I’m originally from Tunisia, the country that started a cascade of revolutions across the Arab world. When Tunisians protested on the streets, they had one simple demand, “Degage!” (“Get out!” in French). In two months they got rid of their 23-year dictator — despite the last speeches in which he offered Tunisians a lot of goodies. When Occupy Wall Street started a month ago, people didn’t have demands. They just chanted “we have had it.” That’s why it spread to over 50 cities across America, bringing together liberals and conservatives of all ages and colors. Now people in each city are starting to draft their list of demands, and that’s how this revolution will fall apart.
Last week, I joined the Facebook group “Occupy Eugene.” In a few days, the group reached over 1,500 members. I went to their first big public gathering, which hundreds attended under the rain. In a matter of minutes, everyone divided themselves into half a dozen committees and each committee divided itself into sub-committees. I never saw unified activists separating themselves so fast. It was the most effective self-destruction I’ve ever seen. A list of a dozen of our biggest problems needing to be fixed emerged: for-profit healthcare, endless wars, privatized military, crowded jails, deteriorating K-12, college loans, lack of green energy, outsourcing jobs, monopolized elections, corrupt politicians — the list goes on.
It was depressing because I’ve been there, done that. I have organized the following: a local Obama event to draft a “Blue Print for America,” a healthcare event to end the preventable deaths of 44,800 Americans every year (including 2,100 veterans), a 350.org event to kick off a green-energy revolution (all 50 states and over 150 countries participated every year), and a MoveOn.org event to “Rebuild the American Dream.”At each event, we came up with a list of demands and sent it to a central committee that combined demands from every city into one document to which we then sent to Congress and the President. Nothing got fixed because we kept avoiding the elephant in the room.
We need change we can live in, not “change we can believe in.” One person can not change a country. We won’t make a change if we have multiple demands, especially in this dysfunctional government. We need a constitutional amendment, but we won’t get it if we’re not united behind one idea. So is there one thing we can change that could solve most of our big problems? Is there a fundamental problem that’s common to all problems?
We now have an election system where the politician that raises the most money wins 94 percent of the time. That’s not democracy. We have to get our democracy back. The reason why we can’t boost the green-energy industry and create millions of new jobs is because our representatives take bribes from the oil and coal companies.
We have an economic crisis, and we can no longer afford to sit in front of the TV and watch our country collapse — even if you have a job because when our country falls, we all fall. Sending to jail the CEOs of the banks who bankrupted our country in 2008 may make us feel better, but it won’t solve our current or future problems.
We now live in a world of instant global communication, but Facebook and signing petitions and donating money won’t make a difference if we stay at home. We have a momentum going for the people, and we have to take advantage of this energy effectively by passing this constitutional amendment before the next election. So we have to unite to send one big message to Washington that will vibrate in every state and every city. Of course, we have to do this peacefully.
“When it gets down to having to use violence, then you’re playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you, pull your beard, flick your face, to make you fight, because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.” That’s patriotism. Thank you, John Lennon.
I have two little kids, and it breaks my heart to know that they’re living in a rich, free country that’s deteriorating every day. That’s not progress. We need to separate money and politics like we separated church and state. We’re running out of time. Take bribes out of politics, and there will be no more “bridges to nowhere.” Thank you to all the activists on the streets of America.
Mohamed Jemmali
Former University faculty