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A Time for Action - Not Servility
While Washington pundits are talking up a new civility, many progressives are bracing for the old servility -- a bipartisanship that is servile to a corporate elite that is unquenchably greedy and more powerful than ever.
But this is not a time for despair. It's a time for new activism -- built upon one of the great achievements of the last decade: the rise of independent media.
Every day, millions of people in the U.S. get their journalism from independent news outlets that expose not just the extremist antics of Republicans, but also the corporate corruption among Democrats. These informed Americans -- fearful of Speaker Boehner and alarmed by a White House now administered by a JPMorgan Chase executive -- represent a huge base ready to mobilize in new ways.
That's the basis for the launch of a new online organization -- RootsAction.org -- an initiative endorsed by such respected independent progressives as Daniel Ellsberg, Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk and Coleen Rowley.
Our first action -- in collaboration with Daniel Ellsberg -- is a petition to President Obama to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
RootsAction is a response to the quietude among many liberals that followed so many cave-ins from the Obama White House and Democratic leaders in recent years. Our strategy is based on using the Internet and social media as pathways around political discourse dominated by media conglomerates.
The Internet has spurred a flourishing of spirited indy news outlets and websites that are not only independent of corporate control, but also independent of corporate politicians of both major parties.
And the Internet gave birth more than a decade ago to a once-hopeful Netroots -- springing from nowhere to activate millions of people in a flash.
RootsAction aspires to be a new kind of online group -- one fully independent of Democratic leaders more intent on protecting Wall Street and endless war than on protecting the vast majority of Americans. Read our mission statement here.
A tragic example of why RootsAction is needed came when President Obama announced his Afghanistan escalation a year ago at West Point; major Netroots groups -- who would have raised hell had a President McCain announced the very same policy -- were largely silent or muted.
RootsAction will never be silent as Congress and the president squander billions on foreign wars while failing to meet crucial domestic needs.
Please join RootsAction so we can amplify our voices and mobilize.
RootsAction is for people who are loyal to progressive values -- peace, economic justice, equality, civil liberties, environment -- rather than to politicians who offer progressive-sounding rhetoric but so often fail to uphold those values. If you want to be part of an online campaign group that is as independent as the hard-hitting indy journalism outlets that bring you news each day, RootsAction is for you.
Jim Hightower explains his support this way: "Real change is up to us, not to Obama or the Democratic Party. They are not the progressive movement, we are. Only grassroots initiatives like RootsAction can put progress back in ‘progressive.'"
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197 Comments so far
Show AllThat was my thought exactly. Their first act is to PETITION. Oh my.
Tied to a large rock and dropped from ORBIT! That'll get their attention.
>^^<
The first 100 people to sign on get a free pair of left handed pinking shears.
Trylon
I'd like to hear directly from Glenn Greenwald his opinion of this organization. I am cynical because of past experience of organizations that claimed to be progressive that turned out to be disguised Democratic Party promoters. I don't know enough about this organization except I became skeptical as soon as I saw Norman Solomon's name attached.
I agree. I'd like to hear directly from Glenn Greenwald and some of the others who are cited as endorsing this organization. Maybe Solomon has changed his views, and I would applaud that. I hope they're for real, but I'm leery.
What is the war in Afghanistan, anyway? One suspects if one has any consciousness of the elites' posture toward the American dustbowl underclass that this foreign war is about the United States. I suspect this was the case in Vietnam as well. A realtime and historical political action by the Pentagon so that they might "understand" how to deal with the political reality of American class elements that resemble the folk element in Vietnam or the devastated backwater of Afghanistan which is exactly what the American underclass is, a devastated backwater. The third world America and the incipient economic and social collapse knowingly and intentionally brought about by persons who have the leisure and wealth to engage in constructive service to the poor, but instead wage their vicious class war against persons desperate and defenseless. Look at the American city, the class and economy of the bottom, and the political consequence that could represent if these people were ever unified into an historical force against these persons of wealth who have no claim whatsoever to the provenance of the United States, historically speaking, other than being the same group of wealthy aristocrats for whom this nation is theirs. They are the "People" and we are nothing more than a means of abuse, economic fleecing, and grand historical predications. The economic bottom of the American city, the legacy of racism, slavery, and forgetting, that is Afghanistan, and the actual people of Afghanistan matter just as little as the actual people of the United States.
