JAY: Some of what youve suggested people are doing. I mean, there are organizations trying to speak about the environment. Theres organizations speaking about housing and unemployment and this and that, and so people still left wondering, what can I do that would make a difference to this, cause the current kind of left politics, while theres breakthroughs in certain places--you talked about Chicago teachers, and theres--you know, there was the rebellion in Wisconsin--rebellion--big protest in Wisconsin. You know, things happen. And across the country theres many more things happened than we know about. And we tried to cover some of this on The Real News. We dont really have the capacity to cover all thats happening. And I think because its not getting enough coverage in, certainly, the mainstream media, people think nothings happening. And, in fact, more is than a lot of us think is, but not at the scale, you know, that would make the kind of changes that, you know, youre suggesting we need. So people are still left with, like, whats the key link for whats next. HEDGES: Well, the more we create self-sustainable systems that are local, the more we sever ourselves from these corporate forces, the less we need them. And the less we need them--I mean, lets remember that 70 percent of the U.S. economy is driven through consumption--the less we need them, the more we impoverish them. I mean, the goal has to be to break these corporate power, this entity that has seized control of our government, our systems of communication, our judiciary. I mean, now were watching them eviscerate our systems of education. Anytime hedge fund managers walk into a city like Baltimore and propose charter schools, its not because they want to teach people to read and write. Its because they know the federal government spends about $600 billion a year on education, and they want it, and theyre getting it. So I think that building local centers that are self-sustaining and that can create forms of community that are not dependent on these corporate forces is a political act, because these corporate forces need us to continue to consume their products and rely on their services. And the less we consume and the less we are hostage, the less we need these forces, the more independent we become. Now, that has to come with a kind of political consciousness, but I think they come hand-in-hand, that both things--I think that as people take control, once again, of their own lives, that will bring a kind of consciousness, because these corporate forces, especially if they begin to feel threatened, are going to see these acts as political acts and are going to move--as we have seen corporate farming move against organic farming, they are going to move to try and destroy these forces. JAY: One of the things I dont think the left talks about very much in the United States and Canada, and maybe in many countries for different reasons, they dont often talk about who owns stuff. Theres a lot of talk about lack of fair distribution, theres a lot of talk about the power of the state, and all rightly so. But who owns stuff doesnt get talked about that much. And in the piece you wrote, in terms of you said this gravest mistake is not articulating a vision of what a democratic socialism might look like, and you talk about nationalizing the energy companies and other kinds of things like that, is part of whats missing is that doesnt seem to be part of the left discourse in any kind of unified way? Like, you have a big protest, theres, like, 30 different things get talked about in terms of demands and issues. I mean, what got the Brazilian thing going recently was very specific. It was bus fares. And in Quebec it was tuitions. And here its like theres always, like, 30 things, and then you have a debate about why isnt it more focused, and it becomes a virtue not to be focused. HEDGES: Well, because, you know, as somebody who identifies himself as a socialist, I have no voice in the mainstream. Youre not going to hear my voice. To even call yourself a socialist in this country is to essentially remove yourself from the acceptable parameters of public discourse. https://youtube/watch?v=OX6n861Gu6Q
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 16:01:41 +0000
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