CALL FOR A GENERAL STRIKE WITH A PURPOSE!

There is the beginnings of a call on Progessive blogs for a general strike across this nation, like the ones in European countries to bring their governments back under the control of the people.  General strikes are good only when they serve a purpose, and in this nation of corporate controls of government and economics, we would achieve very little if all we did was strike.  So I am suggesting that we strike with a purpose: to reclaim our communities and that which makes us strong at the community level – our education systems.

To that end I am proposing the following:

“I believe that education is the answer, and not the kind currently being provided through charter schools or a public schools.  A general strike where people actually had something to rally around – say better education for our children and our future – not just disagreement with our government might actually make people more willing to create the environment where such a strike could happen.  Perhaps that is where we need to focus our attention:  give the people a reason to strike, or better yet, a purpose to work for in the future.

We spend a fortune in stores like Wal-Mart or on gas from companies like BP or Exxon or Shell everyday in this country.  Why not combine a general strike with community fund raising where people donate the equivalent of one tank of gas or one purchase from a Wal-Mart to community funds for localized educational control or energy independence or localize food production or some other project that would support the needs of the community self-reliance?  Take the money out of the pockets of the corporations and put it into our communities instead!”

From my letter to Ms. Peggy Lang on June 16, 2010 after she wrote me about the idea of a general strike at  http://www.letfreedomring.community.officelive.com.  She inspired me as I wrote back to her.

Call a strike for the month of September in your communities – not just one day, but for the whole month. Only one day will not be effective – they can make up those kinds of losses in a matter of days.  Do it through posters, flyers, letters to the Editors of your local papers, get your local radio stations behind it, knock on doors of your neighbors, and get every friend, family member, co-worker to work with you.  Call on the trucks to stop and the unions to shut down their industries, unless of course, they are emergency responders and government services that help the people.  SHUT THIS COUNTRY DOWN FOR ONE MONTH! I know that in these hard economic times that this is a real risk – but it sometimes comes down to the matter of risk taken now or consequences for the future where the status quo will leave us poorer, more ignorant, and without leadership or the quality of life we want for our children.

Save for the necessities of your family for September for the next two months – rent/mortgage money, grow a garden for food, buy extra food (fill the freezer, stock the shelves gradually), cover a month’s utilities, other monthly bills, get your neighbors to work together to support each other for that month.  Make plans on how to support each other, start working together to create neighbor groups that can develop plans for your neighborhood and your communities to do this every September.  Save your vacation time to help cover your expenses, and take your vacation as part of the strike time.  I believe we can do this if we really want to – and our children need us to do this now for their futures!

Spend September working with your children and your schools to develop plans to recreate the public school systems in your communities – ones based on actually teaching children to think and to act in the service of their communities and in balance with the needs of nature.  See what your children are doing and not doing in their schools and then work to create real change. Spend September working with and getting to know your neighbors.  Spend time talking and planning for how you will all work to create better communities and being supportive of each other!  It is necessary and imperative that we once again reconnect.

Disconnect your televisions and computers for a month and start communicating with each other – if we do not we will never create the necessary changes we need to create now.  Go outside and spend the month reconnecting with the real world – start now if you must wean yourself off of the the electronic umbilical cords that are strangling this nation.  Take your children with you.  Plant that garden in your yard and in your public places.  Hike and help your children learn about what is important in this world and in nature so that they can understand why we need to preserve it.  Even if you live in large cities, trips to the parks and zoos are possible.  Do it now, or do not complain when you realize that you missed the opportunity and we all pay the price in the future.

Then donate the equivalent of one tank of gas for your vehicle (or vehicles) to a community education fund, and do this every week.  Put that fund to work creating a new kind of school system that will make our children leaders of this country based on real democratic values, knowledge, critical thinking skills, and community service.  Read the Every Child Wins plan under the Common Sense Initiative School link at

<a href=”http://www.letfreedomring.community.officelive.com”>Let Freedom Ring Community</a> for an idea of how to structure your new schools. Start rebuilding our communities – your communities – by working together and creating new leadership goals.

Use every September to strike until your country is yours again.