by Sasha
Dear Neighbor,
As you read this, news agencies all over the country are working diligently to downplay and discredit the Occupy Wall Street movement. Their attempts to do this are nothing less than class warfare. In actuality, the mainstream media is simply a tool used by the ruling elite to wage class war against the vast majority of us every single day.
The moment in history through which the United States is now passing may be characterized thusly:
We are experiencing a global outcry from the lower socioeconomic strata– people rising up and telling their bankers, bosses, and politicians that they’ve simply had enough. For the past few years we’ve seen a steady growth in revolutionary activity in many nations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe, not to mention similar ongoing revolutionary movements in Latin America. To establish the importance and relevance of all these events to us as Americans, it is necessary to define two terms right now. They are as follows:
1. Working Class — Those of us who do the real work of the economy, without CEO pay or global power: the 99%
2. Solidarity – Union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as within a class
It is imperative that we, the working class of the United States, first and foremost acknowledge our position in society. We must understand that all those who exchange their labor for a wage are no different from us. We must also understand that the ruling elites have created elaborate chains to bind us. Those chains start with television and the mainstream media where knowledge of the real world is funneled and contorted in order to minimize our exposure to the atrocities the U.S. and other nations commit daily worldwide.
This media smokescreen does away with any need to feel or react on our part, as we have zero exposure. Adding more links to the chain, our rulers replace what’s important with what’s normally called “infotainment”– sensational stories of sextuplets, balloon boys, and celebrity gossip etc… and that’s only if we watch the news. The vast majority of mainstream media makes little claim to emulate or document real life; it is mostly sitcoms, designed to keep our attention just long enough to show us another commercial. That is the heart of the mainstream media, and of course more links in the chain. As in all capitalist ventures, money is the driving force behind corporate broadcasting.
FOX and NBC don’t make money by entertaining us. They make money by selling us things we don’t need, most notably the shackles at the end of our chains. The mainstream media works night and day to convince us that we should strive to “keep up with the Johnsons,” so to speak. They tell us that we must work terrible jobs to buy and make payments on a house in the suburbs and to drive a flashy car to establish our place in society with a false image of success. This alienates us from other members of the working class, and generally works to pit us against each other. All the while, the ruling elite, the bankers who both empower the corporate media and own our cars and homes, laugh at our naïveté and rake in billions of dollars in profits.
This brings us to our second defined term: Solidarity. Solidarity is absolutely necessary should we have any hope for real change. The mainstream media will tell us that this is our country and that we can vote to change things at any time. In reality, voting changes absolutely nothing because when we vote, we work within a confined set of parameters set forth by the ruling elite to ensure they maintain the capitalist power structure. We can’t vote corporate power out of the political system because it’s impossible to tell where the government stops and private corporations start. The two are inherently intertwined. Such is the nature of capitalism.
This is why it is absolutely necessary for us working people to stand together in defiance of this power structure and to demand, no, FORCE a real change in the system– a change that shifts the power structure in our favor. A change that will provide us with jobs, food, housing, high quality public education, and all that is necessary to live. We must make the same demands that our brothers and sisters are making worldwide. We must stand in SOLIDARITY with them and with each other, regardless of race or creed, for these common goals.
Before we conclude, I would like to add one last word to our list. That word is revolution. It means fundamental change. Let me make it clear that YOU are a nameless, faceless member of the working class. You can try to stand out with a fancy car or fancy clothes, but when Monday morning rolls around and you punch the clock, you are at the mercy of your boss. You are also at the mercy of his boss, the owner… and ultimately you are at the mercy of their bosses and yours, the bankers. I’m tired of that power structure. That’s why I am occupying Mobile, Alabama, and that’s why I hope you, the working class of the Gulf Coast, will stand in defiant solidarity with me against these ruling elites.
Viva La Resistance,
Sasha
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