many whips, one master
0 views
Skip to first unread message
abram spritzler
Apr 18, 2012, 3:40:27 PM4/18/12
to massoccupy
I am passing this on, it is from a friend and colleague in Vermont
Hello fellow People for Democratic Revolution,
This last Saturday I and two comrades went to a big anti-nuke rally on the Brattleboro VT Common. We had some hesitancy about going since it was billed as a thank-you to the government of the state of Vermont and featured a speech by that super-blowhard phony, "socialist" Sen. Bernard Sanders. We took two triple-decker 8-foot tall "totem-pole" signs. The one that said "Care for each other / Care for the earth / Shut down capitalism" we left out next to the highway, where it must have perplexed many of the tourists driving by. The other one said "Shut down Vt. Yankee / Shut down all nukes / Shut down capitalism" and my friend Norman held it up high for several hours so that everyone could get its message. I circulated among the crowd and handed out copies of the following flyer:
PEOPLE FOR DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
We believe that:
(1) NOT ONLY must the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon, Vermont, be SHUT DOWN—but also
(2) ALL nuclear reactors throughout the world must be SHUT DOWN—and that
(3) The only sure-fire way to accomplish this is through a DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION that SHUTS DOWN CAPITALISM.
The decision last fall by a Federal judge overruling the democratic decision of the people of Vermont and ordering that the nuclear reactor in Vernon must be allowed to operate for another twenty years shows how thoroughly the supposedly democratic capitalist economic/political system is rigged against us—as it is rigged against every struggle for justice.
The Vernon nuke is just one instance of a particularly virulent and obvious SYMPTOM of an underlying pernicious DISEASE which infects our society: CAPITALISM.
Capitalism is an undemocratic, anti-human, anti-nature economic and political system based on an ethos of greed and competition. We must build a real democracy, based on the principles of mutual aid, solidarity, and democracy, in which ordinary people, acting in local and workplace assemblies, make all decisions about the kind of world they want to live in. There will be no judges, Congress, or Nuclear Regulatory Commission to tell Vermonters (or anybody else) what to do.
We must work to bring about the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuke and all other nukes but we must do so with the realization that any victories that we win will only be temporary and fleeting until we achieve a democratic revolution which takes power away from the greedy elites and lets ordinary people make all decisions about the kind of world they want to live in.
People for Democratic Revolution is a federation of groups and individuals who support the ideas summarized in the statement “This I Believe” (thinkingaboutrevolution.com/This I Believe.pdf) and elaborated more fully in the document “Thinking about Revolution” (thinkingaboutrevolution.com). If these ideas resonate with you please get in touch with us.
Local contact: Jim Romer, (603)542-6124, un...@sover.net
Shut down Vermont Yankee! Shut down all nukes! SHUT DOWN CAPITALISM!
(I could send the text as a MS Word attachment but I'm not sure whether that's permitted in messages to this list) The rally was not a situation conducive to conversation, so I was not really able to talk much with people; but the response seemed generally positive.
Weekend after next there will be a "spokescouncil" meeting of the Safe and Green Energy (SAGE) Alliance, the group coordinating the anti-Vermont-Yankee campaign. I'm considering attending and asking questions about what the goals of the group are and what the best strategies and tactics might be to achieve those goals. I might even ask whether the standard nonviolent tactic of sitting down and "risking arrest" is one that makes sense in this situation (or perhaps in any situation) But the main thrust of what I might say would be to present the points made in the flyer above and then go on to suggest that our contribution to achieving the revolution should be an agitational campaign targeting ordinary people who are screwed over by the present system every day but haven't given the question of nuclear power much (or any) thought. We would show them that all of the ways (big and little) that we are screwed over are part of one big problem, which needs a big solution. Vermont has quite a large hip, politically aware community but even in Vermont these people are far from a majority. In order to bring about the revolution we must reach out far beyond our small community.
I wonder how much sense any of this makes. I need all of your comments and suggestions.
In Solidarity, Jim Romer
This last Saturday I and two comrades went to a big anti-nuke rally on the Brattleboro VT Common. We had some hesitancy about going since it was billed as a thank-you to the government of the state of Vermont and featured a speech by that super-blowhard phony, "socialist" Sen. Bernard Sanders. We took two triple-decker 8-foot tall "totem-pole" signs. The one that said "Care for each other / Care for the earth / Shut down capitalism" we left out next to the highway, where it must have perplexed many of the tourists driving by. The other one said "Shut down Vt. Yankee / Shut down all nukes / Shut down capitalism" and my friend Norman held it up high for several hours so that everyone could get its message. I circulated among the crowd and handed out copies of the following flyer:
PEOPLE FOR DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
We believe that:
(1) NOT ONLY must the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon, Vermont, be SHUT DOWN—but also
(2) ALL nuclear reactors throughout the world must be SHUT DOWN—and that
(3) The only sure-fire way to accomplish this is through a DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION that SHUTS DOWN CAPITALISM.
The decision last fall by a Federal judge overruling the democratic decision of the people of Vermont and ordering that the nuclear reactor in Vernon must be allowed to operate for another twenty years shows how thoroughly the supposedly democratic capitalist economic/political system is rigged against us—as it is rigged against every struggle for justice.
The Vernon nuke is just one instance of a particularly virulent and obvious SYMPTOM of an underlying pernicious DISEASE which infects our society: CAPITALISM.
Capitalism is an undemocratic, anti-human, anti-nature economic and political system based on an ethos of greed and competition. We must build a real democracy, based on the principles of mutual aid, solidarity, and democracy, in which ordinary people, acting in local and workplace assemblies, make all decisions about the kind of world they want to live in. There will be no judges, Congress, or Nuclear Regulatory Commission to tell Vermonters (or anybody else) what to do.
We must work to bring about the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuke and all other nukes but we must do so with the realization that any victories that we win will only be temporary and fleeting until we achieve a democratic revolution which takes power away from the greedy elites and lets ordinary people make all decisions about the kind of world they want to live in.
People for Democratic Revolution is a federation of groups and individuals who support the ideas summarized in the statement “This I Believe” (thinkingaboutrevolution.com/This I Believe.pdf) and elaborated more fully in the document “Thinking about Revolution” (thinkingaboutrevolution.com). If these ideas resonate with you please get in touch with us.
Local contact: Jim Romer, (603)542-6124, un...@sover.net
Shut down Vermont Yankee! Shut down all nukes! SHUT DOWN CAPITALISM!
(I could send the text as a MS Word attachment but I'm not sure whether that's permitted in messages to this list) The rally was not a situation conducive to conversation, so I was not really able to talk much with people; but the response seemed generally positive.
Weekend after next there will be a "spokescouncil" meeting of the Safe and Green Energy (SAGE) Alliance, the group coordinating the anti-Vermont-Yankee campaign. I'm considering attending and asking questions about what the goals of the group are and what the best strategies and tactics might be to achieve those goals. I might even ask whether the standard nonviolent tactic of sitting down and "risking arrest" is one that makes sense in this situation (or perhaps in any situation) But the main thrust of what I might say would be to present the points made in the flyer above and then go on to suggest that our contribution to achieving the revolution should be an agitational campaign targeting ordinary people who are screwed over by the present system every day but haven't given the question of nuclear power much (or any) thought. We would show them that all of the ways (big and little) that we are screwed over are part of one big problem, which needs a big solution. Vermont has quite a large hip, politically aware community but even in Vermont these people are far from a majority. In order to bring about the revolution we must reach out far beyond our small community.
I wonder how much sense any of this makes. I need all of your comments and suggestions.
In Solidarity, Jim Romer
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages