Opinion/Op-ed

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

This is a series, this part 5, to read the latest go to the bottom.

The True Invisible Enemy is IGNORANCE, in the Face of Scientific Fact. Stop and really Tell me if you heard this one before, no stop and tell me. Its time to have a General Strike again for the greater good of all workers everywhere, in the face of this pandemic we should value scientific fact over ignorance On MAY 1ST we all decide not to work to save a life and get a (better wage/hazard pay/ and benefits, etc) The individual rights are only as strong as the collective action, and the collects rights or only as strong as the collective will, stand united save a life and occupy a couch. Workers UNITE! Send a Message to the leadership of your conditions within your company and within this country, save a life, push for better living standards with your labor and wallet. Call into work, say you can’t work, take time off, talk to your co-workers about working together into forming a union, or workplace democracy(good enough for the country, should be good enough for your company) those on the frontlines should HAVE SAFETY EQUIPMENT AND THE TOOLS THEY NEED(VENTILATORS,TESTS ETC) be paid more hazards they face along with their families, from sanitation workers to anyone interacting with this public/virus. This is your chance to be a hero and stand within the solidarity of acknowledging scientific fact, and for quality labor with a living wage, healthcare, and education, as a companys investment into the future generation and their workforce, those in the factory’s, those in warehouses, those in sanitation, thosefirst responders , Nurses, Dr.s, EMTS, firefighters and parimedics, stand with sciences and logic make a stand. ALL RENT/UTILITIES/MORTGAGES/DEBT SHOULD BE FROZEN AND ALL DEBT ACCURED SHOULD BE FORGIVEN, SMALL BUSINESSES NEED MORE HELP AND NOT LOANS BUT TAXPAYER MONEY. THE CRACKS IN THIS SYSTEM OF HAVE AND HAVES, A PANDEMIC SPREAD BY PRIVLEGE AND CAPITALIC NATURE HAVE NEVER BEEN CLEARER, THIS IS A GENOCIDE OF SMALL BUSINESSES, THE WORKING CLASS, THE MOM AND POP SHOPS THE WORKING POOR REGARDLESS OF RACE OR RELGION, FORCED TO WORK WITHOUT SAFETY EQUIPMENT, HEALTHCARE, EQUATING OUR LABOR TO POVERTY WAGES, true economic class warfare, leadership has fail us but only together, like-minded, peacefully staying home can we created the change and the narrative we are the fire and determine the shadows on the wall. ITS TIME TO OCCUPY A NEW SPRING ON MAY 1ST, DONT WORK. #GeneralStrike #May1st #OCCUPY

So stop and tell me if you head this one before, The Average workweek is 60 hours, 6 days a week. Rights violated, No living wage to afford expenses. Immigrants with no path to citizenship, working at below-market prices unfairly for the same amount of labor but unafforded to them, yearning for the same amount of liberty and deserving of such. Then people want to rally and want collective action to unionize and reunionize. Well, that’s what happened in Chicago on May 4th, 1886 it’s known as the Haymarket affair. I haven’t finished dear reader. TO quote that same Wikipedia link on how employers responded. (Employers responded with anti-union measures, such as firing and blacklisting union members, locking out workers, recruiting strikebreakers; employing spies, thugs, and private security forces and exacerbating ethnic tensions in order to divide the workers.[16] Business interests were supported by mainstream newspapers and were opposed by the labor and immigrant press.[17]) Scroll down 2 paragraphs if you want me to continue the story.

What would be a modern-day Anti Union Tactic? consider it I mean really consider it, I’m going to say bot base programs that hold multiple social media accounts that could be anti-union and be used to troll by social shaming pro-union accounts and groups, using antiunion base rhetoric to stir the digital social pot so to speak.

If you had a Multibillion-dollar company built on the backs of labor what of the contributions of those that labored, as the old saying goes, profits are the unpaid wages of the working class. Go so far to say fire those that called for unions. Maybe they would target data and information on those that argued for a collective voice in a modern age that they would start targeting individuals data (geo, history, posts, games, insert) that argued for such and use it as they see fit to blackmail. Do anything to divide and conquer through binary mind games. I mean it’s like the age-old question “what if you had a million dollars?”…well? I mean read Dr. Sues the Sneetches.

Back to the story. Imagine if things got so bad that collective action was needed again, unions need to take the mantle collectively and vote in your local area for better pay, healthcare, and higher education, because the leadership in charge was making bad decisions for the rest, and outsourcing and profiting from the collective union’s labor and kindness for far too long. Well that’s what happened one October night in 1884. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions agreed to the idea of 8 hour workdays. But as the day approached to see companies agree to the collective demands the companies of the time, like dragons to gold, sat high in their towers and just smiled and waited.

