Are you in favor of waging nonviolent class warfare for the 99%?

[Admiral Loinpresser]

Poll question: Are you in favor of waging nonviolent class warfare for the 99%?

Currently, the top five topics on the Greatest page on DU are related to class warfare.

On this website, to at least this extent, the #OccupyWallStreet movement is gaining attention. What do you think?

[Turbineguy]

1. Class warfare is a republican thing.

One of their fantasies. Like the War on Christmas.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

7. In FDR's administration

it was a Democratic thing (Social Security, SEC. etc.). Roosevelt said he welcomed the hatred of his class.

[Yon_Yonson]

21. ... and the war on drugs!

[ChillbertKChesterton]

2. One of the most crucial aspects of waging an effective class war is ideology

It's necessary to understand the ruling ideology that supports the system of power in place, while learning how to effectively undermine it.

This does not mean having a fancy set of charts and graphs. The ideological war is not one of "true facts vs illusions".

[leftstreet]

3. It might be more effective if working class people would stop warring on each other n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. "Divide and Conquer."

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. I would like to see the Occupy movement spread nationwide,

forcing change.

[NightWatcher]

6. Remove "nonviolent". They've got the $ but we've got the #'s

[Admiral Loinpresser]

16. John Lennon was asked about the song "Revolution."

His repeated use of the phrase "Count me out," in the refrain was punctuated by a single "Count me in!" in one recorded version of the song. When asked, he said he contradicted himself once in the song because of ambivalent impulses. But he made clear that on balance, he came down clearly on the side of nonviolence, perhaps for both pragmatic as well as ethical reasons.

[Nye Bevan]

23. So who are you planning to physically attack? (nt)

[Angry Dragon]

8. I am going to open a Torches and Pitchfork business

later adding a Mobile French Solution Cube Van
following it up with a R&RR









Rich and Republican Roast



:_evilGrin:

[dkf]

9. Does "no" mean you are for violent class warfare or no class warfare?

[Admiral Loinpresser]

12. "Other" for violence, "No" for no class warfare.

That's how I'd treat it if something other than "Yes" appealed to me.

[tama]

10. It seems

there are many DUers who think they are part of the 1% - judging by the votes and unrecs.

[durablend]

20. Hi Koch Brothers!

Nice that you came for a visit!

[tama]

24. Speaking to me? nt

[barbtries]

11. as far as i'm concerned

the 99% are not the aggressors in this war.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

14. I agree. But it hasn't always been so.

"We have just begun to fight."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nuElu-ipTQ

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Why have we bought into their "class warfare" slogan? It paints us as aggressors and them as victims

[Admiral Loinpresser]

15. Interesting point.

Is it advisable to attempt political judo on this RW meme? Hard to say, but I believe it is indeed class warfare, with individuals such as the Koch brothers, Richard Mellon Scaife and Wall Street lobbyists in the vanguard. Perhaps it is easier to embrace it and use the phrase to intimidate the elites, because it is the very phrase (besides "socialism") with which they attempt to intimidate liberal talking heads on TV.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. It absolutely is, with them as the aggressors, projecting their actions upon us

in hopes of belaying any possible response.

[hunter]

17. Yesss... yesss...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=9790419&mesg_id=9790419

[moondust]

19. Call it whatever you want.

When working and poor people do not stick together you get this:



http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/01/20/173738/report-incomes/

[BlueIris]

22. Class warfare is still warfare. To me, tactics affiliated with warfare are, well, wrong.

So, no, I don't want to use those tactics to try to achieve anything in my civilian life.

[white_wolf]

25. The other side is waging and they aren't going to stop.

So you can either fight back and have class warfare or do nothing and have class slaughter.

[tama]

26. It's war

by the ruling class to keep others as underclass. People can and do respond to the class war against them with nonviolent Satyagraha etc. tactics. Non-violent war against violent oppression is still warfare.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

27. I appreciate your sentiment.

Such an ethical position helps me to understand nonviolence better. But I think Garrison Keillor using the terminology of class war in the same context as the poll (i.e. the less common usage of the 99% unabashedly waging war) indicates that it will be more common and acceptable as this consciousness of the need for struggle grows.

[Chan790]

28. I'm an other.

There is no such thing as nonviolent class warfare. It's an illusion perpetrated by delusional proponents of non-violence. All struggle is violent and consistent with the aim of permanent disruption or dislocation of the status quo. The goals, functions and tactics of class warfare are antithetical to the core notion and principles of non-violence.

Do I support class warfare? Uncertain.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

29. Where do MLK and Ghandi fit

within the position you describe?

[Chan790]

30. External to class warfare. n/t

[Admiral Loinpresser]

32. I would like to follow up on King, if you don't mind

responding again. Wasn't MLK involved in worker strikes (e.g. when he was assassinated), in addition to the Jim Crow boycotts? He also spoke out about the need for resistance to Viet Nam policy. How would you define or describe the breadth of his work?

I'm not trying to debate but rather better understand your perspective.

[Chan790]

33. Activist for economic change.

There is nothing wrong with being an activist...most people at DU are activists. We should however not be conflating advocacy for economic justice with class warfare...they're not interchangeable terms, they're entirely different approaches to the same issue with entirely different foci, tactics, means, moralities & ends.

[LatteLibertine]

31. We've a bought Congress

Until we tackle that issue nothing is going to change in a meaningful way.

It needs to be discussed regularly. A good start would be demanding real campaign finance reform and term limits for Congress.

That would reduce cronyism and corruption.