A time to be jolly

When you lose your fear you lose your fear

A friend mentioned to me this morning that a friend of his thought I was too optimistic. I thought a bit about this and why what is happening around the world and in Madison and other areas makes me feel so upbeat.

We might ask ourselves: Why hasn't the state told the cops to drive the people out of the rotunda in Madison?  Why haven't they yet called the troops in and driven them out?  It's not because they're mostly white, or mostly Protestant or because there are women there or children present.  It's none of these things. This is not to say that it's not easier for the state to kill black folks than whites for example, we aren't all treated equally in this society, we know that.

But the point is that if they could, they would do so.  When their interests are threatened they have no qualms about killing or harming people, white people, black people, children.  The US executes children and has two million people in prison; more than any other country. The forces we are up against here are the forces that have bombed weddings in the course of safeguarding their interests.  They have killed women and children and civilians indiscriminately. They poured dioxin over Vietnamese people that fought for the right to self determination and poured it over their own troops as well. The US capitalist class are a ruthless bunch.

The reason they haven't done this is because they are afraid of the working class.  They are afraid of the US working class.  What is also important is that they are afraid more than usual of the global working class.  The folks in Wisconsin for example have received lots of support from around the world, not to mention Egypt. They only call it class struggle when we fight back.

No, what we have witnessed and what is crucial for us to recognize, is that we have seen a global shift in the balance of class forces in favor of the global working class. We have seen what were thought to be entrenched dictators propped up by the imperialist countries, the US in particular, be driven out of office.  We have seen a major popular uprising of workers, youth and the middle class on two continents. If you haven't seen those pictures on Al Jazeera of women and the revolution you should check them out.  Women have played an incredible role in the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.  Headscarves didn't hold these women back.

We must not think for one minute that the few thousand unelected  people that make the decisions in the US are not watching what is happening among the workers of the world and in caucus every minute of the day discussing what strategy to take

There's no doubt this has cowered the US capitalists and their imperial ambitions  for a bit. It has shaken them. It has strengthened us workers  in relation to them. It has made the world a little smaller which is especially good for U.S. workers as we are among the most isolated in that way given that the US mass media is the most controlled and censored in the advanced capitalist countries. We are the first victims of the ideological warfare US capitalism wages against workers.

The Bill Gates' Warren Buffet's Carlos Slims and George Bush's of this world are not sleeping so well these days.  Not that the balance can't shift back the other way if we don't seize the time as they say; leadership is crucial in determining that.

But things will not be the same regardless.  Why would we not be optimistic in times like these?