On May 1st Hundreds of thousands Participated in the General Strike, either by picketing or going to rallies across the United States, screaming their demands. The strikers did not give up in most cases and proceeded far past the 1st and into the whole month of May.

Now imagine its May 1st, 400 policemen outside your work and pretty much outside every other place your friends work. You’re standing out there in the May air, with your family with the guy that worked next to you and his family and so on and so on and so on, while they let others in to fill your place. Would you not scream at those filling your job as they entered the building and say stand with us, we are the many, and they are the few? Another way is possible, Have and have nots as I have addressed.

This goes on till May 3rd, one of your friends finally says o “hold together, to stand by their union, or they would not succeed”. But the work bell sounds this time the group that got replaced is even higher. Everyone sees the doors open and some try to race to the entrance to tell theses people taking their jobs to stop working my (insert thing you love) is (lack of substance) starving but the robot didn’t care cause automation and ai has replaced you. But the cops remaining kill 6 people you know, 6 people died according to the newspaper you read, all trying to afford the living rights of this country, to decency, to have no child work to young but have a proper education fitting of your time, the rights to a living wage, healthcare, etc. Well, this happened in Chicago May 3rd your friend is August Spies.

You decide to meet the next day to grieve with your fellow protesters for the lives lost, thousands show up to mourn, whole families show up to pay their respects that you know, and to listen to what is to take place moving forward. You are wet, and you are tired you can hear the rain in the background outside. You know from prior gatherings Police Officers watch from amongst the crowd in plain uniform and around the opposing streets where you have all gathered tapped into all your electronic devices but you go their to say we should unite all groups across the nation or nations in a massive general assembly with live streams together as one collective with a mic check but the undercover cops scream no and gather the crows to also say no during the mic check. Everyone listened and everyone mourned as each speaker spoke, and one of those inflamed speakers who was still bitter about the bloodshed the night prior is your friend August Spies.

He says “There seems to prevail the opinion in some quarters that this meeting has been called for the purpose of inaugurating a riot, hence these warlike preparations on the part of so-called ‘law and order.’ However, let me tell you at the beginning that this meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour movement and to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it.[34]”

Just as someone was finishing their speech. just like your friend, all standing around peacefully. Police swarm the gathering area in formations of various sizes and with various things cutting off all communication and video along with media. The only thing you can hear as you flow with the crowd is “ I command YOU in the name of law to disist and disperse”

Then Boom. a bomb goes off. This happened in Chicago, in 1884. Ill let the rest of the wiki speak for itself

“Witnesses maintained that immediately after the bomb blast there was an exchange of gunshots between police and demonstrators.[42] Accounts vary widely as to who fired first and whether any of the crowd fired at the police. Historian Paul Avrich maintains that the police fired on the fleeing demonstrators, reloaded and then fired again, killing four and wounding as many as 70 people. What is not disputed is that in less than five minutes the square was empty except for the casualties. According to the May 4 New York Times, demonstrators began firing at the police, who then returned fire.[36] In his report on the incident, Inspector Bonfield wrote that he “gave the order to cease firing, fearing that some of our men, in the darkness might fire into each other”.[43] An anonymous police official told the Chicago Tribune, “A very large number of the police were wounded by each other’s revolvers. … It was every man for himself, and while some got two or three squares away, the rest emptied their revolvers, mainly into each other.”[44]”In all, seven policemen and at least four workers were killed. Another policeman died two years after the incident from complications related to injuries received on that day.[53] It remains the single most deadly incident of officers being killed in the line of duty in the history of the Chicago Police Department. About 60 policemen were wounded in the incident. They were carried, along with some other wounded people, into a nearby police station. Police captain Michael Schaack later wrote that the number of wounded workers was “largely in excess of that on the side of the police”.[54] The Chicago Herald described a scene of “wild carnage” and estimated at least fifty dead or wounded civilians lay in the streets.[55] It is unclear how many civilians were wounded since many were afraid to seek medical attention, fearing arrest. They found aid where they could.[36][56][57]

A harsh anti-union clampdown followed the Haymarket incident. There was a massive outpouring of community and business support for the police and many thousands of dollars were donated to funds for their medical care and to assist their efforts. The entire labor and immigrant community, particularly Germans and Bohemians, came under suspicion. Police raids were carried out on homes and offices of suspected anarchists. Dozens of suspects, many only remotely related to the Haymarket Affair, were arrested. Casting legal requirements such as search warrants aside, Chicago police squads subjected the labor activists of Chicago to an eight-week shakedown, ransacking their meeting halls and places of business. The emphasis was on the speakers at the Haymarket rally and the newspaper Arbeiter-Zeitung. A small group of anarchists were discovered to have been engaged in making bombs on the same day as the incident, including round ones like the one used in Haymarket Square.[58]

