Make Revolution Not War
The intent of this page is to explore how Portlandians might work towards focusing and strengthening economic investment at the regional (Cascadian), local (Portland metro) and even neighborhood level while doing everything possible to reduce entanglements with the most pernicious elements of the global economy. For well over three decades policy makers have subjected Americans, most Europeans and others to a relentless and sustained propaganda assault promoting a particular form of neoliberal, globalized "free market."[1] According to the sales pitch, handing over the keys to the global economy to a relative handful of society's most aggressive, acquisitive and profit-motivated "wealth creators" would not only allow them to enrich themselves, but allow them to trickle a steady stream of that wealth down onto the rest of us. In reality, the wealth gusher flowed out of nearly everyone's pockets and into the coffers of a tiny elite.
Getting Started
OK. So everything's screwed. What can we do?
Perhaps the most important starting point is to inform yourself. Arming yourself with at least a basic understanding of why the dominant political and economic structures of our society are only marginally functional (at best) for most of us is a potentially valuable touchstone you can use to keep yourself mentally and emotionally oriented.
Trickle-Down Slavery
In his book, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy,[2] author Kevin Bales defines slavery as "a relationship in which one person is controlled by violence through violence, the threat of violence, or psychological coercion, has lost free will and free movement, is exploited economically, and paid nothing beyond subsistence."[3] Using this measurement, Bales estimates that "more than twenty-seven million people are still trapped in one of history's oldest social institutions." His investigations reveal how this "new slavery," producing $13 billion in goods and services, "is inextricably linked to the global economy."[4]
Community Resources
- The devastation of foreclosure; what can be done (Audio | 55:37 minutes) (More Talk Radio hosts Cecil Prescod speaks with Nancie Koerber from Good Grief America. Housing was the vehicle that Wall Street used to drain the life out of America. The result has caused record unemployment, foreclosures, homelessness and the unweaving of our community fiber. All linked to this issue are increased suicides, divorces, bankruptcies, and small business failure. Our community services such as food stamps, unemployment, foster care, homeless shelters and many others are over burdened and unable to meet the needs of struggling families.)
- "Working to empower the houseless and disenfranchised, and to oppose abuses of power by government."
External Links
Energy
Finance
- Oregonians for a State Bank
- Abusive Offshore Tax Avoidance Schemes - Glossary of Offshore Terms
- The truth about tax havens | The truth about tax havens: part 2
- Rogue Economics Undermines World Justice