It is truly time that all people saw this American government for what it is, without media sponsored illusions.
For anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear Afghanistan is about Oil and opium, not Taliban or other fantastic propaganda we are fed. The proposed Oil pipeline that is to run through Afghanistan is key to controlling oil, and so USA will never leave this area nor Iraq. Control of depleting oil resources is the goal. Look to the money to discover what any war is about. The vast Opium crops in Afghanistan account for the majority of opiates produced in the world. According to Wikipedia.com: "In 2007, 92% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This amounts to an export value of about $64 billion... Afghanistan is also the largest producer of hashish in the world." Opiates are sauce for the goose. Control of oil is the main objective here. The USA is never leaving Afghanistan voluntarily.
chris.....I have had the same fleeting thoughts about these so called wars. They are practice for the upcoming implosion of the U.S. and the turning of this country into a Third World one. Very insightful commentary.
What is that old saying, 'blood runs thicker than oil'? The level of tribalism in America is much deeper than you know. In this case, blood is running thicker than oil.
The foreign war is a Pentagon contingency for how the military and their wealthy criminal predications might deal with a political insurrection inside the United States, emanating from the actual political and social conditions suffered by the abused and exploited American underclasses. The "People" of the United States are valued in much the same way as the people of any other wasteland of their comfortable history of sociopathic abuse of the poor.
when you start feeling uncomfortable, stop and see if you can find the inner conflict. then notice how that came about. If it was somebody else who put that conflict there, you can decide not to play any more with them.
Another PETITION?
I wonder what Ted Rall thinks about this.
Maybe it is just my mood, but I have to agree with others here that this call to action or whatever is seems exceptionally weak and that this "organization" is most likely DOA. Is this really how Solomon expects to rally people to action? By saying, basically, "We've been quiet for too long, please join my website and sign this petition." Oh gawd, please spare me..
It is yet another bait and switch scam for the purpose of herding people back into the fold.
The really sad part is the scam will probably work fairly well.
Yes.
"This time we really, really tired! But (sigh) I guess we will have to settle for the lesser of two evils now. We don't want Palin!! But this time we really, really tried. And next time we will really, really, really try."
Sorry, but I just can't accept any more evil in my life. The only decision left is to stand or run. But since most of the planetery elite have the best to the marginal land tied up, running looks good. But where, the back of the moon or try for a g type star whin 100 light years.
>^^<
OK, I'll check it out, even though the idea of petitioning Obama is not more likely to accomplish anything than petitioning Boehner. So much for a bold new approach!
Obama has been running so fast to the right that Boehner and company have to keep running faster to stay further to the right of him.
Such a cute little fluffy bunny rabbit.
When you are doing everything you can to suppress any and all possibility of a strong and militant Left arising, yet at the same time find it more and more difficult to abide by anything the Democrats are doing, that does not leave you much ground to stand on. So what we get is a nice fluffy little bunny rabbit - so cute!
We are the really nice people! So pleasant. So polite and courteous. So mild and peaceful. We are against bad ugly things, like war and stuff.
Lol! Great! I think that these folks need to educate themselves about petition for redress of grievance. The forumula goes like this. You petition your government for redress of grievance. If you don't get redress, you no longer have a government that is serving you and you then either stay in servitude or you create a new government that will serve you. That is simple. But no matter how often it seems we are petitioning for redress, it seems the result is no redress. However my concern is whether any of these jokers know how to officially petition for redress. Somehow I don't think they do. It is a tiresome and complicated legal matter that needs follow through. By the way Two Americas there is a reason that red is in redress. It has to do with red. But I'd have to reresearch it to tell you exactly why. I did it once but ah me, I don't keep notes.
