Monday, January 23, 2012

Ten Steps for Radical Revolution in USA

by Bill Quigley

“I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” 
                                                                                       --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  1967

One.  Human rights must be taken absolutely seriously.  Every single person is entitled to dignity and human rights.  No application needed.  No exclusions at all.  This is our highest priority.

Two.  We must radically reinvent contemporary democracy.  Current systems are deeply corrupt and not responsive to the needs of people.   Representatives chosen by money and influence govern by money and influence.  This is unacceptable.  Direct democracy by the people is now technologically possible and should be the rule.  Communities must be protected whenever they advocate for self-determination, self-development and human rights.  Dissent is essential to democracy; we pledge to help it flourish.

Three.  Corporations are not people and are not entitled to human rights.   Amend the US Constitution so it is clear corporations do not have constitutional or human rights.   We the people must cut them down to size and so democracy can regulate their size, scope and actions.

Four.  Leave the rest of the world alone.  Cut US military spending by 75 percent and bring all troops outside the US home now.  Defense of the US is a human right.  Global offense and global police force by US military are not.  Eliminate all nuclear and chemical and biological weapons.  Stop allowing scare tactics to build up the national security forces at home.  Stop the myth that the US is somehow special or exceptional and is entitled to act differently than all other nations.  The US must re-join the global family of nations as a respectful partner.  USA is one of many nations in the world.  We must start acting like it.

Five.  Property rights, privilege, and money-making are not as important as human rights.  When current property and privilege arrangements are not just they must yield to the demands of human rights.  Money-making can only be allowed when human rights are respected.  Exploitation is unacceptable.  There are national and global poverty lines.  We must establish national and global excess lines so that people and businesses with extra houses, cars, luxuries, and incomes share much more to help everyone else be able to exercise their basic human rights to shelter, food, education and healthcare.  If that disrupts current property, privilege and money-making, so be it.

Six.  Defend our earth.  Stop pollution, stop pipelines, stop new interstates, and stop destroying the land, sea, and air by extracting resources from them.  Rebuild what we have destroyed.  If corporations will not stop voluntarily, people must stop them.  The very existence of life is at stake.

Seven.  Dramatically expand public spaces and reverse the privatization of public services.  Quality public education, health and safety for all must be provided by transparent accountable public systems.  Starving the state is a recipe for destroying social and economic human rights for everyone but the rich.

Eight.  Pull the criminal legal prison system up and out by its roots and start over.  Cease the criminalization of drugs, immigrants, poor people and people of color.  We are all entitled to be safe but the current system makes us less so and ruins millions of lives.  Start over.

Nine.  The US was created based on two original crimes that must be confessed and made right.  Reparations are owed to Native Americans because their land was stolen and they were uprooted and slaughtered.   Reparations are owed to African Americans because they were kidnapped, enslaved and abused.  The US has profited widely from these injustices and must make amends.

Ten.  Everyone who wants to work should have the right to work and earn a living wage.  Any workers who want to organize and advocate for change in solidarity with others must be absolutely protected from recriminations from their employer and from their government.

Finally, if those in government and those in power do not help the people do what is right, people seeking change must together exercise our human rights and bring about these changes directly.  Dr. King and millions of others lived and worked for a radical revolution of values.  We will as well.  We respect the human rights and human dignity of others and work for a world where love and wisdom and solidarity and respect prevail.  We expect those for whom the current unjust system works just fine will object and oppose and accuse people seeking dramatic change of being divisive and worse.  That is to be expected because that is what happens to all groups which work for serious social change.  Despite that, people will continue to go forward with determination and purpose to bring about a radical revolution of values in the USA. 

Bill Quigley is a law professor and human rights lawyer at Loyola University New Orleans and with the Center for Constitutional Rights.  
You can reach him at quigley77@gmail.com.







4 comments:

  1. Where can we sign-up? In the midst of constant political rhetoric it is easy to feel discouraged. It is comforting to hear your voice in the wilderness...but I fear that it is just that, the wilderness. Living in a rural, somewhat isolated setting in Missouri, I can choose to focus on the immediate reality of day to day living and contributing to my small community, but not without an awareness of the greater perils looming...How can we begin to bring about this revolution?

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  2. I can't agree with all this, but please excuse my ignorance and my questions. For example, quote:

    Human rights must be taken absolutely seriously. Every single person is entitled to dignity and human rights. No application needed. No exclusions at all. This is our highest priority.

    Are we talking here from conception to natural death? Just to be clear...You do claim to claim to protect and rebuild the "outer environment" but, what about the "inner environment" where human beings - endowed by inalienable rights that you defend - are supposed to be the safest?