Newspaper reports declared that anarchist agitators were to blame for the “riot”, a view adopted by an alarmed public. As time passed, press reports and illustrations of the incident became more elaborate. Coverage was national, then international. Among property owners, the press, and other elements of society, a consensus developed that suppression of anarchist agitation was necessary while for their part, union organizations such as The Knights of Labor and craft unions were quick to disassociate themselves from the anarchist movement and to repudiate violent tactics as self-defeating.[59] Many workers, on the other hand, believed that men of the Pinkerton agency were responsible because of the agency’s tactic of secretly infiltrating labor groups and its sometimes violent methods of strike breaking.[60]

But you want your happy ending right?

The first International Workers Day was a spectacular success. The front page of the New York World on May 2, 1890, was devoted to coverage of the event. Two of its headlines were “Parade of Jubilant Workingmen in All the Trade Centers of the Civilized World” and “Everywhere the Workmen Join in Demands for a Normal Day”.[105] The Times of London listed two dozen European cities in which demonstrations had taken place, noting there had been rallies in Cuba, Peru and Chile.[106] Commemoration of May Day became an annual event the following year.

it took 4 years.

A heart isn’t valuable, it’s priceless. I AM CALLING FOR A GENERAL STRIKE(Definition here) and I will now explain why. For once in your life, you can save the world by staying on your couch Netflix/gaming/ etc. Try to not mess it all up. We need A living wage and Medicare for all In these times for all workers Essential(they are risking their lives)and Non-Essential(they are risking their lives and have zero lively hoods) thanks to Poor Leadership. Most of all we need to save lives so #occupyacouch .#solidarity only together can we handle what is ahead. Don’t give in to fear, for fear is the great destroyer of good men.The individual’s rights are only as strong as the collective will, Just as the collectives rights is only as strong as the individuals will( I speak more of the dualities of this argument here. #OccupyACouch The working poor and the middle class are in this mess together; it doesn’t matter what political affiliation And we’ll pick it up together. For the wealthy, entitled, and privileged coffers. Can you get a test? can you get the medication to fight this? do you have enough money to cover the cost cuz sure as shit the wealthy, the entitled, the privileged, the (insert party) politicians, corporations can, and they can’t wait to pick at you like a vulture after a kill with taxes and inflation? Do what you can now to help your State, County, Town, and community and help those in need. I say stand together, they want to divide narratives/ideologies for greater control of the people till they are isolated in their anxious echo chamber of thoughts, forget the binary perspectives for now. We face a defining moment and only together can we conquer such and those in power obviously care more about markets then lives. If you can’t find kindness be a kindness if you can’t find love, be love, and if you cant find peace, make and be peace, and most importantly always help those in need around you with logic, intelligence thoughtfulness, and empathy. As long as we stand together collectively with logic and love there is hope, call it a fools hope.

GENERAL STRIKE I say, for all Non-essential workers till the science, prevails a vaccine (4–18 months), For the Safety all, if there was ever a time TO do a General Strike for the betterment of all now would be the time. If there was ever a time to stop working, and by doing so save the world from the couch and comfort of your home, now is the time, seize it, don’t mess it up. In turn, save a life, and stop the spread of this Corvid-19 by all of doing so it could end up saving yours and those that you love. It is negligent for any governing body or company to encourage their workforce to continue, it is class base genocide. Not just through pending Economic means because of the recession we are in, but Health means. If your job is considered “#essential” during this pandemic and you must work, firstly thank you for what you’re doing, also I believe then your position deserves a living wage/raise and health benefits along with hazard pay. If corporate says no, then unionize, or strike. Strike for your mother, Strike for your father, Strike for your Grandparents and Children. Strike to save lives of those you know and those you don’t, for your neighbor, and the safety of this country GENERAL STRIKE and #occupythecouch. The only way they will listen is if we collectively decide to stand together and demand collective action for a better living wage, hazard pay, part-time workers get healthcare at the minimum medicare for all at the most, and education more trade/technical school programs, and tuition free state community colleges to face the road that lies ahead, in regards to what is after this pandemic, whether it be automation/robotics competing in the workforce replacing jobs, climate change, or other threats to human rights.

Its time to reflect and revaluate what is important to consider what we value, and what is value, and our own value. Each Perspective petal of infinite colors, to the flower that endlessly wilts and blooms.

