Who Should Resist, and Who Will Become Serfs?

[bridgit]

America is devolving into a third-world nation. And if we do not immediately halt our elite's rapacious looting of the public treasury we will be left with trillions in debts, which can never be repaid, and widespread human misery which we will be helpless to ameliorate. Our anemic democracy will be replaced with a robust national police state. The elite will withdraw into heavily guarded gated communities where they will have access to security, goods and services that cannot be afforded by the rest of us. Tens of millions of people, brutally controlled, will live in perpetual poverty. This is the inevitable result of unchecked corporate capitalism. The stimulus and bailout plans are not about saving us. They are about saving them. We can resist, which means street protests, disruptions of the system and demonstrations, or become serfs.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/135414/who_should_resist%2C_and_who_will_become_serfs

[redqueen]

1. I think groups like this are likely more effective

than street protests and disruptions of the system.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/135390/fast-rising_protest_group_challenges_the_outrageous_power_of_the_bankers

[tama]

2. Land belongs to all

that belong to land. A hectare per human, of which 5 ares cultivated, is more than enough to live sustainably, live well.

But as long as the ideology of private property and control over land and nature prevails and/or is accepted, it's back to feodalism where many will be serfs and few masters.

[county worker]

3. How much land do you own now?

[bridgit]

4. Yes, a first offering came out of Berkeley some years back: Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook

for Small Farm Management http://www.livingoffgrid.org/five-acres-and-independence-book-review

[pnutbutr]

5. I thnk tama

was suggesting something a bit different. Something closer to making all land public property.

[bridgit]

7. That's likely less to happen, but when in then event 5 acres befalls one...

that is a good book to reference to lay sustainable alternatives out front where they belong. Inner city people, as a for instance, may go years without ever seeing the countryside; but they are able to pull together in-city lots and such and still apply those principles to community gardens...stuff like that

[tama]

8. 5 ares, not acres.

One acre is about 40 ares (0,4 hectares). 5 ares (0,01 acres) of garden plot, together with some wild (commons) land gathering mushrooms, berries etc. gifts of wilderness and fishing and wood for various uses (heating, tool-making etc.) is enough for food, clothes and shelter for a self sufficient grownup in Northern Finland, working about four hours a day. Proven in practice by a countryman who lives like that (a self-educated city dweller to begin with!), good to know really basic stuff like this.

As the saying goes, there is enough for the needs of all, but not enough for all the greed.

[bridgit]

11. The first item mentioned in the book is to get rid of domesticated animals...

The 5 'acre' model accommodates aqua culture as well as other green, renewable and sustainable options. But even at .5 acre most people will either not see it or find themselves on a parcel that is somehow less or un-workable which is why it many times comes down to people pooling their resources together.

[tama]

17. Good thumb rule

but not to be taken as God's Word (rid of domesticated animals). (Goat and lamb) milk, hair (wool), leather are nice even if vegetarian and so is their manure, especially for heated beds. Cats to keep mice at bay etc. We've shared and mixed our lives closely with so many species, both animal and plants, I've come to think that is actually our most human trait, the human speciality of exceptional talent for symbiotic coevolution with great variety of other species.

[hfojvt]

6. fortunately, there are many tea parties one can join

to protest against our impending doom

[deutsey]

9. Some nice freeperisms in one of the responses

"the ones whom blindly follow this administration like lemons"

"...the Starts and stripes are under attack"

The person writing this sounds like he or she isn't a Freeper, but their command of cliches are certainly freeperistic.

[Uzybone]

10. I said when this screed was posted on DU the first time

change some words and it could easily pass for a KKK/militia document.

[truedelphi]

13. And why is that the case?

The more fascistic groups out there are often responses to the utter bankruptcy of a political situation.

And those who think carefully and deeply about economic issues see that. Although if you read the KKK, they usually have pages describing how necessary it will be to have the people of color and the Catholics and Jews hanging from lamposts. I don't think you'll find AlterNet heading down that path any time soon.

You had the rise of the Brown Shirts in Germany precisely because the Allies forced the Germans to bear the full cost of World War One -a cost which would have effectively bankrupted the country until 1983.

Now, our Executive Branch in collusion with Wall Streets interests is doing a similar thing. We are not paying reparations for a war, but rather are simply offering the economy on a platter to Wall Street interests.

If what was good for Goldman Sachs was good for our nation, then everything would be fine. But the Goldman Sachs executives will believing in some paradisaical Shangri La when the real shit hits the fan here.

[formercia]

12. Proud to be a serf

Perhaps, some day, I can hang ten and make my ink.

[bridgit]

15. Serf's Up!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhKFTqxn6qs

[formercia]

16. I could feel the wind in the tube

you could see it ripple the wave surface. That's some crazy shit.

[Beetwasher]

14. As Long As I Get To Be Poppa Smurf

n/t