Newmedia on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:13:22 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> Debt Campaign Launch


Folks:
 
Let's say that *all* the demands of the Debt Campaign were met, that federal taxes were used to provide "free" college education (at public institutions), as a "right and public good" -- then what?
 
Would this do anything about social and economic INEQUALITY?  No.
 
Would this do anything about the UNFAIRNESS that is built into the SYSTEM?  No.
 
Would this help anyone to become anything other than another WAGE-SLAVE?  No.
 
Would this address any of the basic issues raised by the 99% OWS SLOGAN?  No.
 
Is this an attempted hijacking of the OCCUPY movement?  Yes.
 
My point is simple.  If you want to have broad social impact then you already know what to do because many have done it before -- be intelligent and moral.
 
Martin Luther King and Gandhi knew this lesson inside out.  Both took the intelligent and moral path and are remembered for what they accomplished.
 
Trying to divert a grass-roots movement for EQUALITY into this "Debt Campaign" is neither intelligent (since it does nothing to even increase the understanding of the basic problem of wage-slavery) nor moral (since it seeks to "steal" the momentum from an nascent and potentially important social movement).
 
Therefore, it will fail -- as it should.
 
Mark Stahlman
Brooklyn NY
 
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