[Reader-list] Message from Chinese activists and academics in support of Occupy Wall Street

[Jeebesh]

Very soon occupy New York Times will start. It will be a carnival of  
leaderless rejoicing :)

On 13-Oct-11, at 8:02 PM, Joshua Soans wrote:

> praiseworthy sentiments, unlikely to change much:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/nyregion/protesters-are-gunning-for-wall-street-with-faulty-aim.html?_r=2
>
> On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Patrice Riemens <patrice at xs4all.nl>  
> wrote:
>
>> Reposted from nettime-l with usual apps 4 X-posting!
>>
>>
>> This letter of solidarity, signed over by 50 intellectuals and  
>> activists in
>> China, was posted to Utopia yesterday. Thanks to everyone for the
>> translation and editing work!
>>
>> http://chinastudygroup.net/2011/10/message-from-chinese-activists- 
>> and-
>> academics-in-support-of-occupy-wall-street/
>>
>>> From the middle of September, a great "Wall Street Revolution" has  
>>> broken
>> out in the United States. This street revolution, going by the name  
>> of
>> "Occupy Wall Street," has already expanded to over 70 cities and  
>> countries
>> in North America, Europe, and other areas. In their statement on  
>> "The Wall
>> Street Revolution," the American people have sworn that this demand  
>> for "a
>> democratic country, not a corporate kingdom" mass democratic  
>> revolution
>> must spread to every part of the world, and they will not rest  
>> until this
>> goal is met. From the anti-capitalist demonstrations that began  
>> after the
>> 2008 financial crisis, and which this year have spread across  
>> Europe, the
>> Middle East, North Africa and South America, this magnificent  
>> global mass
>> democratic movement has finally spread to the center of capitalism's
>> financial empire -- Wall Street.
>>
>> The eruption of the "Wall Street Revolution" is an historical  
>> indicator
>> that the popular democratic revolution that will soon sweep the  
>> world is
>> set to begin. It is an especially significant and important event  
>> for this
>> movement. Before this most recent action, street protests had  
>> virtually
>> been exclusively used as a tool by US elite groups to subvert other
>> countries. Now, however, the "Wall Street Revolution" -- with its  
>> goals of
>> shared prosperity and popular democracy -- has launched protests in  
>> the
>> country that is the self-proclaimed defender of democracy. This will
>> inevitably strike a hard blow against the US elite group, itself
>> responsible for the plunder and oppression of people all over the  
>> world,
>> and the group that pushed the world into crisis and instability. The
>> protests ring the death knell of the rule of capital. Popular  
>> democracy
>> will replace elite democracy in the 21st Century, and the curtain has
>> lifted on the movement from elite politics to popular politics.  
>> Using the
>> language of the "Wall Street Revolution," this is a struggle of the  
>> popular
>> 99% against the corrupt 1%, a struggle of the popular 99% against  
>> the elite
>> 1%,and is the final struggle of the popular forces against elite  
>> capitalist
>> rule.
>>
>> The world belongs to all of the people of the world. Countries  
>> belong to
>> the entire people of those countries. Even more so, wealth is  
>> produced by
>> the entire people, and therefore should be shared by the entire  
>> people, it
>> cannot be monopolized by the 1% -- or even less than 1% -- that is  
>> made up
>> of an extremely small number of elites. The demand for common  
>> prosperity in
>> economics, and popular democracy in politics has become an  
>> unstoppable
>> historical trend! The rapid expansion of a fictitious economy and the
>> massive flow of social wealth has created an amply reliable material
>> foundation for the realization of the common wealth of all people.  
>> The
>> development of internet technology and political civilization has  
>> created
>> the conditions for human society to make the transition from  
>> capitalist
>> democracy to popular democracy. Human society is fully capable of
>> transforming, on the foundation of the past democracy of  
>> slaveholders, the
>> democracy of feudal lords, and the democracy of the capitalist  
>> class, to
>> make the fundamental shift from the democracy of the elites to real  
>> popular
>> democracy. Common prosperity and popular democracy will become the  
>> main
>> content of the historical transformation of the 21st Century. No  
>> matter how
>> brutally the American riot police will attempt to suppress the  
>> participants
>> in the Wall Street revolution, no matter how much the global elites  
>> --
>> especially those in the U.S. and China  -- try to suppress news of  
>> the Wall
>> Street revolution, they cannot stop the vigorous growth and ultimate
>> victory of the democratic revolution of the people of the world.
>>
>> The violent repression and virtual blockade of news about the "Wall  
>> Street
>> Revolution" by elite groups led by the US proves that the fate of  
>> oppressed
>> people around the world is the same, regardless of whether they are  
>> from
>> developed or developing countries, whether they are from so-called
>> democracies or authoritarian countries. The international elite was  
>> the
>> first class to link-up internationally via globalization. Their  
>> plunder of
>> public wealth and repression of popular democratic movements is  
>> cruel and
>> far-reaching, and utterly lacking in freedom and democracy. So-called
>> freedom and democracy in modern society is nothing more than  
>> democracy for
>> capitalism, an elite democracy. Freedom is another word for the  
>> elite to
>> plunder, oppress and violently suppress others. Popular forces have  
>> been
>> completely excluded from the freedoms and democracy of modern  
>> society, and
>> the extent of democratic rights is to choose between presidential
