Ralph Nader / Common
Dreams
NOV 08, 2019 OPINION
Around the world people are
marching, rallying, and demonstrating in huge numbers. Some of these countries
are ruled by dictators or plutocratic regimes, others are considered
democracies. Despite the peril of protest, people are seeking justice, freedom,
and decent livelihoods.
Many boast about the United
States being the oldest democracy in the world. While there are some street
protests in the US, they are sadly too few and far between. Rallies calling
attention to climate disruption have received less public support and media attention
than they deserve. Likewise, the Parkland rally in Washington, D.C., against
gun violence could have received more follow up publicity. And we all remember
the massive women’s march the day after Trump was inaugurated in Washington,
D.C. The subsequent women’s marches have attracted smaller crowds and therefore
less media coverage.
It is not as if our country
doesn’t have a historic tradition of sustained demonstrations. Mass protests
have carried the labor movement, the farmer movement, the civil rights
movement, and the anti-war movement to breakthroughs. These mass protests alone
were not the sole drivers of political action—books, articles, editorials,
pamphlets, posters, and litigation were essential. But visible displays of
aggregated people power had a profound effect on those politicians’ actions.
When politicians put their fingers to the wind, the repeated rumble from the
masses is what fills the sails of change.
It is not as if mass
injustices are absent in the “land of the free, home of the brave.” Sadly, the
informed populace is just not showing up in an organized, big crowd fashion—the
way they did to challenge the nuclear arms race and nuclear power in the nineteen
seventies and eighties. In the era of the iPhone and Internet, activists have
greater access to organizing tools than ever—no postage stamps or costly
long-distance telephone calls are needed.
Consider these candidates for
mass demonstrations proximate to where the decision makers are located.
Millions of young people are being gouged by student loan creditors and
for-profit colleges. Whether it is the U.S. Department of Education’s high
interest rates or the exploitation by for-profit universities, the abuses are
outrageous, cruel, and in the latter case, often criminal.
Total outstanding student
loans amount to over $1.5 trillion. These burdened young Americans know how to
contact each other for free; they also can raise money instantly using new crowdfunding
technology. They know how to use the visual arts and the verbal arts. Congress
can reverse the predatory practices in higher education. Where is the advocacy
from millions of student loan debtors? They could have a huge impact if they
surrounded the Capitol or held smaller rallies around Congressional offices
back home, especially in the coming election year.
Millions of workers are
making, inflation adjusted, less than workers made in 1968. The federal minimum
wage, frozen at $7.25, is the culprit. The House of Representatives finally
bestirred itself to pass a $15 minimum wage stretched over a number of years.
But when the Walmart-indentured members of the Senate look out their windows,
it would be nice to see masses of workers surrounding their Senate offices,
prior to some insistent personal lobbying?
There are no labor mass
rallies in front of Trump’s anti-labor White House either, even though, the
headquarters of the AFL-CIO are just yards away on 16th Street NW. The
face-off of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka v. Donald Trump is overdue.
Millions of minorities are
suffering voter suppression. Civil rights leaders are angry. They anticipate
Republicans at the state and federal level to again erect all kinds of
insidious roadblocks that disproportionately affect people of color the most.
Abuses in the Florida and Georgia races were rampant in 2018. Presidential
races in swing states are also plagued by voter suppression tactics. All signs
point to a more intrusive stripping of eligible voters in the 2020 election.
Where are the marches before
the offices of the state secretary of state and culpable legislators and
Governors headquarters?
A quarter of our country’s
families are poor. A Poor People’s Campaign, led by the Reverend William Barber
and local pastors, has been protesting in the streets in North Carolina and
other states. Their protests deserve far greater attendance. The media has
given them too little coverage. But if there were massive demonstrations in
major cities and before state legislatures and the Congress, with coordinated
demands and large photographs of key politicians fronting for the rich and
powerful, will get mass media coverage.
Tens of millions of Americans
have no health insurance or are severely underinsured. Thousands of lives are
lost annually as a result. This is a problem in America but not other developed
nations that have systems in place that prioritize their citizens’ health.
Getting sick or injured without medical care is far too frequent in the U.S.
Those who suffer from this deprivation can be motivated to take to the streets.
The health care industry’s soaring profits and their mega-rich bosses should
move additional Americans to rally for Medicare-for-All!
These rallies can be led by
physicians and nurses, tired of the paperwork, the bureaucracy, and the health
insurance companies denying access to health care for their patients and
arbitrarily rejecting doctor-recommended treatments.
In the nineteen forties,
President Harry Truman proposed to Congress universal health insurance.
Americans still do not have Medicare-for-All and are paying the highest prices,
premiums, and out of pocket bills in the world—not to mention the human
suffering caused by an inadequate healthcare system.
What a great street story for
television, radio, and print newspapers! Think of the tragic human interest
stories, straight from the heart by mothers and fathers with children having
limited or no access to health care.
Other marches can come from
the homeless and the desperate tenants spending over half their income on rent
in the many communities where there is a shortage of affordable housing.
All these mass turnouts can
pass contribution buckets or tout websites and raise money from the crowds for
the next round of even larger protests. At each event, a list of demands can be
presented to decision-makers. At each event, protestors can go to the offices
where the decision-makers are or insist that these lawmakers speak to the
assembled protestors.
There are many innovations to
make these action rallies more impactful, more motivating, and more
mass-media-centric. There also have to be some enlightened billionaires,
worried about their country and their descendants, who want to provide the
modest amount of money necessary for event organizers and focused political
action. Show up America!
