revolution dallas insanity and sensuality, in a french kiss embrace, entwined in a fit of passion. 990223 ... calliope i think i love you dallas (: 000428 ... its hard to say what ever happened to the revolution? 011230 ... kerry i dunno, but the blatherers should all start one. 011230 ... paste! the revolution will most likely begin with some candy fo' da eyes: a dainty jig performed by those goddamn giraffes_from_delphi. 011230 ... [.:..The SeeR ..:.] The Dreamers see the revolution The Doers chase their tails But all at once, The timing's right and the revolution prevails. 020918 ... scheisse i don't need to walk around in circles, walk around in circles, walk around in... 030124 ... Drake Dracoli Feel my blood Can you taste it? This will be your blood too. This is our blood. Can you taste it? 030217 ... oli if stalin failed why should we be successful, he was a great man, with great ideas 030716 ... nomme must begin in the heart love and compassion 030716 ... smurfus rex the revolution will be televised. 030716 ... jane the new pollution? 030716 ... ferret revolutionary_pollution 030716 ... god prints and the 030716 ... john you say you wanna revolution, well you know, we all wanna change the world, you tell me that it's evolution, well, you know, we all wanna change the world, but when you talk about desctruction, don't you know you can count me out, you know it's gonna be all right 030927 ... Dafremen How about unity john...you still down with that man? (Seriously though, Libra to Libra) 030927 ... Leslie No, you won't fool the children of the revolution. 031105 ... misstree one force = human desire for freedom, justice, and all manner of things that sparkled in the Founding Fathers' eyes. another force = human desire for accumulation of power, which often is sublimates the desires or wills of the majority to benefit the minority one force = american_pride, feeling of birthright, ever increasing feeling that the power structure is not only greedy, but acting against the good of the people it is supposed to serve. increased awareness and anger. another force = slack, desire for comfort, fear of discomfort/repercussion from ruling force, imposed ignorance, value of perspective edited out, blind american_pride, and "other people have it worse, but i don't like to think about them." there is a breaking point between them. one boils, the other calcifies. boiling increases as abuses become more flagrant. snap_crackle_pop. 040122 ... misstree if given the chance, most people would rather lead a more comfortable life than sacrifice comforts for the benefit of others. not much room on the ladder, but middle america is currently tolerable. politics and injustice and abuses of power don't feel as real as a la-z-boys and hollywood soma and fast food. it's not just that the power structure is corrupt, it's that our culture has all the nutritive value of a twinkie. it does that because it's easy to eat twinkies rather than ask hard questions. it does that because it makes keeping power easier. it does that because we allow it. we have to hunt our own food in this day and age. 040122 ... minnesota_chris have you thought about living in a country with a soul? The world is full of them, just not this one. 040122 ... quotree "Every society is three meals away from a revolution." - Arnold J. Rimmer, `Red Dwarf' 040301 ... pete when the revolution comes it will not be televised... no, that is because it will probaly come after the peak oil comes around and shuts down tv, internet, and other such things. a shame that it will take a fall from grace to make grace come again in this new day. revolutions never die.. they just go dormant. marxist history is always in process, if you take out his utopian guaranteed complete victory of the proles over the bourgeoise.. the revolution took a different turn, into the welfare state and social democracy.. so now we are in a new thesis, a new status quo, with new injustices, much like the old ones.. it will come.. but not in the way we thhink 040314 ... . . 041104 ... who? from the notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci, part of his introduction: 10. I know that many will call this useless work; and they will be those of whom Demetrius declared that he took no more account of the wind that came out of their mouth in words, than of that they expelled from their lower parts; me who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food of the mind. For so much more worthy as the soul is than the body, so much more noble are the posessions of the soul than those of the body. And often, when I see one of these men take this work in his hand, I wonder that he does not put it to his nose, like a monkey, or ask me if it is something good to eat." 041104 ... who? leo also knew the hunt. 041104 ... Fido The funny thing about revolutions is that we always come back around. 041104 ... e_o_i Round and round and round and round... 050813 ... sugar in our worldly vacuum its only one step ahead 050919 ... Barefoot Revolutionary "we need a revolution of artists and poets and wizards." abbot hoffman...never again will the world taste the insane and outgoing passion of a person such as this. a man will look to the world and shrug while somewhere someone weeps. doing nothing about what happens to our world, our planet. someone shouw do something, anything to stop the pain. it hurts, stop srying. 