Your World is Calling, Again… It’s time for Your Encore!
In 1970, WWII vet and anti-Vietnam war protester, Howard Zinn, said:
“I start from the supposition that the world is all topsy-turvy; that things are all wrong. That the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail. That the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power; that the wealth is distributed in this country and the world in such a way as not simply to require a small reform but to require a drastic reallocation of wealth. I start from the supposition that we don’t have to say too much about this because all we have to do is think about the state of the world today and realize that things are all upside-down.”
“Now, if you don’t think, if you just listen to TV and read scholarly things, you actually begin to believe that things are not so bad or that just little things are wrong. But you have to get a little detached and then come back and look at the world and you are horrified.” (1)
Dr. Zinn said these words in the early 70s.
A lot has changed since then, don’t you agree? But, things have gone in the wrong direction.
Sadly, in fact, social inequities have actually gotten much worse. Today, in addition to the black segment of our society, as perceived in the 60s & 70s, the victims are everyone else, too, including the entire middle class — the 99%.
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In 2012, Matt Damon helped pay tribute to the late historian and author Howard Zinn. This rendition of a speech Zinn gave in 1970 on civil disobedience is one of his most powerful performances to date. It is still true... The Problem is Still Civil Obedience.
A recent Oxfam report (Jan 2014) found: almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population and that the wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population. (2)
Additionally, in Feb 2014, the Economic Policy Institute reported: “The average inflation-adjusted income of the bottom 99 percent of (U.S.) taxpayers grew by 18.9 percent between 1979 and 2007. Over the same period, the average income of the top 1 percent of taxpayers grew by 200.5 percent. This lopsided income growth means that the top 1 percent of taxpayers captured 53.9 percent of all income growth over the period.” (3)
So, what does that mean for us? Who cares who has what and how much, anyway?
Honestly, I never gave it all much thought until recently. I never worried much about wealth and all that. I just wanted to do my work, live my life and do the things I was most interested in doing. Riches and wealth… I had enough to do the things I wanted to do. So, I didn’t care.
But today, like back in the 60s and 70s, I am compelled to care… to open my eyes and see around me. Because, like the draft and the Vietnam War, I am personally and deeply involved, whether I want to be or not. Today, it's obvious that we must do something to make things right. And, we must do it NOW.
Dr. Zinn, continued, “Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders of their government… and millions have been killed because of this obedience… our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.”
“What we are trying to do, is really to get back to the principle and aims of the Declaration of Independence. This spirit is resistance to illegitimate authority and to forces that deprive people of their life and liberty and right to pursue happiness. And therefore under these conditions it urges the right to alter or abolish their current form of government… and the stress had been on abolish… But, to establish the principles of the Declaration of Independence, we are going to need to go outside the law. To stop obeying the laws that demand killing; that allocate wealth the way it’s been done; that put people in jail for petty, technical offences and keep other people out of jail for enormous crimes.”
“My hope is that this kind of spirit will take place not only in this country but in all counties, because they all need it. People in all countries need the spirit of disobedience to the state… which is not a metaphysical thing… but a thing of force and wealth. And, we need a kind of Declaration of Inter-Dependence among peoples of all countries of the world who are striving for the same thing.”
Do you feel as I do that it is time to take charge of your life? That it’s time for us to come up with an alternative plan to make things work the way they should work, for the benefit of all of us?
Together, we “the Boomers”, made the difference in the past.
Well, your world is calling you again. It is time for your encore.
In the U.S. it is now sadly clear that no matter who wins our elections certain individuals will subvert the resources of our nation to their own advantage and to the detriment of the majority. The Encore Boomer Movement's mission is to help ensure that our national resources are restored to the 99+% of the American people through local community grassroots organizations.
Joining is free and not limited to being a Boomer, either. Making the world a better place in which to live requires a dedicated, multi-generational team working day- by-day. No matter your age, YOU have a critically important role waiting for you. Why? The answer is a simple as it is Boomer… YOU will be creating your own part. See below for more About the Encoreboomer Movement and how our plan is different form social change plans / revolutions / revolts of the past, how it is Global / Localism, workable and entirely in your control.
Your world is calling you again. It is time for your encore.
Sources
(1) Howard Zinn, Boston Common, 5 May1971
(2) 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper – Summary, Working for the Few, Political capture and economic inequality, Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva, Head of Research, Oxfam GB; Nicholas Galasso, Research and Policy Advisor, Oxfam America, 20 Jan 2014. Go here to visit the website or here for a PDF of the report summary or the full report.
(3) The Increasingly Unequal States of America Income Inequality by State, 1917 to 2011, Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price, The Economic Policy Institute, 19 Feb 2014. Go here for the web version of the report or here for a PDF.
Go here for more about the Encore Boomer Movement.
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