OWS movement and the struggle for consciousness.

It is correctly said that the struggle to change society is the struggle for the consciousness of the working class. The corporate elite want to keep the working class believing there is no alternative to capitalism and people like the organizers of this blog wish to convince the working class that socialism is a better alternative and also possible. This struggle goes on non stop. In the US the corporate or capitalist propaganda has the extra twist where the corporate elite say that the US is the "greatest country in the world."

I used to have a work mate who always said the US was the best country in the world. He was an auto mechanic. I used to ask him if somebody tried to sell him a car and told him it was the greatest car in the world would he not be justified in saying that he would like to see some other cars to make a comparison. My work mate had never been out of the US and was proud of this. He refused to face up to the fact he had no basis on which to make a comparison and come to a judgement. As a result he did not have much of an answer to my question.

Just last week in the New York Times there was an article comparing the different living conditions in different countries. It was based on the report: "Social Justice in the OECD - How do the member states compare?" The OECD is the 31 member organization the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This groups the top 31 most economically strong countries together. Here is how the US shaped up in the comparisons.

In overall "Social Justice rating" the US was fifth from the bottom. In overall "Poverty Prevention rating" the US was fifth from the bottom. In overall "Poverty Rate" and in "Child Poverty Rate the US was also fifth from the bottom. In "Income Inequality" the US was also fifth from the bottom. Yes the greatest country in the world alright.

Think about the massive propaganda machine that is necessary in the US to sell the lie to the working class that this is the greatest country in the world. From the capitalist mass media and its extreme censorship, to the education system with its capitalist ideology, to the fact that the only mass parties are completely wedded to the capitalist system and no mass workers or socialist party exists.

The OWS movement is cracking open the lying propaganda that exists that this is the best country in the world and that there is no alternative to capitalism. For a Democratic socialist alternative, this is what is possible and necessary.

Remember keep the struggle to Free Bradley Manning at the center of the OWS movement.

Sean.