Kampf net géint d'Ripptid. Et wäert dech erofhuelen. E Riptide geschitt wann Waasser bei Héichwaasser hannert Riff oder Sandbaren zesummegefaasst gëtt, sou datt wann d'Mier erëm erausgeet, muss dat agespaart Waasser e Kanal fannen, duerch deen aus dem Pool entkommt. Et leeft duerch déi Ouverture mat esou Kraaft aus, datt et e Schwëmmer op d'Mier kafe loossen. Eisen Instinkt ass sou schwéier wéi mir kënnen op d'Ufer ze schwammen. Déi besser Strategie ass parallel zu der Küst ze schwammen bis Dir aus der Riptide sidd, da fuert déi regulär Wellen op d'Ufer. Déi Lénk Aktivisten kennen d'Gefill an engem Rippide gefaangen ze sinn ouni de Wee eraus ze kennen. Wann de politesche Stroum géint eis leeft, brauch et all eis Efforte just fir op der Plaz ze bleiwen. Eis Standarden rutschen bis eng "Victoire" heescht just, datt mir net esou schlecht geschrauft gi sinn, wéi mer kéinten sinn. Eis Gewënn ginn ewechgehäit de Moment wou mir eis fortgoen.
Wéi konservativ Aktivisten dëse Problem konfrontéiert hunn, an der Mëtt vun de 1960er Joren, hu se eppes anescht probéiert. Amplaz méi séier ze schwammen hu se gekuckt wat et brauch fir d'Gezei ëmzedréien. Si hunn et ofgezunn. Mat der Gezei hannert Iech, kënnt Dir all Zorte vu Succès erreechen och mat manner wéi genial Leedung. Et ass vill méi einfach lokal Schoulbudgeten ze schneiden wann d'Halschent vun der Bevëlkerung scho mengt datt d'Regierung inkompetent ass, d'Léierpersonal faul sinn, d'Steiere béis sinn an de Privatsecteur et besser maache kann. Dat ass de Stroum.
Ee Schwëmmer schwëmmt géint d'Ripp Gezäit a gëtt stänneg an d'Mier gedréckt. En aneren geet aus dem Stroum eraus a schwëmmt op de Surf. Si hunn allebéid déiselwecht Erausfuerderung konfrontéiert. Den Ënnerscheed ass wat an hire Kapp war. Dësen Essay geet iwwer dat wat an eise Käpp ass a wéi et d'Konditioune vum Kampf an dofir de Verlaf vun der Geschicht transforméiere kann. Et geet och ëm Päiperleken.
When butterflies migrate they don’t just start flapping their wings in the right direction. They don’t want to work that hard and get blown in to bushes and buildings by every gust of wind. They go straight up, sometimes up to twelve thousand feet, find a current headed their way and ride it for a thousand miles. Their light, fragile wings, a liability among the treacherous ground winds, are now their great asset.
The visible world is defined and determined by an invisible one. A glance at the landscape won’t tell you the likelihood of earthquakes. You have to know that invisible pressures accumulate along subterranean fault lines formed in the distant past. The butterfly and the organizer must be attuned to currents that are not apparent unless you look for them. The activists who launched the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 knew that undercurrents of anger at racist indignities were reaching critical levels and were searching for a way to turn them into a force to challenge segregation. The conservative activists who gathered in the wreckage of the Goldwater presidential campaign nine years later sought to harness fears stirred up by the civil rights struggle, the spread of consumerist immorality and the erosion of religious certainty and give them ideological and organizational expression.
In the USA we don’t like to overthink things. We prefer action. We run off to parties without grabbing the address. If we feel a current we swim against it. We fight oppressive conditions without asking what holds them in place. We swing between wishful thinking and hopelessness without seeing that they both reflect a disconnect between the strategies we repeat and the successes that elude us. But it is not just harsh conditions that confound us. All seeds start in the dark, after all. It’s how we interpret and respond to them. Among Malcolm X’s many abilities, his most remarkable gift was his oratory. He used the magic of language to help traumatized people uncover a new interpretation of their story. This change in perspective exposed new avenues for action and turned what had been dreams into possibilities. The rest is history.
