The hashtag #fuckyouwashington on Twitter seems to be catching on this evening (or morning, depending on your location). It isn’t quite trending (in Twitterspeak) yet, but it does seem to have some momentum. There is a mishmash of rants and some substantial commentary. In and of itself, it’s no big deal. However, if those using and viewing tweets using the #fuckyouwashington hashtag engage in some critical inquiry into how decades of neoliberal policy got us to our present condition, then it will have done some good. For the time being, I’d suggest Sherry Ortner’s article “On Neoliberalism” as a good starting point. Her bibliography is one that readers would do well to check into. As I said a while back, what you don’t know helps the CEO class to hurt you. More importantly, it is time not only to read up but to act. I’m not optimistic that simply showing up at voting booths is sufficient. There is good reason to believe that neither of the major parties in the US is redeemable at this point, nor does there appear to be a viable party structure in place to serve as an alternative – at least for the time being. We’re going to need to think more in terms of what activists have been doing in Tunisia, Egypt, Greece and Spain have been doing. There’s no assurance of short-term success in using tactics such as occupying public squares, capitol buildings, etc., but at least we make life far less convenient for those who still claim to be our rulers.
July 24, 2011
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Everybody Comes From Somewhere 
Re-posted from a thread at the pond:
‘Can’t help but see the current situation as part of a 30 year continuum. Wholesale transferral of the nation’s wealth to the few has continued & intensified regardless of DC’s political demographic. I’m increasingly convinced that the answers don’t lie with either political party as they now exist. Looking for hope there seems fruitless to me. The radical Left necessary to counterweigh the radical Right is totally marginalized.
I, too, rely on public assistance & I’m well aware that, for many in politics (party be damned), I don’t really exist. I’m an idea characterized by my usefulness.
Reasonably enough, I feel the same way about them. This inspires little faith.’
Comment by wilderness wench — July 25, 2011 @ 10:06 am |
One of the huge challenges a radical Left faces is connecting with those who have been told they “don’t really exist” and remind them that there are people – radical activists, etc – who are more than willing to say, “hey, you do exist, you do count for something.” Subcomandante Marcos is fond of saying “you are not alone” to the people who make up his target audience – and his target audience is a rather broad one. Somehow this has to be accomplished without the advantage of a built-in media presence, think tanks and all the rest. Reaching mass audiences with minimal resources is certainly doable, and the technology is certainly available up to a point. To use a religious analogy, we’re in some serious “David and Goliath” territory. I know that one means of a radical Left gaining some support would entail providing some sort of needed service – health, food, etc. – to those who have been left behind by our system. Just simply put some principles into practice. No grand gestures are needed – just enough to provide a spark (and we know that under the right circumstances that can start, as has been said by others, a prairie fire’s worth of change).
In the meantime I find much comfort in that sentence, “You are not alone.”
Comment by thebokononist — July 25, 2011 @ 11:07 pm |
Personally, in this instance a spiritual consciousness does help maintain perspective. The apparent isolation of individuals is illusionary. The connections we have to others may not be apparent, but shared spirit is like the world’s water.
Comment by wilderness wench — July 27, 2011 @ 7:21 pm |