Petition? Oh, please...
If you want to see what kind of action is needed, just look to Tunisia. If they can do it, so can we.
Well, according to today's news Tunisia old politicos have erected a "new" government with all the same old politicos in charge, aside from Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who remains at large. The Tunisian people have yet to "do it" as you say. If the Tunisian people and perhaps the union there quickly act to reject this new government and install their own, they may prevail, otherwise their popular revolt will be hijacked. We shall see.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Tunisian people keep up the fight and don't let the same old politicians re-install themselves.
In any event I still say their strategy has a little more potential than a petition...
agreed
It seems we purposely choose dead end solutions lest change becomes to radical and affects us personally. There is only one exit, one solution, but it reqires more than intellectual epiphanies by progressives. The game is fixed. We know it, but continue to play. If, when you play with your ipad, iphone, xbox, flat screen; when you buy toys and produce shipped all over the world, when you daily, buy and consume stuff you want but do not need, and don't connect your actions to starving children, raped men and women, bombed out villages, planet wide destruction of all life, you are part of the problem.
Blow up your TV, talk to your neighbor, tend your garden.
phil...yep! This is one of my main premises as well. Pull in, hunker down, make your own stuff, grow your own food, filter your water... collect it in barrels if you have to (or a cistern), start local farming.....grow Permaculture. People in crowded cities may have to move! The time may come when our little, peaceful, quiet self-sustaining plots of land will have to house "refugees" from the cities. To starve the beast (Corporatism) we have to disconnect from it. This will not be easy! Millions will need to do it. If we don't buy their product, who will they sell to?
OMG...I just thought about this as I was writing this. If we don't buy their stuff then they will try to control the stuff we do need....water, air, land, seed. They can force us. They have the power and money. This is not some conspiracy theory....it is a possibility. So, where do we go? What do we do? Do we all see where this is going? There is only one way to win.....WE MUST END THE PRESENT SYSTEM!
I agree with most of the commentary here. Namely the current corruption is not going to be affected by another mushy "progressive keyboard movement." As evident in the news that does reach us "direct action" is the only realistic solution. And that means getting out on the street and demanding redress.
I do not believe those who advocate some new system; socialist or otherwise holds any hope. Any successful civilization/culture will see trade and commerce proceed in familiar ways. To me this means abandoning over the top globalization. We need to make our own tools, make our own things and live within our available resources as much as possible with everyone participating.
Although I admire the actions of those who advocate pursuit of individual solutions like growing there own food this cannot be universally applied. The cities cannot be emptied out as they represent the most efficient modality of living for the population.
There is no escapist solution of individual self-sufficiency. What is needed is the direct action to make our systems work for the people. I would agree organizations such as corporations and government agencies need to be scaled down to manageable proportions. The system is only working for and by the few (along with their cubicalized middle class enablers).
There is much work to do and it is out in the streets.
You said it Phil.
Most of us, with our day to day actions, continue to tell Washington that we don't really want change. We love capitalism and we don't care what you criminals-in-charge have to do to maintain out ability to buy junk.
Wars, off shore child labor and slavery, environmental destruction, drill baby drill, this is done in our name for all who see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. All hypocrites to the max.
The reason the democratic party has moved so far right is because greedy money and possessions is also what many democrats worship. I can verify this just by observing my own friends. Their conviction for a liberal renaissance is nil, nada, zilch.
It certainly is ominously similar to the words spoken following the Nazi rise to power.
"Then they came for me".
smitty88 at 10:43:
"...the idea of petitioning Obama is not more likely to accomplish anything than petitioning Boehner."
You have got that right.
There is taking action, and there is TAKING ACTION. Do not confuse the two. While I support whole-heartedly this action, please do not be complicate in still sitting on your butts typing on the computer thinking that this is taking action.