051109 ... [:T_o_x_i_c___C_y_b_o_r_g:] REVOLUTION 101 How to Save the Environment Almost everybody agrees that the future of the planet and humanity is seriously threatened by global warming, deforestation, resource depletion, and acid rain. It’s also common knowledge that the potential exists today to create a sustainable economy and world by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, using sustainable agriculture, phasing out un-needed industries, and funding large scale environmental clean-up operations. So why hasn’t this been done yet? Production for Profit The answer is simple: control over the way the economy affects the environment is in the hands of less than two per cent of the global population – the capitalists. In order for their businesses to stay competitive in the market, capitalists need to constantly maximize their profits. So it makes sense from a business perspective to log a forest and not replant trees, or to move a factory to a country where it’s legal to dump industrial waste into the ocean. In almost all cases, businesses choose the cheaper production process, rather than the most environmentally sustainable one. Green Capitalism Many environmentalist groups have spent a lot of time attempting to persuade the capitalists to be ecologically friendly. The result? According to former Greenpeace Campaign Director Chris Rose, "neither business nor governments have delivered serious change. Commitment to environmental principles such as 'sustainable development' sounds heartfelt, but in reality it has served as a cover for business as usual.” (The Independent) Of course, some environmentally friendly businesses do exist. But “green” capitalism is not a viable alternative to “dirty” capitalism because a) companies that don’t focus on profit-making inevitably fall behind the competition and are generally forced to either merge with a “dirty” company or go out of business and b) most people can't afford pricey "eco-friendly" products. Small Deeds In elementary school we’re taught that we can “do our part to save the environment” by not littering, planting a garden or a tree, recycling, or doing other “small deeds.” But can these types of individual acts bring about real change? One example should suffice to answer this question: the total amount of Greenhouse gases produced through the burning of oil flares by the Shell oil corporation in the Ogoni region of Nigeria is greater than that caused by the production of all the electricity used by each household in all of Britain. So much for thinking that turning of your lights is enough to save the environment! [The statistics used in this article can be found at www.globalissues.org] Over-consumption The real culprits are let off the hook if we blame the destruction of the planet on the consumption habits of the working-class majority. An editorial in the main newspaper in Thailand, The Bangkok Post, argued that “if you wash your car frequently, if you hose down your porch or water your garden, if you hum a tune while you enjoy a nice, long shower ... then you are the problem." But only 4% of water consumption in Thailand comes from domestic use, while agriculture accounts for 90%! In the U.S., the main source of environmental degradation is industry, not individual consumption. For example, from 1946 to 1970, national pollution emissions rose by 1000% while per capita consumption only rose by 6%. Our lifestyle and consumption choices will continue to only have a marginal impact as long as production is based on making a profit. A Sustainable Alternative To save the planet, we need to get rid of capitalism. It’ll only be when economic and societal decisions are made by the people themselves that we can make a real shift towards renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and the rest. Such a society isn’t a utopian dream. The real fantasy is thinking that the survival of capitalism can lead to anything other than an environmental catastrophe. Lifestyle Politics or Mass Action? Many people seem to think that it's possible to change the world by wearing non-sweatshop clothes, buying organic food, riding a bike, or making other changes in their lifestyle. While I'll admit that I haven't eaten at McDonalds in years and that most of my clothes were bought at the Salvation Army, I don't have any illusions that making socially aware consumer choices is enough on its own. To effectively fight against war, sweatshops, or environmental devastation, it's necessary to participate in organized mass struggles which not only can win partial gains, but which can eventually eliminate the root cause of these problems, capitalism. Individualism A major deficiency of 'lifestyle' politics is that it's individualistic. For example, there's a widely held belief that if you don't wear Nikes or Reeboks "you're doing your part" to stop sweatshops. Now, I'm all for boycotts, but on the condition that it's an organized, mass one like when the United Farm Workers' boycotted California Table Grapes and printed up thousands of flyers, organized meetings and demonstrations, and encouraged communities to get involved in the struggle to pressure CTG to stop using harmful pesticides. While the purpose of an organized boycott is to win support for specific demands, the purpose of an individual one is to ease the conscience of the consumer. Often, despite its noble goals, lifestyle politics thus in fact plays a negative role when it's seen as a substitute for building a mass movement. This was the case for some of my friends who refused to build or attend anti-war rallies on the grounds that they "didn't drive SUVs." Consumption It is essential to remember that it's more expensive to not buy products from large corporations. And because most working-class people in the US are in a constant struggle to make ends meet, it's just not possible for a lot of people to spend the couple of extra bucks. The idea that "If everybody