May 31, 2004
HOWL OF THE BITTER
Resistance (Ignacio Ramonet, Le Monde Diplomatique, May, 2004)
Resistance means saying no. No to contempt, arrogance and economic bullying. No to the new masters of the world: high finance, the countries of the G8, the Washington consensus, the dictatorship of the market and unchecked free trade. No to the quartet of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. No to hyper-production. To genetically modified crops. To permanent privatisations. To the relentless spread of the private sector. No to exclusion. No to sexism. No to social regression, poverty, inequality and the dismantling of the welfare state.No to the abandonment of the South. No to the daily deaths of 30,000 poor children. No to the destruction of the environment. No to the military hegemony of a sole superpower. No to "preventive" war, to invasion, to terrorism and to attacks on civilians. No to racism, anti-semitism and islamophobia. No to draconian security measures. No to a police state mentality. No to dumbing-down. To censorship. To media lies. To manipulative media.
Resistance also means saying yes. Yes to solidarity between the six billion inhabitants of this planet. Yes to the rights of women. Yes to a renewed United Nations. Yes to a new Marshall plan to help Africa. Yes to the total elimination of illiteracy. Yes to an international campaign against a technology gap. Yes to an international moratorium that will preserve drinking water.
Yes also to generic medicines for all. To decisive action against Aids. To the preservation of minority cultures. And to the rights of indigenous peoples.
Yes to social and economic justice. And a less market-dominated Europe. Yes to the Porto Alegre Consensus. Yes to a Tobin tax that will benefit citizens. Yes to taxing arms sales. Yes to writing off the debt of the poor nations. Yes to banning tax havens.
To resist is to dream that another world is possible. And to help build it.
Who says the Left and Right can’t find common ground? We’re completely on board with that bit about dumbing down.
Posted by Peter Burnet at May 31, 2004 12:23 PMOf course, there's far more than one superpower, but if one wishes to say "NO !" to the military hegemony of the world's sole hyperpower, it would behoove one to, say, become a hyperpower, which would involve citizens working more than 35 hours a week, 44 weeks a year, until they're 60...
Then, one must spend the additional effort on military equipment and training, and industrial R & D.
This will also be quite helpful when one wishes to say "no" to terrorism, as terrorists have been notoriously deaf during the 20th century.
As for "yes" to solidarity between the six billion inhabitants of Earth, that's what America and the Bush administration are all about, striking a blow against "the Man".
Witness the destruction and humiliation of the Taliban and Iraqi Ba'athist party.
"Yes to an international moratorium that will preserve drinking water."
What is he talking about?
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at June 1, 2004 1:06 AMRobert:
No idea. When I read that I had the image of a wide-eyed, dangerous mob grabbing on to any slogan that came its way.
Posted by: Peter B at June 1, 2004 6:45 AM"No to the daily deaths of 30,000 poor children."
"No..to genetically modified crops."
Don't you think these two are related?
How can anyone become this ignorant without spending their life in a sensory deprivation tank?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at June 2, 2004 11:44 AM"There are some ideas so incredibly stupid that only an Intellectual could possibly believe them."
-- George Orwell