What To Do In The Face Of Doom & Gloom...

So, I rub your noses in how bad the world has become... democracy is dead, the environment is dead, our society is terminally ill, the rich get richer and rule the world and the poor go begging...

Such a horrible mess... But - what to do, what to do?

Resist, Rebel, Revolt...

Follow Gandhi's lead and practise satyagraha, defined as

resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience...  

Some ideas on how to resist passively:

• stop paying taxes - income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes (stop buying things, or buy mail order from states that don't have sales tax); there is reason to argue that US income tax demands are unconstitutional and illegal

• take all your money out of the merchant banks; use only cash and if you must use a financial institution, use a community bank or credit union

• when you have to pay government or utility or corporation bills, pay late in tiny amounts... or everyone pays on the same, last day... or pay with coins... or pay "in kind" with goods and services - turn up with $100 worth of groceries, or an I Owe You (IOU) certificate for two massages, or two hours of ironing, or a computer clean up, or a car detail, or a painting, or a concert or whatever is your skill and talent

• buy local, supporting small businesses and local producers - food, clothing, other goods and services

• stop listening to/watching/reading mainstream radio/TV/newspapers - they've all been bought and are only giving you the information the oligarchs want you to have

• counteract the media propaganda machines -  place full page ads broadcasting your message in newspapers etc

• start up local community radio and TV stations, print off your own news sheets and hand out and paste up flyers on local issues

• name names - identify the people involved in this destruction of democracy.   They're easy enough to investigate and to discredit - they all have skeletons in their closets they'd rather we don't know about

• organise in your own communities and take back the power - sit-ins, rallies, marches.   Make your demands and refuse to compromise or give in until you get those demands met

• choose a day and organise local, regional and/or national days of non-violent protests or sit-ins and continue doing it on that day each week

• connect with other communities to share ideas and resources, and for moral support

• carry out rolling strikes in industry and the service sectors, public and private - those who have resources, share with those who have not, organise child and elder care for those who need it, share picket line duties

• write and record and broadcast music that reflects how you feel

• write songs and have large groups of citizens gather to sing them on a weekly basis

• decommission surveillance cameras on public buildings and streets - have you been asked for your permission to be videotaped  while you're going about your lawful business?

• turn off water supplies to the buildings in which corporations have their headquarters

• decorate buildings with flowers, flags and slogans like: "An elephant cannot swallow a hedgehog."

• paint murals all over the city, making your views and demands public

• paint out corporate billboards and advertising

 

• turn up en masse at all local authority meetings and demand that your representatives listen to you... and keep it up, week after week after week

• write letters of complaint to every single ombudsman or civil authority you can think of - tie up the system with paperwork until it collapses

• use flash mob ideas to stage protests, block major intersections

• go "off-grid" as much as you can, and build communities of people "off-grid"

We Are The System

it can't exist without our participation...