bought locally, the corporations would disappear" is completely utopian for the basic reason that many, if not most, people simply can't afford not to buy whatever's cheapest. And while it's true that American's consume and waste significantly more than other countries, it's important to keep in mind who's really to blame. Companies, after all, spend billions and billions of dollars on advertisements to convince people to buy things they don't actually need. Consumerism and materialism will remain rampant as long as the corporations are allowed to flood the air-waves every night with their propaganda. Profit Logic The central flaw of "lifestyle" politics is that it fails to see that the real problem is the capitalist system, not just a few greedy corporations. Because the logic of capitalism is based on profit, all companies -despite whatever humanitarian ideals their owners may have- constantly need to lower wages, take away health benefits, evade environmental controls, etc. in order to stay competitive in the market. This is why all corporations are moving factories overseas where they can make more profits because labor and environmental laws aren't enforced. This is why small "socially responsible" businesses can't stay competitive, and are constantly getting bought out by the huge conglomerates -for example Odwalla is now owned by Coca-Cola, and Ben and Jerry's got sold to Unilever. The "race towards the bottom" is an inevitable feature of capitalism and results in the constant deterioration of the living standards of the majority of people living on this planet. There is no reform, let alone individual action, that can counteract this tendency of capitalism. To believe otherwise is to think that you can cure cancer with a band-aid. Are the Democrats a Lesser Evil? As the presidential election draws nearer, it is important to remember that the Democrats and the Republicans, far from being counterposing forces, are in reality complementary halves of a single two-party system controlled by corporate America. Chicano activist "Corky" Gonzales explained that they are "one animal with two heads that feed from the same trough." Because the Democrats are funded and controlled by corporations but present themselves as the "defenders of the common man," they historically make liberal promises while campaigning, and then ignore them once elected. For example, Clinton was elected by promising universal health care, but once in office he destroyed Medicare, passed NAFTA, and through his criminal sanctions on Iraq, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children. Likewise, the priorities of U.S. imperialism will guide the next president's actions at home and abroad- whatever party he's from. The tactics of the parties may differ -multilateral or unilateral occupation of Iraq, a FTAA with or without amendments- but the ultimate goals are the same. It's also important to remember that dissident voices like Kusinich are tolerated in the Democratic Party only on the condition that after the primaries they urge a vote for the mainstream Democratic nominee. Thus Kusinich, whatever good intentions he may have, plays an essential role in bringing the left "back under the umbrella of the Democrats." The two-party system is a self-correcting mechanism that shifts back and forth between the two parties to maintain corporate political control: When the Republicans become unpopular, the role of Democrats is to guide the growing opposition into safe channels- which is why today they're urging the anti-war movement to "get of the streets and into the polls." Then, once they continue the same reactionary policies (couched in more liberal rhetoric) and the wars continue, unions are attacked, living standards decline, etc. the cycle can begin again. If a Democrat is elected, his brand of "Republican Light" will only pave the way for a future Republican victory in 2008 or 2012. The cycle will continue until we realize that it is impossible to defeat the "greater" evil by supporting a shamefaced version of the same evil. Furthermore, every major gain in our history has been the product of direct action by movements independent of the two major parties and in opposition to them. Since the Civil War, without exception, the Democratic Party has opposed all mass struggles for democracy and social justice. These include such the struggle for free public education, for the right to form unions, for voting rights for women and African Americans, against the war in Vietnam, etc. As Howard Zinn said "What really matters is who is occupying the streets and the factories, not the White House." We in Revolution Youth are in agreement with those who say "we've got to do something to stand up to Bush", it's just that we believe that the only effective way of doing that is through organizing. Independent mass struggles -such as the anti-war movement or the 70, 000 person strong grocery worker strike in California-have the potential to not only beat back the bipartisan attacks raining down on us, but to eventually take down the whole system of capitalist exploitation which is at the root of humanity's problems. So if you're still thinking about voting for a Democrat this election year, keep in mind these words by the famous American socialist Eugene Debs: "It's better to vote for what you want and not get it, than to vote for what you don't want and get it." 061115 ... . . 061204 ... Ding hows chinese kitchen hey 070119 ... [:T_o_x_i_c___C_y_b_o_r_g:] Hello, ding hows 070119 ... TUYUMUDUMULUMUNUTH TUYUMUDUMULUMUNUTH 070530 ... mr song see: breaking_the_law_to_catch_the_greater_criminal 070618 what's it to you? who go blather from