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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Take The Corporate Crime Wave To Task! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Chicago DAN/DAN Labor
Email: ChicagoDAN (nospam) ziplip.com (unverified!) |
20 Jul 2002
Modified: 25 Jul 2002 |
Chicago D.A.N. and D.A.N. Labor are seeking to meet with other activists/groups to bring the faltering of corporate America to task. Please contact us a.s.a.p. if you or your group would be interested.
ChicagoDAN (at) ziplip.com |
DAN Labor and Chicago DAN invite you to a meeting.
The Chicago Direct Action Network has a proud record of opposing global capitalism. We have also recognized that the main driving force of the offensive of capitalism worldwide has been the US corporations. We therefore take note of the fact that these corporations from Enron, to Worldcom, to Tyco, etc., have been weakened by the recent exposures of their corruption. A few weeks ago they dominated US society with an arrogance not seen since the 1920's. Today they are scrambling to prop up their image in the minds of the majority of Americans. They are still very much in command of course, with their ownership of the economy, their control of the two main political parties the Republicans and Democrats and their domination of the state apparatus, the mass media etc. They still act as a dictatorship over US society. However it has to recognized that they have been thrown on to the defensive by the recent disclosures.
The main element in this crisis of the corporations has been the change in consciousness of the American working and middle classes. With up to 50% of the population involved in some way in the stock markets, with the stock markets booming in the 1990's, and with no mass alternative being presented, US capitalism and the US corporations enjoyed widespread support. Over the last couple of years the stock markets have been falling and the economy has slowed up. However support for the corporations held up through this. But now the major corporations have been caught fiddling the books. As a result the consciousness of the American working class and middle class has shifted to being critical of the corporations.
This is shown most clearly by the change in the rhetoric of the two major parties of US capitalism the Republicans and the Democrats. From being the cheer leaders of the corporations both these parties are now jostling with each other to get to the microphone to denounce the corporations that have been fiddling the books and to talk about the need for measures to make this more difficult. The Bush regime and the Republican party are having a more difficult time making this turn because the Bush regime is full of corporate executives who in their own business life have been involved in the same fraud. Bush himself and Cheney, are most visible in this regard.
So the corporations and the Bush regime have both been weakened by the recent events. The mass consciousness has changed to now being critical of the US
corporations and to being open to the more critical analysis of the anti global capitalist and anti capitalist forces. However what has to be faced up to is that these forces have not been taken advantage of the opportunity that has been offered by this recent turn of events. We have not been moving onto the offensive when our enemies have been temporarily weakened and thrown onto the defensive. Instead the Democratic Party has been able to position itself as the critics of the corporations corruption. For the mass of the population they see no other voice taking on the corporations. This will most likely result in a swing to the Democratic party in the coming elections and capitalism will be as safe in their hands as in the hands of the Republicans.
What have the potential alternatives been doing? Look at the role of the trade unions and their leaders. There are around 12 million members organized in the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations with up to 40,000 locals and hundreds of labor councils. Here in Chicago the labor council is made up of delegates from the city's unions.
Without the cooperation of these unions, of the labor council, the city could not function. Where has the trade union movement, where has the Chicago labor council been over the past weeks when the employers who have been attacking the unions and all working people have been thrown onto the defensive. They should have been organizing workplace meetings to build for mass demonstrations all over the country. Here in Chicago the unions should have organized meetings in all the workplaces where they have members to build for a mass demonstration at the Board of Trade against the dictatorship
of the corporations. In this way the role of the corporations, that is of the capitalist class in acting as a dictatorship over society, could have been exposed and a new movement of the working class set in motion. Instead these union leaders have been in hiding. They are terrified of building any movement that would target the employers and build a movement that would threaten their own positions, privileges and control.
But in rightly criticizing the union leaders we must not avoid looking at the role of the anti global capitalist forces and the left in general. Where have we been these past few weeks. We have not been at the Board of Trade or the financial district either with banners against the dictatorship of the corporations. When the mass consciousness has swung in our favor as never before in 30 years we have continued with our activities as if nothing has happened. We have been guilty of not responding to the opportunity that has been presented to us in the shape of the crisis of our enemies and the shift in consciousness of the working and middle classes. We have been guilty of routinism and of insufficiently seeing the change in mass consciousness and changing our tactics to take this into account. The result has been that we have also failed to provide any alternative around which the new mass consciousness could gather.
This anti corporate consciousness will not last for ever. It is likely to gradually dissipate because of the lack of any mass organizations through which it can express and consolidate itself. Unless the crisis which is as yet mainly a financial crisis spreads into the "real" economy, that is unless it begins to result in a serious downturn in production with mass lay offs etc, or unless there are new exposures of other major corporations, then the the mood of anger and disgust at the corporations is likely to recede in the near future.
In a belated attempt to try and organize around this issue DAN Labor and DAN have decided to take the initiative to organize a meeting of activist groups and activists in the area to discuss this new situation and what action can be taken. We invite all other anti corporate and anti global capitalist and progressive activist groups and activists who would be in favor such a meeting to contact us and also if possible jointly sponsor this meeting along with DAN Labor and DAN. This meeting would be a discussion and planning meeting to see if there is the basis for organizing united action, especially a demonstration, against the dictatorship of the corporations over American society and against US and global capitalism. Jointly sponsoring this meeting with DAN Labor and DAN would not mean any commitment to any action, just a
commitment to meet together with the activists in the city to consider the situation and if any action can be taken.
Please contact DAN Labor and DAN at.... chicagodan (at) ziplip.com
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tEsT pOsT D'oH! |
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