Before I go into my prose, please click here to sign the petition against the Protect IP bill and call your 2 senators against this bill now. Our free enterprise economy depends on it. If these bills pass, corporations will own the last bastion of information dispersal available to the middle class.
Now my prose. I have visited Occupy DC and spoken to many of the participants. I have spoken to Jesse LaGreca from Occupy Wall Street. I have argued with Kevin Zeese of Occupy Washington DC about the reasons why the movement must be politically engaged. I have discussed with many at Occupy Houston why it is imperative that the movement enters into elective politics mode and soon.
The Occupy movement and many other movements aimed at dissemination of information to the middle class to ensure that they are educated on issues that directly affect them is done via the Internet partly because our corporate controlled media continues to misinform with a strong corporate bias. Many in the Occupy movement continue to insulate themselves from electoral politics. This is not only ill-informed but movement crushing. The Protect IP bill along with the watering down of Net Neutrality is an attempt to censure the Internet and shutdown opposition.
The tenets of the Occupy movement corresponds to all that middle class America wants, supports, and needs. We all want tax fairness, income and wealth inequality mitigated, and a strong efficient social safety net that affords all affordable healthcare. The Occupy movement must engage in electoral politics now to elect those who will prevent the shutdown of the Internet and our democracy.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
Review:
- Piracy vs. an open Internet – LA Times
- Going After the Pirates – NYTimes
- The Bad Internet Bill That Could Destroy Us – DailyKos
My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies
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Egberto, with all due respect and fondness, I think Occupy is in the position to decide whether it will engage in elective politics mode. I, for one, don’t think there are any conscionable candidates in either party. I feel I have compromised my conscience and allowed it be compromised for years, maybe even decades, and with so much at stake, the only thing we can do now is act with absolute integrity and stop compromising our values. If a candidate wants the strength of Occupy behind him or her, then that candidate should make him or herself known. So far, no candidate, including President Obama, has made a meaningful overture to Occupy.
Jeanne,
Please do not misunderstand me. 1) I believe in the movement, 2) I consider myself a part of the movement, 3) Moreover as a Democrat I understand the autonomy of the movement and I am careful not to give any semblance of attempting to co-opt it.
I believe the movement will only be effective if it stands on principle by supporting THOSE that support it overtly. That said the movement’s mode of communication depends on the Internet. Absent the Internet the movement for all practical purpose loses its mode of efficient communication. We need to not sell out our values but get some of our people elected. Hell, we need to get you elected to ensure our goals are met. We are on the same team and we must do what necessary to attain our goal. If we do not have someone we can support then we get folks into primaries to make things happen and shake things up.
It is important that we are pragmatic however. The corporations that we know do not have our best interest at hand, controls the pipes that deliver our message. Absent regulations from those we elect, they will prevent us from getting our message out in a manner that counts.