[van-discuss] A NEW WAY TO FIGHT: freelance writing

[Big Garlic Bobcat]

A NEW WAY TO FIGHT
economic and social disruption
by joey only

One thing that John Clarke (Ontario Coalition Against Poverty) often said 
was that it is time for a new way to fight.  There was a time that a 
demonstration could be impacting based squarely on the number of people who 
come out.  There was a time that if you put enough names on a petition you 
could plead your moral case to the authorities and decision makers of 
society.  But there has been a significant change in the way governments 
deal with the grievances of their communities and individuals.

Increasingly, and with greater obviousness, all forms of dissent are ignored 
or crushed.  You can't write enough letters to stop George. W. Bush from his 
mad dash to secure oil to fuel western (namely American) capitalism.  The 
George Bush doctrine openly states that it reserves the right to 
pre-emptively strike whoever it sees as a threat, and that no nation will be 
allowed to surpass the military might of the United States.  No amount of 
peace marching will stop a man who is determined to overstep the authority 
of the United Nations and the War Crimes Tribunal.  No amount of passive 
resistance would have prevented the slaughter at Auschwitz.

When all diplomatic and peaceful negotiations fail to even take place, one 
has to question the tactics that are being used.  You are not going fight a 
Leopard Battle Tank with a water balloon.  People want to control the 
machines of production, share the profits equitably, improve working 
conditions, and decrease hours.  If people want these things, they have to 
organize to take them.

Everyday companies force people to work for poverty wages to make products, 
many of which nobody has ever needed.  There is excessive production of 
'goods' while at the same time there is forced poverty.  If people were to 
demand that primary function of production was to provide food and housing, 
the planet wouldn't be in half the trouble it is in.  This economy wants 
people to fall through its cracks.

It is this economy that the government hires police to protect with fear and 
brutality.  The only language the ruling class speaks is the language of $$$ 
and force.  It is that language we will increasingly learn to speak, and it 
is that way we will learn to fight.

"Because we don't have clean water and proper healthcare, we are going to 
force a penalty upon you that is economic, with force."

This is 'doing business' the radical way.  When workers go on strike they 
are forcing an economic penalty on to their employer in terms of lost 
production.  They do not strike to make the media sympathetic, garner public 
image or appeal to peoples moral conscience.  The strike cuts to the chase, 
and targets the enemy directly.  In that way we must organize to fight so 
that is difficult for the ruling class to do their business.

If you oppose the war, then why don't you shut down the weapons production 
plants?  All you have to do is go there and yell, then all sorts of magic 
happens.  Police and camera's arrive out of the blue, and tomorrow the whole 
town is talking.  This is economic and social disruption, not rocket 
science.

If you are fighting the government and corporate power, then you must get in 
the middle of their goods of services flows.  If an agency has wronged 
someone, organize and confront them!  If a corrupt bastard passes laws that 
demonizes them; go where they go create a justifiable disturbance.  Get the 
message out: there will be retaliation and consequence for every law they 
pass that makes our lives harder.

If the provincial government passed a law that put a great increase on the 
number of people in poverty, we have an obligation to provide a measure of 
force in return.  If increased homelessness makes poor people riot on the 
lawn of the legislature the consequence will be very clear.  You wrong us, 
and we wrong you.

This is the new way to fight.  Take no shit.  You must be impossible to 
ignore.  The new way to fight is uncompromising.  It will not allow 
concessions to be made on the demands.  The new way of fighting is to step 
off of the sidewalk and take the streets.  The new way to fight is to take a 
building if they won't let us sleep in it.  The new way to fight goes to the 
faces of those the repress us, and demands justice and dignity.

The new way of fighting does not ask politely.  The new way is to take what 
it is that we need, build what it is that we don't have, and resist who it 
is that controls us.  Most importantly, the new way to fight has no leaders. 
  We can have organizers, but we can not have dictators.  People can be a 
good example to others but never a centralized authority.

The new way of fighting must commit to fighting alongside those who engage 
in similar struggles.  It will allow decisions to be made openly, 
transparently, and with the involvement of a broad base of people and their 
gifts.  We will fight together, and we will be safer when we are together.  
When together we will have so much hope that imprisonment, pain and 
separation won't matter because our goal is in sight.  We will be stronger 
when we believe that together we will win if we FIGHT TO WIN.



Joey is a freelance artist and writer, while organizing as a general member 
in the Anti-Poverty Committee.  Joey comes from Ontario where he was active 
in the Ontario Commonfront group Tenant Action Group Belleville



BIG GARLIC BOBCAT
revolution is hairy, and vicious with big teeth.  Revolution smells like 
garlic.  Revolution is a big garlic bobcat.




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