Occupy DC activists think that the US government has been for sale long enough to war profiteers. Photo: takomabibelot via Flickr.
Ten years ago tomorrow, the longest war in U.S. history began. That’s ten years of missiles and bombs, ten years of kicking in doors and disappearing people, ten years of fighting and funding the Taliban, ten years of developing hatred of the United States, ten years of demolishing Afghanistan’s natural environment, and ten years of profiteering to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a day.
And there’s no end in sight.
That’s why I’m writing to you from Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., where thousands of us have just begun an occupation planned months ago and energized in recent weeks by our brothers and sisters at OccupyWallStreet. We’re bringing the occupation to the government that Wall Street corrupts — to the government that launches war without end. Corporate exploitation abroad depends on the threat of war. War funding depends on the defunding of human needs.
We aim to shift our public priorities. These are our goals:
- Tax the rich and corporations
- End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending
- Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and institute enhanced Medicare for All
- End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests
- Transition to a clean energy economy, reverse environmental degradation
- Protect worker rights including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages
- Get money out of politics
If you share this agenda, as most of the U.S. public does, join us: http://occupywashingtondc.org.
Whether you can join us or not, sign this statement of solidarity that I will read to the people occupying our nation’s capital night and day.
Forward this everywhere. Share it on Facebook. Tweet this tag: #oct6. Tell the mainstream media the seven goals above are easy to understand!
Cross-posted from the email list of Roots Action.
— David Swanson, Transition Voice
Watch Occupy DC activists protesting in front of the offices of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that helps large corporations write “model” legislation to promote their interests.
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