Why I Won't Be There

Over the past two days, I've featured several videos from prominent activists who have shared with us why they will be in Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC beginning on October 6. This protest is being pulled together by a coalition of individuals who have started the website, october2011.org.

Here is their call to action:

Stop the Machine! Create a New World!

October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions.

We call on people of conscience and courage — all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment — to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening.

A concert, rally and protest will kick off a powerful and sustained nonviolent resistance to the corporate criminals that dominate our government.

Forty-seven years ago, Mario Savio, an activist student at Berkeley, said, "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious — makes you so sick at heart — that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all."

Those words have an even greater urgency today. We face ongoing wars and massive socio-economic and environmental destruction perpetrated by a corporate empire which is oppressing, occupying and exploiting the world. We are on a fast track to making the planet unlivable while the middle class and poor people of our country are undergoing the most wrenching and profound economic crisis in 80 years.

"Stop the Machine! • Create a New World!" is a clarion call for all who are deeply concerned with injustice, militarism and environmental destruction to join in ending concentrated corporate power and taking direct control of a real participatory democracy. We will encourage a culture of resistance — using music, art, theater and direct nonviolent action — to take control of our country and our lives. It is about courageously resisting and stopping the corporate state from destroying not only our inherent rights and freedoms, but also our children’s chance to live, breathe clean air, drink pure water, grow edible natural food and live in peace.

As Mother Jones said, "Someday the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit!"

We are the ones who can create a new and just world. Our issues are connected. We are connected. Join us in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 6, 2011, to Stop the Machine.

While I think this is a stupendous idea, I won't be there. Anyone who has spent much of any time reading my posts on this blog should know why: I don't do crowds!

The very thought of being in a sea of people in large metropolitan area makes me feel sick. It is enough of a challenge for me to go to the grocery store in the middle of the day of the small town I live in -- that's why I tend to go shopping about 1 hour before they close.

Though I won't be there physically, I will be with the gathered emotionally. Something needs to be done in this country to give voice to the bottom 90% and I admire those who are willing to stand-up in place of social phobics like me.

Back in 1998, when I ran for governor in Oregon on the Socialist Party ticket, I kiddingly told a reporter I knew that I love humanity; it's just people I can't stand. Fortunately, he was a good sport and didn't print this eye-popping quote! He understood the gist of what I was saying. I care a lot about people...as long as they don't get too physically close to me. ;-)