BARACK OBAMA’S OLD CHURCH??

    They have what, 150,000 members. Hum that was easy, start calling/writing…. that’s 150,000 more people to hit the steets, to stop buying. How much do you want to make a bet they’d be happy to protest….if they only knew about it.

    We only have 2 more months & this is only step one. August we need to put together park FAIRs across the country, with booths, clowns whatever to distribute info to the general pop. We need to form local recruiting chapters. If you want to join the Army you don’t need to go to Wa. or DC. or Va. there are recruiting offices in every town.

    This is our last chance to bring Bush & Co. to justice, end the American nightmare, restore the rule of law & make the American dream a reality for all Americans.

    I applaud your courage. I know that some of you are burned out, frustrated, dis-illusioned, with protest that go nowhere. This can & will work….but only if YOU make it happen.

    If you have questions, comments, suggestions do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]  

  12. There is a page titled ‘Why Strike on 9/11’ at

    http://www.votestrike.com

    But typically those people who have NO problems with Bush using that date to start and continue his reign of terror on the people of Iraq, for the sole purpose of robbing the national treasury, will have a problem protesting on any date.

    They would’ve also taken issue with Jesus healing on the Sabbath, no doubt. We know these people. Only 1/3 of the American population supported our revolution against the King. This is not new.

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