You say you want a Revolution?

The great unwashed have reached their limit. In different nations, different cities, and for different reasons, people are coming to the same conclusion, at roughly the same time: This system is broken.

 In Greece citizens have marched, been assaulted, and died in an effort to stop crippling austerity measures being forced upon them by their leaders, the same people who allowed the banking system that holds their leashes to hurl the nation into a black void of debt. In Tunisia and Egypt, the people have risen up in search of a voice, full stop. They demanded freedom of speech, an end to police and military brutality, and the right to vote. In both cases, they fought and they won. In Spain, from the sprawling city streets of Barcelona and Madrid, to the quaint and picturesque towns of Figueres and Soria, the 15 de Mao movement, with its Castellan “Los Indignados” and Catalan “Els Indignats”, fought a happy revolution, occupying the grand squares of their ancient cities in a non violent, extended sit in. They erected make shift barrios, complete with libraries, canteens, daycare facilities, and media centres that allowed them to keep the message online and global twenty four hours a day. In Barcelona I saw first hand how pacifist and joyous these revolutionaries were. When the police came to move them, they did not raise a hand. When they were forced from the square, they returned immediately. They weren’t there to fight, but they refused to be chased away. Before long, it moved across the pond, where protestors in Santiago, Chile turned student protests over the state of education in the country into a full scale revolt against the country’s political system.

Now, it’s come to America.

  By now you know the details. It started small, with the vast majority of the American mainstream media doing it’s best to ignore the gathering in Liberty Plaza Park. Then, hemmed in protestors were needlessly pepper sprayed by the NYPD. Before long, no media outlet could ignore what was happening, not even FOX News.

  Now 23 days in, the movement grows in New York daily, and like Spain before, it’s spreading. As of October 7^th, similar movements have cropped up from Washington DC to San Francisco. They are taking to the streets in the windy city of Chicago and in the mile high city of Denver. From the swamps of New Jersey to the desert in Albuquerque, Americans are rising up and joining the rest of the world to tell the governments, and more importantly, the corporations, the banks, and the disgustingly rich who run the show behind the curtain: Enough.

  Three years ago we all watched as corporate greed broke the back of our neo liberal system. We watched as the world’s largest banks, all complicit in driving us into the greatest economic collapse since the great depression, had hundreds of billions turned over to them because they were “too big to fail”. For our efforts, we watched them use the cash to pay out millions in bonuses to the same high level bankers and investors that brought the economy to its knees. All that mattered to them, all which ever mattered to them, was getting rich, no matter the cost to the rest of us. If it was ever really in doubt that the rich, the powerful, and the fortunate have crafted a world where they thrive off the toil and struggle of those underneath them, there can be no such illusion left. The only thing they didn’t count on, unsurprisingly, is that this time they have pushed us to our limit. At least we should all hope they have.

  If this revolution is to succeed, there can be no let up from the will of the people. One day, one week, one month is not going to be enough. 100,000 protestors, while impressive, will not get them to listen. This truly has to be a revolt of the 99%, on a global scale. Every one who has been foreclosed upon, or had their young lives crippled right from the start by insurmountable debt, must take to the streets. We cannot just be Tunisians and Egyptians or Greeks. We cannot just be Castellan and Catalan. We cannot just be Chileans and New Yorkers. This is not a case of “your” revolution or “mine”. It belongs to all of us, and must be embraced by all of us. If you cannot take to the streets to be heard, take your voice online. If you cannot march against consumerism and the greed that it fosters, stop buying useless shit you don’t need. If you want a true change of the system, it starts with breaking free from the system.

  On October 15^th, people across the world will come out from their homes and into their streets to raise their voices in support of the occupation of Wall Street, in support of the student protestors in Chile, in a reflection of the happy revolutionaries of Spain, and above all else in support of each other. Whether you are there for an hour, a day, or a year, make your self heard. You are not just one.

You are the 99 percent.