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CounterPunch
September
2, 2002
A Labor Day
Antidote to Apathy
by Philip Farruggio
The American Heritage dictionary definition of
apathy "lack of emotion or feeling; indifference".
Since the early 70's, Americans have, to a great extent, given
up on mass activism. The last great "motivating factor"
was the Vietnam War, a.k.a. "police action".
When men like my father, a staunch (bite
my tongue) Goldwater Republican, came out in 1969 to oppose the
war, the "elites" were in trouble. Millions of Americans
a) signed petitions, b) attended rallies, c) wrote letters to
Congresspeople, and generally made it known that they would not
vote for politicians who supported the war. They demanded: "Bring
our boys home, now!"
If one researches the many progressive
books about the Vietnam era, one realizes the "elites' were
not ready in '71, '72 or '73, to end the war and withdraw our
soldiers and military hardware. No, they were making too much
money because of Vietnam. Someone wrote that each time a "Huey
helicopter" went down it meant $1 million more for the manufacturer.
Think of 500,000 soldiers, each needing a gun and ammo, clothing
and food. Factor in the myriad of jeeps and tanks and "look,
up there in the sky, its not a bird, its not Superman, its a
US fighter or bomber dropping million dollar bombs!" The
adage "War is hell" only tells the soldiers story.
For the defense industry, War is Money!
Listening to the radio news the other
day, I heard a fascinating (and troubling) story. It seems that
many Disney fanatics were up in arms when Disney planned to do
away with a certain decades old ride. Many of these "20
and 30 something's" formed a group, something like "friends
of the ride" and organized a protest. They demonstrated
and sent e-mail's, letters and phone calls to Disney- finally
they "saved the ride"! Are you listening to this, dear
America? The same 20 and 30 year olds who very likely: a) have
inadequate or no health coverage, b) attended schools that allowed
junk food producers to legally brainwash and addict them, and
c) who work dead-end jobs for companies that are laying off thousands
while the CEOs make millions- these people chose to (finally)
become "activists" over some stupid Disney (of all
corporations) ride!
According to United for a Fair Economy:
"CEOs of 23 large corporations under investigation for accounting
irregularities earned 70% more (from 1999-2001) than the average
CEO at large companies." These CEOs under question, by the
way, earned an average of $62 million from 1999-2001. That's
a lot of "rides" at Disney, wouldn't you say? Now,
while this "greed is good" was occurring, and those
"Disney activists" were demonstrating for their ride,
the aforementioned corporations laid off a total of 162,000 workers
since 2001. Tyco corp. laid off 18,000 workers in that time period,
while CEO Dennis Kozlowski made $331 million from '99-'01. Plus,
Tyco gave him over $135 million for "luxury living'. Of
course, since these scandals broke, good old Dennis "resigned
in disgrace", a little "super wealthier" as well
(easing those late night feelings of guilt).
Here's the deal: most couples and single
parents get up each morning and "punch out" those 8
or 9 hours, then run home to pick up the kid(s) at daycare or
the school, prepare dinner, clean the dishes and the kids (if
youngsters) and maybe get 2 hours at the boob tube or computer
terminal. Weekends are spent: a) maintaining the house (if lucky
enough to own one), being a good parent to the children and/or
c) holding down that 2nd job to help pay that mortgage or car
loan(ever realize how many of those "SUVs" are owned
by banks and not people?). How in the heck can we progressives
out there expect such "over burdened" working folk
to become activists?
Well, we cannot.
What we can do is implore those of us
who do have spare time to "get mad as hell and ...".
We can sit down with our working neighbors and discuss: "is
this right what is going on?" Then we need to unite as Consumers
- that is our common denominator! Not as Greens or Republicans,
Dems or Libertarians etc...- as Consumers. In reality, unless
one is earning millions per year, we all do have one common enemy
(okay call it "adversary", you get my drift) and that
is the "elites", the super rich who run this economy,
who run this world. As Consumers, we can join together and ;
a) harrass their "paid for politicians', b) boycott their
companies and their products, and c) embarrass them publicly.
Let's take the case of Bovine Growth
Hormone (BGH). Since 1993 U.S. dairies have been allowed (by
the FDA) to inject BGH into cows for increased milk production.
Scientists internationally have found cause to object to this
Monsanto Corp. product. So much so, that in Europe and in Canada
BGH is not allowed - apparently those countries think more of
their cows and their humans.
BGH can cause Mastitis (udder infection)
in cows, which usually must be treated with antibiotics - the
same ones used on humans. So, little Johnny and Jan are given
milk from cows conceivably "pumped" with mega-strength
antibiotics! Monsanto wasn't just content with being able to
sell a product not allowed in Europe - it sued two U.S. dairies
who had the nerve to label its milk "BGH free"!
If consumers rallied together and boycotted
selected dairy products, even briefly, until such time as laws
were passed either a) banning BGH or b) temporarily mandating
the labeling of all products containing BGH milk - what would
occur? Imagine tens of thousands, millions of us refusing to
purchase certain products until and unless.......?
It is so easy to do. We simply organize
"Consumer Action Networks" a.k.a. CAN and start meeting
at libraries or any place that offers free space. We meet once
a week, or once a month, free of any party affiliations, not
allowing any political posturing at these meetings- just consumers
discussing and voting on what issues to address first and how.
This writer has his own "key issues" list. To me, Clean
Election Laws are the only hope for allowing more "average
citizens" into the mix, by getting private monies out (Maine
did this in 1996 and it is working). In states like my own (Florida)
with no state income tax, a law creating a small income surtax
of 2-3% for large corporations and rich individuals (earning
millions a year) should be demanded. These revenues would be
used to improve our schools, our roads, mass transit, and increase
the pay of our teachers, firemen and police- without costing
the majority of our working and middle class one extra penny
in taxes! Imagine if your local statehouse rep starts getting
20 or 30 then 50 then 100, 200 calls, faxes and e-mails demanding
action on these 2 issues, or else! "Or else means we will
not vote for your re-election, or election to any office you
shall seek". If mainstream candidates refuse to back these
issues, then the Consumer Action Network could choose sympathetic
people to run against them. .
We must now realize, that white, black
or brown and yellow, whether we call ourselves working class
or middle class, or downright poor- we are all in the same boat,
and it is sinking. The times demand that each of us go those
extra steps, echoing Confucius: "You succeeded because you
tried again" - wake up American workers and get involved!
Philip Farruggio,
son of a longshoreman, is "Blue Collar Brooklyn" born,
raised and educated (Brooklyn College, Class of '74). A former
progressive talk show host, Philip runs a mfg. rep. business
and writes for many publications. He lives in Port Orange, FL.
You can contact Mr. Farruggio at e-mail: brooklynphilly@aol.com.
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September
1, 2002
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