Ten Steps for Radical Revolution in the
US
09 Feb 2012By Bill Quigley
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right
side of the world revolution, we as a nation must
undergo a radical revolution of values." --Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. 1967
One. Human rights must be taken absolutely seriously.
Every single person is entitled to dignity and human
rights. No application needed. No exclusions at all.
This is our highest priority.
(Credit: WagingNonviolence.org)
Two. We must radically reinvent contemporary
democracy. Current systems are deeply corrupt and not
responsive to the needs of people. Representatives
chosen by money and influence govern by money and
influence. This is unacceptable. Direct democracy by
the people is now technologically possible and should
be the rule. Communities must be protected whenever
they advocate for self-determination, self-development
and human rights. Dissent is essential to democracy;
we pledge to help it flourish.
Three. Corporations are not people and are not
entitled to human rights. Amend the US Constitution so
it is clear corporations do not have constitutional or
human rights. We the people must cut them down to size
and so democracy can regulate their size, scope and
actions.
Four. Leave the rest of the world alone. Cut US
military spending by 75 percent and bring all troops
outside the US home now. Defense of the US is a human
right. Global offense and global police force by US
military are not. Eliminate all nuclear and chemical
and biological weapons. Stop allowing scare tactics to
build up the national security forces at home. Stop
the myth that the US is somehow special or exceptional
and is entitled to act differently than all other
nations. The US must re-join the global family of
nations as a respectful partner. USA is one of many
nations in the world. We must start acting like it.
Five. Property rights, privilege, and money-making are
not as important as human rights. When current
property and privilege arrangements are not just they
must yield to the demands of human rights.
Money-making can only be allowed when human rights are
respected. Exploitation is unacceptable. There are
national and global poverty lines. We must establish
national and global excess lines so that people and
businesses with extra houses, cars, luxuries, and
incomes share much more to help everyone else be able
to exercise their basic human rights to shelter, food,
education and healthcare. If that disrupts current
property, privilege and money-making, so be it.
Six. Defend our earth. Stop pollution, stop pipelines,
stop new interstates, and stop destroying the land,
sea, and air by extracting resources from them.
Rebuild what we have destroyed. If corporations will
not stop voluntarily, people must stop them. The very
existence of life is at stake.
Seven. Dramatically expand public spaces and reverse
the privatization of public services. Quality public
education, health and safety for all must be provided
by transparent accountable public systems. Starving
the state is a recipe for destroying social and
economic human rights for everyone but the rich.
Eight. Pull the criminal legal prison system up and
out by its roots and start over. Cease the
criminalization of drugs, immigrants, poor people and
people of color. We are all entitled to be safe but
the current system makes us less so and ruins millions
of lives. Start over.
Nine. The US was created based on two original crimes
that must be confessed and made right. Reparations are
owed to Native Americans because their land was stolen
and they were uprooted and slaughtered. Reparations
are owed to African Americans because they were
kidnapped, enslaved and abused. The US has profited
widely from these injustices and must make amends.
Ten. Everyone who wants to work should have the right
to work and earn a living wage. Any workers who want
to organize and advocate for change in solidarity with
others must be absolutely protected from
recriminations from their employer and from their
government.
Finally, if those in government and those in power do
not help the people do what is right, people seeking
change must together exercise our human rights and
bring about these changes directly. Dr. King and
millions of others lived and worked for a radical
revolution of values. We will as well. We respect the
human rights and human dignity of others and work for
a world where love and wisdom and solidarity and
respect prevail. We expect those for whom the current
unjust system works just fine will object and oppose
and accuse people seeking dramatic change of being
divisive and worse. That is to be expected because
that is what happens to all groups which work for
serious social change. Despite that, people will
continue to go forward with determination and purpose
to bring about a radical revolution of values in the
USA.
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