We may feel, in the face of the ruthless corporate destruction of our nation, our culture, and our ecosystem, powerless and weak. But we are not. We have a power that terrifies the corporate state. Any act of rebellion, no matter how few people show up or how heavily it is censored by a media that caters to the needs and profits of corporations, chips away at corporate power. Any act of rebellion keeps alive the embers for larger movements that follow us. It passes on another narrative. It will, as the rot of the state consumes itself, attract wider wider numbers. Perhaps this will not happen in our lifetimes. But if we persist, we will keep this possibility alive. If we do not, it will die.
From a Hedges column just over a year ago.
No one can say for certain what 2012 will bring, but for starters, let’s go back to first principles.
We’re citizens of a democratic society, deriving our rights and our obligations from a public sphere that is both the sum of its parts and something more. I’ll say it once more for emphasis: we are citizens.
Not taxpayers. Not customers. Not shareholders. Not consumers. We are not defined in terms of how much profit we create or how much we spend on goods and services or pay in taxes. We have an intrinsic value that goes beyond generating returns for investors.
For 2012, let us at least rededicate ourselves to the idea of engaged citizenship.
Related posts:
- Income inequality, the 99 percent, and the dysfunction of American society | via Esquire | #uspoli #OWS
- The cruel reality of the American class system: We Are Not All Created Equal | #classwarfare #uspoli
- Far-right wackjobs: they’re not just tedious – they’re a genuine threat | via AlterNet | #uspoli
- From @mtaibbi, a Christmas message from Wall Street | #classwarfare #uspoli
- @GeorgeMonbiot on the subversion of ‘freedom’ | #winningbackthewords