We are not being seen, heard nor taken seriously. Emails are fine as they are. However, it is only like watching the RODEO on TV. It is not until you see it in person, hear it, smell, and feel the ground shake that you can then acquire an empathy for man and animal.
It is in the flying dust that brings one to the understanding of the meaning of being alive. That is how this ‘being there’ reality will also affect the OTHER.
Now that you have their attention, you can demand as stated in the Constitution….
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain ...." ...........and DO NOW REQUEST THE FOLLOWING CHANGES ………for the common good of our whole country.
Number one: STOP THE WAR NOW!............number two : TAXATION FOR THE COMMON GOOD NOT THE CORPORATEHOOD.
Yeah Dogface, no kidding! Right on for what left leaning folks want. I looked at the webiste rootaction and I don't see anything but what seems to be a punditry based center to control the truth. It sounds good, but on a little closer look it seems so far to be more of the same, what is new about that?
Dogface: YES YES YES!!!!!! Now there's a grand idea! If we want to petition.....it needs to be in the form of a statement that we are taking back our country and ousting ALL of the government! Millions in the street with petition in hand TAKING ACTION as our Constitution demands! Perhaps that is why there is such a strong movement within our government to discredit our constitution?! They are trying to do away with it before we get the chance to oust them with it!!!
Sounds good. What we need is a HOPE and CHANGE candidate.
There are too many previous Obama supporters in this group for me to trust that they will adequately challenge the status quo. That said, I hope they will prove me wrong.
My first critique of this new group is - Why focus on the war in Afghanistan as if it is not the same as the imperial takeover of Iraq and elsewhere?
Focus harder.
Also, What do Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader think of this group?
FWIW, Birdbrain, I also noticed that Hedges and Nader weren't named in this article; I don't know whether they've declined to participate, or weren't/haven't been asked.
Also, like most of the preceding comments, I couldn't help but be put off by the anticlimactic announcement of a "petition" as the first course of action.
I have great respect for icons like Daniel Ellsberg, but given his storied history of bold, radical individual action it's ironic at best if this group is relying on the efficacy of "incremental change" in the form of "incremental persuasion", as it seems. If the petition goes nowhere, is the next step a Stern Letter?
Notwithstanding the sanctimonious finger-wagging scoldings or imploring hand-wringing pleadings to eschew Demon Cynicism, a review of the website gives the impression that this is something of a re-invented version of MoveOn.
Without rejecting it out of hand, it's not a bandwagon that inspires immediate jumping upon. We shall see.
". . . a review of the website gives the impression that this is something of a re-invented version of MoveOn. . . Without rejecting it out of hand, it's not a bandwagon that inspires immediate jumping upon. We shall see."
We'll know for sure when we see what this group does concerning the next election cycle. Is it a front to bring those gd leftists back to the democrapic fold?
You had me cracking up over the threat of a "stern letter," OS. And really, that nails the issue. Unless this effort actually leads to political organizing to unseat Dems and Repugs, it will be ineffective.
-TIA
Thanks for the complimentary response, TIA.
Now that Visiting Professor has presented his (?) usual encyclopedic critique, there's not much left to add.
But FWIW, the "stern letter" remark was inspired by the Progressive Democrats for America's 2010 open letter to Rep. Lynn Woolsey.*
Woolsey is considered one of the "good progressive Democrats" by those who believe in such things. The PDA was understandably outraged and offended when Woolsey threw her support to Rep. Jane Harman, a big booster of the authoritarian military/security state and would-be inquisitor of "home-grown terrorism".
Solomon signed the open letter that set forth a compelling case for why the supposedly "progressive" Woolsey should promptly withdraw her support from the odious Harman.
Woolsey, in turn, openly responded by telling them in polite, circuitous ways to kiss her ass. And that was that!
I guess they're drafting even Sterner Letters to the once and future supporters of Woolsey. So it goes.