I say Scientific facts in the face of ignorance, I say people over profit, empathy over apathy, Knowlege, and fact over Ignorance and Fear-Mongering narratives General Strike for the Safety of all. I say this now to the privileged class, those with the illusion of power, and hubris of ego; If you do nothing, you get nothing. If you do a little you get a little. IF you do a lot you will get a lot. We the people are not fools. What of those who are less fortunate, the single parent, the homeless. Thanks to you we are now self domesticated and workshop boxes and things, and value nothing but nature and life, valuing opinions(emotional logic) over fact-based(mental) logic. You have Twisted the natural way of things. We were met to be caretakers, and from this point on you will reap the cullings avalanche of reality. I know the president is nothing but a mouthpiece for you set there to reassure with the illusion of words and act as the mayor from Jaws reassuring the general public that there are no sharks, or others could argue Like Jim Jones screaming subtly “die with Dignity” all for his ego for we know what he values, things and ego over people and lives.

Act like you deserve to be here, One universal truth is we all love, so be it through your actions and words. Furthermore, why not invest in the children of tomorrow by Expanding and creating more social programs will only grow with the growth of current technology and its impact on the workforce, Income Inequality platform, and those that stand behind it will also grow with it. Automation plus capitalism will only lead to a darker employment future. Industry Experts have spoken at this to length saying that 25–40% of the workforce will be replaced by automation and AI within the next 5–15 yrs world wide. Here are three links to further my argument Here, Here and Here. Perhaps self-replicating 3d printers(3d print every part of a pre-existing printer only raw material needed) that can print hospital equipment could save lives here and prevent the spread. Those in positions of Economic Power will accept this innovation because it doesn’t sleep, eat, get sick, take holidays off, it will cut costs and promote growth, meaning the rich will get richer. Those with enough capital to buy these machines, or will supply each person with an AI assistant for better efficiency from lawyers (AI listen to cases finds relating case arguments) to retail (insert efficiency, etc) etc job, they will only grow faster small business and the worker will not be able to compete. Those at the top will not weigh the costs to society nor to their humanity. For they value things, and when the value of things outweighs the value of people you lose the value of everything. With up to 40% of the working population jobs becoming obsolete, major changes will be needed and the only way to counter it is with job creation from innovation and society or nation will yield more with reeducation(free technical and college education).

Who will profit from this tragedy other than the Pharmaceutical Companys, Corporate Hospitals, Health Insurence companies, news outlets who get ad money per click of fear, will their profits go finding a vaccine? Who is going to be able to afford/receive those tests/vaccines first other than federal workers and government officials along with their friends? All you have to do to see the cracks of the system is look at history. If the cracks are still there it only proves that the system and its governance workforce during times of crisis are still inept and have not learned anything since the last major pandemic over a hundred years called the Spanish Flu. Leadership learned nothing when it came to preparing logistically, scientifically, technologically or economically. Influenza pandemics have occurred every 30 to 40 years since the 16th-century ranging in severity, this only proves more the cracks in the system.

“I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.”

― Henry David Thoreau

breaking the line of sanitation enforcement between the company and public, and it can not only prove too deadly. I fear some of us will live to see the trauma and horror in our grandchildren’s eyes and the fear, anger, sadness’s that we can not imagine emotionally at all because of our collective inaction.

As time has gone on the more careless, regarding the value of our labor, our morals, principles, dignity’ for all have been exploited, dehumanized, overworked to the point of exhaustion to not collectively paying attention or pursue truth, instead we are accepting half-truths which are full lies, and tolerating opinions are more important then facts by baby birded generational systems narrative of fear and control out greed/ego. Both are chains, a slow poison for them want to divide and conquer by feeding fear, ego, vanity, insecurity, for it is easier to control by consistently by masking all of this as normal and ok.

Why do I say that? well, right now we only value, insulated, and protect a system that values things. A system where the value of the things outweigh the value of life and the labors of the living(reinforced by collective belief/desperation or inaction) Right now we are on the edge of losing the value of everything. Right now the individual’s greed(ego/fear) is worth more than the collective’s values and values; labor, or natural cycles of this one planet that sustain us, and our inaction has led to complacency, and complacency has led to tolerance of what is in my view a collective assisted suicide a reaction from ignorant inaction. society’s economic structure is based on the nativity of the instant; fear-mongering vanity and gluttony. But now we MUST be patient no longer in tolerating these behaviors or feeding it with inaction. Forgive me for I am tired, tired of collective systematic lie we believe, that another way is not possible. That we can not rise to meet the tides of change and progress together, overcome our difference Because I believe we can together in #solidarity, Protest Peacefully through your wallets and labor. Strike for better standards and the safety of all.

“Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”

― Henry David Thoreau.

Please pay attention to the CDC and WHO for clear absolute facts on how to stay healthy, and what to do, the information they have could save your life and the life others for knowledge is power, and it can save lives. Stay safe out their, please.

https://www.cdc.gov/

https://www.who.int

Part 1here

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

part 4 here.

*new* Part 6 here