    Quote:Corporations are not people and are not entitled to human rights. Amend the US Constitution so it is clear corporations do not have constitutional or human rights. We the people must cut them down to size and so democracy can regulate their size, scope and actions.

    Granted that corporations are not to have "human rights" (however defined, btw) but the Constitution protects our rights to freely associate. This include the right to associate for business purposes. Are you proposing that the freedom of association be curtailed?

    Quote: Property rights, privilege, and money-making are not as important as human rights. When current property and privilege arrangements are not just they must yield to the demands of human rights. Money-making can only be allowed when human rights are respected. Exploitation is unacceptable. There are national and global poverty lines. We must establish national and global excess lines so that people and businesses with extra houses, cars, luxuries, and incomes share much more to help everyone else be able to exercise their basic human rights to shelter, food, education and healthcare. If that disrupts current property, privilege and money-making, so be it.

    Yes, avarice is bad. But what national standard do you propose to judge it, who will judge that someone is becoming "too rich" and who will enforce the subsequent dispossesion, "for the good of all"?

    Quote: ...Cease the criminalization of drugs...

    Are you serious? How would that contribute to the common good? And I am not against reforming drug law to in order to help the victims of drug abuse, but "decriminalization"? You think that's going to be helpful and constructive?

    I'm going to stop here. I will just say that the road to utopia is paved with the stones of dictatorship - however "benign" it may be portrayed.

    Without denying the value of a set of limited actions by government and society, I prefer to see that CONVERSION and then the transformation of culture are the key to solve these and many other problems. Avarice is not going to be solved solely by repressing the rich or empowering the poor; avarice will be overcome when Christ lives in the hearts of every man and woman. Only then direct democracy may become feasible.

    +JMJ,
    ~Theo

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    Replies
    1. Congratulations to Theo on exposing the fallacies of the Catholic Worker outlook which is simply Socialism in disguise, masquerading under Dorothy Day's slogan of "Catholic Communism". In my book, “The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-80): a Critical Analysis”, (published in 2010) I have provided proof, drawn from archival evidence and other authentic sources, of Day's lifelong support for Communism as an ecomomic and social system.

      I also show how Day used her newspaper, the "Catholic Worker" (of which she was Editor for almost 50 years), as an organ of propaganda in favour of Communism. She made full use of her editorial skills to promote naked Socialism in ways that breached journalistic ethics by presenting it under the guise of Catholic teaching.

      The book contains documentary evidence to prove that Day supported the policies of hostile foreign powers operating from Moscow, Havana, Peking and Hanoi against her own country, the USA. She also wrote favourably about such Socialist dictators as Lenin, Castro, Mao and Ho Chi Minh, even though they had all violently persecuted the Church in their respective countries.

      The evidence is irrefutable that Dorothy Day was a radical revolutionary who strove throughout her life to bring Socialism into the Catholic Church under the guise of “Christian Communism”. She may have called for a "revolution of the heart", but if her politics were put into action, they would lead inevitably to a totalitarian regime.

      Please read the above-mentioned book which is obtainable from Amazon and let the facts (which have been carefully suppressed by Day’s supporters) speak for themselves.

      Dr Carol Byrne
      Author of The Catholic Worker Movement (1933-80): a Critical Analysis (published by Authorhouse, 2010)



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  3. This article is wrong and colored with hatred. While there are things we could agree on there are some really obvious evils suggested in this article.

    We do not have a right to take from others to help the poor. Are we loving our neighbor when we say things like "When current property and privilege arrangements are not just they must yield to the demands of human rights". What do you mean by "yield"? Do you mean steal? Use force? This is wrong and evil.

    "Corporations are not people and are not entitled to human rights." While this is true, the people who run and own corporations are people. Some greedy, but also many hard working people who are saving for retirement. Will you strip the owners of their right to own the fruits of their labor?

    "Reparations are owed...". Sorry to tell you but those people are dead, both the people who committed the sin and those who suffered for it. Therefore reparation is impossible. You do not correct a past wrong by committing a current one.

    "Everyone who wants to work should have the right to work and earn a living wage." This is a foolish/simpleton statement. Work is what you do by your free will. It only earns a wage to the extent that someone freely contracts for your labor. Forcing someone to hire you or pay you more than you are worth violates their free will.

    This article is incredibly flawed and anti-Catholic. It promotes hatred and envy. God calls is to love our neighbor not play God and force people to do what we think is correct. God calls us to love our neighbor, not force others to do his will. He calls us to feed and comfort one another, not play politics.

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