My
first node in E2, just a couple of days ago, was about the
General Strike in the USA on September 11, 2007. This call will be probably less relevant than their promoters wish, but not so irrelevant as some naysayers predict. We will see this soon enough, so I guess it's not worth arguing about it. It definitely won't be a be-all, end-all solution to any problem: nor to the
occupation of Iraq, nor to the
war drumming for the invasion of
Iran, nor to
corporate manipulation or
governmental deceit. I think
everybody agrees on this.
However, it might be the start of a movement. Indeed, there is a number of other related actions in the following weeks: A solidarity protest in New Zealand, the same day (here), a March on Washington on September 15, 2007 (here),
a General Strike for Peace on September 21, 2007, with echos on October 19, November 16, and December 21 and 22 (here), an Encampment in Front of Congress to STOP the War ending with a National March on Washington on September 29, 2007 (here), a Call in Sick (of War) Day on October 26 (here and here), and a series of protests the third Friday of every month starting on Friday September 21, 2007 (here). Probably there are many more, smaller gatherings and protests being planned.
With the president itself finally starting to admit that there are some analogies between this mess and a previous mess (specifically: that it was also wrong to leave Vietnam), could be this, as a whole, be globally relevant? Probably it could. But what matters more to me is: could this be relevant to the state of the democracy in the United States, to the civic liberties of American citizens, to the power of grassroots movements? Could this be a step towards a limit in the abuses of politicians and corporations? I sure hope so.