* http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-01-12-15-27-51-news.php
I want a place that is independent of the often misleading 'good' intentions of folks like these. Petition to end war? That is a pretty big petition to take on. I don't think you can petition to end war, you will have to march to end war. If marching is a petition then so be it.
But a diplomatic petition of an end to grievance will need to center on what we and they can do. They can't end war because they are not necessarily the only ones causing war.
They can end the behaviors that support war and diminish our rights to safety, freedom etc. We need to pinpoint those rights that are being abused.
You stop a war by just stop fighting. Is that too simple for you?
http://www.roseanneworld.com/blog/home.php
Yes it is too simple when 'you' have no say so in stopping the madness, and 'you' are being used as resources to fight said war.
What madness, what war? I can no more stop madness or war than I can stop crying. None of those words indicate what I am stopping in a way that is meaningful to me.
As far as I can tell, we are at war here and we are fighting. You better believe some one wants me to stop, shut up and go away. Simple right? I'm not going to, I have no shame in being a peacful warrior and fighting for what is right, waring for what is right, my rights your rights, human rights. So stopping war makes no sense to me at all. You mean stopping killing others who's only crime is that they are in the way of my agenda? Now that I will want to stop. Please expand on what you mean so I can get over this block which I have regarding war.
It's ridiculous actually. I just googled "petition against the war in Afghanistan" and got 331,000 results. Sorry, "RootsAction", it looks like a few people already had that idea! I literally feel like my intelligence is being insulted by this new project, so offended by this that I am tempted to actually start an online petition against this group, or perhaps an online petition against all online petitions.
Whereas online petitions do not work
Whereas online petitions are a waste of time
Whereas online petitions channel people's frustrations into a meaningless, feelgood "action" that does more harm than good
Whereas online petitions are annoying
We, the undersigned say fuck online petitions!
Yeah well it seems everyone wants the easy way out. There is nothing more current in America but the easy current that is gently leading us out of our fix while we relax and enjoy the ride. It's the destination that we will not enjoy our arrival at because then the work we avoided to get us there will be a thousand fold and full of regret and grief. When will humans learn?????
This sounds like a good idea, and a good starting place.
Too bad progressives and the left in general (at least as represented in this forum) are too absolutely cynical and disenchanted to ever organize and work together online, and then *in the real world* for a productive end. All the so-called 'enlightened' posters here can do is denigrate and downplay the value of real progressive organizing, *which can happen through correspondence ONLINE*, meanwhile flying their supposed hard-leftist bonafides by decrying anything but the most militant, mono-minded and fully-fledged attempts at building a movement.
I've introduced, brought up and encouraged the idea of a valid progressive movement here for months, and got what in response? Entrenched pessimism, paranoia, futility, and a bunch of other nonsense. It is RIFE here.
I say kudos to the project being introduced here... Let's hope it succeeds!
And insomuch as ANY progressive movement is coalescing, and it asks for my support, and my signature, and my interest and participation... They need only have the earnest desire to do what is right and they will have my support, as I am able to provide it.
GET OVER THE CYNICISM PEOPLE. That is never a way to start anything.
Okay, I'll get over the cynicism as soon as something can be proven to work favorably. Once fooled, shame them. Twice fooled, shame on me. I'm sorry to be an Archie Bunker bitter grouch.
That's at least a good start. Hey, I never said support any old horse, but let's not starve our foals for want of a Clydesdale.
I could agree with that. I'm just having bitter memories about things like Daily Kos and Netroots when they started out and what they've become today. The causes that turned them from being a potentially long term left-leaning influence into being just another partisan party group look very similar in this article. It's as if we're stuck in an infinite loop that goes something like this:
1. Propose a bold and spicy new revolution solution.
2. Allow it to work within the current system and don't go far out.
3. Wash, rinse, repeat.
But that's probably also coming from my experience in fixing programs with one too many infinite loops even when there was no way of knowing that it would end up that way. :-)