Strategic vision is the precondition for effective strategies. It is the rain that spurs the strategies to growth just as strategies in turn seed to tactics. A strategic vision encapsulates our perspective on the landscape we are challenged to cross and our understandings of who we are and what we dream of becoming. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how strategic vision is the pivot which can turn our defensive struggles into political initiative, unite isolated reform efforts into a movement for change and open up new possibilities for effective action in every field of struggle.
D'Liicht vum Land
The transformative promise of the Obama Presidency was not, in the end, derailed by Republicans or sabotaged by conservative Democrats or even betrayed by Obama himself. It never existed. The illusion that it did and the collapse of that illusion result from a structural dilemma which defines both dominant political parties but particularly bedevils the Democrats.
D'Republikaner sinn eng Koalitioun tëscht der Corporate Elite an eng ganz Rëtsch vun konservativen Bewegungen an Institutiounen, déi aus Chrëschtlech Rechter, Nativist, Wafferechter, wäiss Supremacist an Anti-Wiel Gruppen, kleng Regierung Tea Partiers, Firmefrontgruppen an anerer. Dës konservativ Basis liwwert Stëmmen, Kampagneaarbechter, Fousszaldoten fir Firmenfrontgruppen an en ideologesche Message dee populär Ënnerstëtzung galvaniséiert. Am Géigesaz kréien si hir patriarchal a rassistesch moralesch Agenda virzebréngen a kréien genuch Finanzéierung fir hire kulturellen Krichsapparat. Déi reaktionär Meenungsformer (déi "Perceptioune") um Talkradio, Kabelfernseh, Blogs an an de legislative Büroen iwwersetzen d'Agenda vun der Firmenelite (Anti-Labour, Pro-Dereguléierung, Privatiséierung, Interventioun an Anti-demokratesch) an eng populistesch narrativ vu perséinlecher Fräiheet déi mat der konservativer Basis resonéiert. D'Resultat ass datt d'Ufuerderunge vun der konservativer sozialer Basis enk mat der Agenda vum Firmensecteur ausgeriicht sinn (oder op d'mannst net beaflossen).
The Democrats are a coalition between the same corporate elite and a constellation of non-profits, unions, communities of color and environmental and social reform movements. Their demands revolve around basic needs such as access to food, education, livable wages, healthy workplaces and communities, affordable housing, quality education and an end to discrimination. In other words the satisfaction of the aspirations of the Democratic grassroots would require a massive transfer of resources to the base of the social pyramid and consequently would tilt the balance of power toward labor and organized communities. They have to implement policies that their corporate sponsors require and which hurt their constituents in every respect. To the base they can offer little more than placebos, small measures that don’t cost much or symbolic gestures such as White House dinners, Presidential declarations and seats on advisory panels.
The existence of a corporate elite that pursues its collective interests is the invisible planet of our political system. It is possible to discover the existence of an unknown planet by observing its gravitational tug on the orbits of its neighbors. The discovery of such a body allows us to understand the motion of the rest of the system.
The policies that guide our government are researched and outlined within a network of brain trusts housed in political institutes, policy think tanks, academic institutions, corporate departments, business associations, intelligence agencies, specialized publications and private strategy centers. Their role is to define policy goals, develop the “framing” with which to secure public support and develop candidates to fill top and mid-level government jobs. These broad policy outlines define the parameters of the “accepted wisdom” in the corporate media.
Henry Kissinger’s career provides a window into this world. His trajectory carried through many top corporate and quasi-governmental institutes including The Psychological Strategy Board, the Harvard Center for International Affairs, the Operations Coordinating Board of the National Security Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Rand Corporation and the Trilateral Commission. He was a protégé of oil magnates David and Nelson Rockefeller whose patronage land
ZNetwork gëtt eleng duerch d'Generositéit vu senge Lieser finanzéiert.
Spendenaktioun