Alright, US Left, time for a little history lesson – and a cautionary tale. Can any of you out there name a single popular democratic people’s movement for peace, liberty or social/economic justice which wasn’t finally at some point infiltrated, co-opted and bled to death by the Democratic Party? Anybody?

Bueller?

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…and for context, here’s some more Democratic Party movement co-opting tomfoolery:
It’s Going To Be A New Day, November 2006
Wisconsin – Look Out Behind You, February 2011
“Occupy” Movement: Beware the Vampire, October 2011
We Are The 1%, October 2011
Infiltrator, October 2011
Occupy DC Visits Democratic Party Fundraiser, December 2011
“99% Spring”: 100% Bullshit, April 2012
Obama’s March On Washington Anniversary Speech, Condensed, August 2013

Continue reading "Democratic Party: Graveyard Of Movements" »

Here’s one in solidarity with the nearly 150,000 residents of Detroit whose water is being shut off as part of a water system privatization scheme.

I’m not surprised to hear that the people of Detroit are appealing for United Nations intervention in what is obviously a humanitarian crisis in the making right here in the bad old USA. For me, the question was not “if”, but “when”.

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Continue reading "Detroit Everywhere" »

This past Saturday, April 26, was the culmination of a week’s worth of actions and educational events at the Cowboy & Indian Alliance (CIA) camp on the Mall protesting against the KeystoneXL Pipeline.

“Reject & Protect” Keystone Pipeline Protest, Wash DC 04.26.14 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.

Continue reading "Reject and Protect!" »

Apparently, some kind of Worldwide Wave Of Action started last week, billed as a rekindling of the Occupy movement. Having covered at least half a dozen previous “international days of action”, my well-honed cynicism kicked into gear as I remembered how all the previous “worldwide” action days drew hundreds of thousands in cities outside the US — while inside the US, the turnouts could be generously described as pathetic.

The current “worldwide” Wave Of Action was no different, judging from what I was seeing on my Twitter feed. Cities in the UK and Europe turned out healthy numbers while in the meantime, in the US, I saw the usual sad smattering of thin, weak protests, with small veterans’ contingents and others gathering in places like the NYC Vietnam War Memorial and Zucotti Park, only to be chased off or arrested by police.

I was also somewhat less than inspired by the vagueness of their rhetoric and sloganeering. On Twitter I saw pronouncements like “movement of movements” and “bring your own goals”, with no mention of any specific issues, such as war and militarization, unemployment, state-enforced economic austerity, the destruction of civil liberties, or the US-instigated “revolution” in the Ukraine — just lots of lofty faux revolutionary hype and empty poetic slogans.

I won’t speak for the rest of the world, but in the US, the “Wave Of Action” was more like a “ripple of action”.

Oh, yeah — and, cupcakes.

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Continue reading "Ripple Of Action" »