I
recently saw the movie, “The Hunger Games.” The defeat on the faces of the
townspeople as they trudged to work or lined up for the lottery reminded me of
something I read about the Homestead strike in “The War
on Labor & the Left” by Patricia Cayo Sexton. In 1892 the striking workers
at the plant owned by Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick successfully fought the
Pinkerton strike breakers who arrived by boat on the Monongahela River for thirteen
hours, the governor of Pennsylvania, Robert E.
Pattison, and a Democrat, sent 8000 National Guardsman to Homestead and declared
Marshall Law. The Guardsman protected the strike breakers and the plant was
reopened with scab labor. The company then pressed charges against the strikers
for murder and conspiracy although no charges were pressed against the strike
breakers. Although the juries would not convict the strikers, the union
crumbled under the costs of the trials and the presence of strikebreakers in
the plant. Strike leaders and the Mayor of Homestead were blacklisted and lost
their homes. The returning men had their rates cut in half and the 12 hour,
seven day week remained the standard for the steel industry. International
reaction overwhelmingly condemned Carnegie and the use of government forces and
mercenaries against the workers. The workers who remained in the broken down
town were described as “discouraged and sullen” in 1894 by the American writer
Hamlin Garland. (Sexton, 1991.)
Multiply this scenario through the
years of labor history before and after the Homestead strike. Multiply
the poverty of the workers contrasted with the wealth of the owners. Multiply
the dead fallen in battle against mercenaries and military and then add in
those killed in industrial accidents, disease and hunger. Combine the workers
dead and defeated with the enslaved human beings who built much of the wealth
of the wealthy and the Native Americans who continue to be denied their rights
while the scraps of lands they are allowed to keep continue to be polluted with
toxic waste. Add in those who died fighting prejudice and racism and those who
are victims of racism today. Aside from the enormous human cost, how much
money-government money, tax dollars- is spent on our own repression? How much
money is spent to keep us down? We are unarmed for the most part, mostly
untrained in the art of violence. We have nothing but our minds and bodies to
fight with and yet, millions if not billions of dollars are spent to make sure
we do not stand up like human beings.
In the October 16-31 issue of
CounterPunch, there’s an article by Daniel Kovalik called, “The Blood Toll of
Plan Colombia.” In speaking about the presence of multinational corporations in
Columbia, he writes, “the rise of right wing paramilitaries in areas designated
for multi-national exploitation is a common one…the best documented example of
this grim phenomenon…involves North Carolina based Chiquita Banana which
actually admitted, in a criminal case brought by the US Justice Department, to
paying paramilitary forces $1.7 million and running them 3,000 kalishnikov
rifles between 1997 and 2004.” Who was the defense lawyer for Chiquita? Eric
Holder. Also from this article are the
following facts from a report by Peace Brigades International, “Mining in Columbia: At What Cost?”
- “In the past 10 years 40% of all Colombian land has been awarded to or solicited by mining and crude oil companies.”
- “80 % of the human rights abuses of the past 10 years were committed in mining and energy producing regions.”
- “87% of Colombia’s displaced population originates from these areas.” (Kovalik, 2012.)
According to a BBC
article, the US has spent $6 billion dollars allegedly trying to
stop the drug trade with Plan Colombia. (BBC, 2012)
All over the world, through
centuries common people have been subjected to inhuman violence. Most of us in
the US have not seen or
experienced this violence but it is coming closer and closer. I do not believe
the Democratic Party or Barak Obama will change this course, but I do believe
that if Romney and Ryan win the election with their attitude of corporate
entitlement – everything that contains life, anything than can be exploited for
personal and corporate gain belongs to the corporation – things will get worse
faster.
One man does not run the country and
one man or woman cannot change or stop the evil that is so intertwined with
racism and sexism to the point where the cradle of civilization is being
routinely bombed, where the birthplace of all human beings is being routinely
and violently exploited, where the bountiful earth is being raped and polluted
with chemicals, where the waters are filled with toxic and nuclear waste, where
the diversity and uniqueness of our planet is being destroyed by the madness of
men who want everything to be tasteless, odorless, colorless and dressed in a
three piece suit. They’ll keep a stable of women. They’ll look out over the dying planet
with puffed up chests and smile at their metal and plastic world.
We can at least slow that down.
Voting doesn’t stop anyone from doing anything more. We’ve already seen so much
evidence of voter suppression over the past few elections that it’s clear that
those who are suppressing the vote do not believe in democracy. We may not have
actually existing democracy and Barak Obama may not be bringing it along, but
voting for those who openly express contempt for the majority of Americans is
irresponsible. Some people want to be on what they think of as the winning
team. They want to stand next to the important person. They want to be rich and
brush against fame. But most of us are not rich or famous, we are the
majority and we can make a difference if we recognize who we are and act
together for our own interests instead of against them.
References
BBC.
Q&A Colombia’s civil conflict. August 28, 2012. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12447532
Kovalik,
D. CounterPunch. Vol. 19, No. 18. p 2,3. October 16-31, 2012.
Sexton,
P. The war on labor and the left. Understanding America’s unique
conservatism. San Francisco, 1991, Westview
Press, p 80-84
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