>> candidates that have already been vetted by capital. You can vote  
>> once
>> every four years, but you have no way of affecting the people above  
>> you who
>> directly determine your fate: your boss or superior. And there is  
>> no way of
>> constraining the capitalistoligarchs who can take away the wealth  
>> of the
>> majority of the population with the slight of hand of fictitious  
>> capital.
>> Freedom and democracy have become a virtual game, nothing more than  
>> a tool
>> to subvert other countries. Now the popular and democratic world  
>> revolution
>> -- symbolized by the "Wall Street Revolution"- demands an end to this
>> political game, and that freedom and democracy be returned to the  
>> people.
>> Democracy is not just a check on the president, but a check on  
>> government
>> officials; democracy is not just a check on power, but a check on  
>> capital.
>> If the rights and privileges of feudal and absolute rulers are  
>> understood
>> to be a sin and abomination, then giving those rights to capital is  
>> also a
>> travesty.
>>
>> Securities and computer networks should have been two crucial  
>> elements of
>> our shift from an industrial society to an information society,  
>> from a
>> material economy to a virtual economy, from capitalism to a human- 
>> centered
>> economic system, and from elite politics to popular politics. But  
>> the elite
>> class has turned securities into a tool of appropriation akin to the
>> 'indulgences' issued by middle-age church functionaries in Europe.  
>> In the
>> new securitized economy, all the public's wealth can easily melt  
>> into thin
>> air -- including their houses, wages, labor power and even their  
>> hope for
>> the future. All these things have become the targets of  
>> appropriation by a
>> tiny elite minority. Both the white-collar middle classes in  
>> developed
>> countries -- owners of fictitious property, and the blue-collar  
>> workers in
>> developing countries who cannot afford housing or health care,  
>> belong in
>> point of fact to the same class: modern proletariat. When the people
>> protest the unprecedented plunder and vast income gap perpetrated by
>> fictitious capital, they are met with violent repression -- both in  
>> so-
>> called democracy countries that claim to be defenders of human  
>> rights such
>> as the US, and in authoritarian countries that are said to lack  
>> freedom and
>> democracy. Faced with street protests erupting from the Balkans to  
>> North
>> Africa, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have  
>> repeated over
>> and over, "The rights of peaceful protest and the occupation of  
>> public
>> space should be respected at all times." Yet when US citizens  
>> attempt to
>> exercise this right they immediately are faced with violent  
>> repression by
>> armed police, and a blockade by the news media. If this is reaction  
>> of the
>> US -- the self-proclaimed leader in human rights -- then we can  
>> imagine
>> what the reaction will be in other capitalist countries. Rule by the
>> capitalist elite is just as described by the "Wall Street  
>> Revolution" --
>> everywhere. There is nowhere left were we can live and die as people.
>>
>> The eruption of the "Wall Street Revolution" in the heart of the  
>> world's
>> financial empire shows that 99% of the world's people remain  
>> exploited and
>> oppressed -- regardless of whether they are from developed or  
>> developing
>> countries. People throughout the world see their wealth being  
>> plundered,
>> and their rights being taken away. Economic polarization is now a  
>> common
>> threat to all of us. The conflict between popular and elite rule is  
>> also
>> found in all countries. Now, however, the popular democratic  
>> revolution
>> meets repression not just from its own ruling class, but also from  
>> the
>> world elite that has formed through globalization. The "Wall Street
>> Revolution" has met with repression from US police, but also  
>> suffers from a
>> media blackout organized by the Chinese elite.
>>
>> The same fate, the same pain, the same problems, the same conflict.  
>> Faced
>> with a common enemy in an elite global class that has already  
>> linked-up,
>> the people of the world have only one option: to unite and in a  
>> unified and
>> shared struggle overturn the rule of the capitalist elite, to  
>> ensure that
>> everyone enjoys the basic human rights of work, housing, health care,
>> education, and a secure old-age. But we must go further if we are to
>> realize shared prosperity and popular democracy in a new socialist  
>> world
>> historical framework, If we are to fully escape and neutralize the  
>> crises
>> and disasters that capitalism has brought the human race, and realize
>> harmonious social development.
>>
>> The great "Wall Street Revolution" and the great popular "Chilean  
>> Winter"
>> that preceded it signal that the day when we realize shared  
>> prosperity and
>> popular democracy is approaching. It signals that worldwide popular  
>> and
>> democratic socialist movement -- dormant since the 1970s -- is  
>> waking up
>> again. But this time, it will be the final battle to put capitalism  
>> in its
>> grave. The victory of popular democracy and death of elite rule are
>> inevitable! The embers of revolt are scattered amongst us all,  
>> waiting to
>> burn with the slightest breeze. The great era of popular democracy,  
>> set to
>> change history, has arrived again!
>>
>> Resolutely support the American people in the "Wall Street  
>> Revolution"!
>>
>> Resolutely support all street protests pushing for shared  
>> prosperity and
>> popular demoracy!
>>
>> Long live the "Wall Street Revolution"!
>>
>> Long live the global movement for popular democracy!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Joshua SOANS
> Executive Editor
> MedicinMan
>
> www.medicinman.net
> _________________________________________
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