Whether you agreed with the actions on Nov. 2, they have created a buzz about what the movement needs to be.
Student walkouts and protests are positive steps in countering the war in Iraq and the Bush administration. But those actions are only countering the war and the Bush administration, which are only parts of the larger problem facing the world.
The problem is that the vast majority of the world's wealth, resources and power is controlled by a small transnational elite. That elite class enjoys its privilege undermining the interests of most people in the world.
That class manipulates the government of almost every country. When it does not, it works hard to change that government - as it has in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba. It controls the global economic system through corporations, free trade agreements and international, non-democratic organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. It controls avenues of information such as media outlets and even national education systems - it should not be a surprise that we had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school. Patriotism is a powerful instrument of control.
Through said methods, the transnational elite also controls the socialization of people. The interests and priorities that are promoted by the elite class are accepted and even celebrated by less privileged classes. Individual status and wealth are elevated to the utmost importance, and ideals such as community, cooperation and humility are marginalized.
Every day, those priorities of competition and wealth are being sold to our children in school and on television. They are being sold to people and cultures all over the world. Those are the priorities that need to be questioned, countered and changed.
So, when we think of combating the policies of a state, we must think of all the extensions of that state. We must not only combat a war and a president but also the negative socialization structures created by media, educational systems and an unjust economic system.
If you have not noticed, I am an idealist, and I am talking about revolution. Yes, I said it. I am not promoting some violent uprising. Rather, I am talking about a gradual, peaceful, informational revolution that genuinely changes the way people think, their priorities and how they view the world.
Wonderfully, that is already being done. We only need to involve ourselves and contribute to the worldwide movement of individuals and grassroots organizations that is counteracting the detrimental institutions of the transnational elite.
In the economic realm, there are alternatives to corporate-dominated consumption, such as buying fair trade products at places like Pangea Tea, Casa Nueva and Donkey Coffee. You also can participate in your local economy at places like the Athens Farmer's Market However, those alternative consumption methods can be effective only if they are coupled with popular boycotts of corporations, which hurt people and the environment with their business practices.
If the economic realm is important, the information realm is vital. Here too people are creating alternative sources of information that are not corporately controlled. In Athens, local group InterAct and the nonprofit organization People Might collaborate to issue a newsletter called the InterActivist
which provides a forum for progressive viewpoints that are ignored by other media outlets. Look for the next edition starting Nov. 10.
Even though elites try to control us, we have the power to resist. Information and organization allow us to resist. At our fingertips every day, we have the Internet, which gives us access to infinite amounts of information. In communities throughout the world, there are grassroots political organizations that are working to combat the disproportionate power that elites maintain.
But information and organization are useless if people simply do not care. In the United States, that is our problem. We are apathetic. We have been taught that we have no real power to affect the nature of our world, and so we do not even try.
In this column, I have tried to reach you and let you know that we are affecting the world every day, whether we acknowledge it or not. Through our consumption and our political participation or lack thereof, we are shaping the future.
The revolution I am talking about begins within every one of us. If the world is going to change, individuals have to change - one at a time. So why not make your role in the world positive instead of negative? You have that power.
Information, organization and hope can change the world, and I believe they will. That idea might sound overly idealistic or clich+ 17
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