Things really are far worse than they were in 1968.
Our primary direct action power, at this time, lies in not giving the shitheads our power. They need to control us in order to control us, they need us to run their unequal, unjust profit system in order for them to maintain and increase their power.
The way for us to manifest our power is to simply not participate in their game. I see organizing and engaging in a massive general strike and boycott, and flash protests as our only real option for bringing about change at this point. If we are simply staying home, not buying anything, not driving, not buying anything, not paying any bills, not participating in the system at all, we can collapse it. The billionaires will rapidly lose billions of dollars. The system will collapse, and there will have to be a plan in place that will enable the 99% to survive tolerably until our demands and goals are met.
When I was participating in Occupy actions, it occurred to me that the major flaw in sustaining our action was exposing ourselves to police brutality, and that eventually this brutality would force us out of the parks and off the streets. And naturally, it did. it's not rocket science, there simply are not enough people in the US who are willing to risk getting beaten up and imprisoned to support and sustain a non-violent movement that is countered by authorities who can commit acts of violence against protesters with impunity.
We tried to shut down the ports on the west coast, but by that time the media had perfected its propaganda attack brainwashing of the general public, and they successfully turned public opinion against us at this time. Here at DU, the mouthpieces for the status quo were busy denouncing us, in every way possible, day after day. This is something we will have to deal with if we organize, and act.
However, if we are simply staying home and shut down the talking heads, taking some extended family holiday time as a form of protest and non-violent resistance, it would be quite a while before the 1% owned government mandated that the police could legally force us out of our homes and go back to work. By the time they got to that point, terminal damage would already be done to the system.
If we could sustain the strike/boycott long enough, the PTB would be forced into negotiation long before things got to the point where the police would be forcibly taking people from their homes, and forcing them to go back to work.
Two weeks of a focused, dedicated, truly massive general strike and boycott would collapse the markets. The overall effect on the economy would be devastating; we would have to have some type of hopefully workable plan in place in order to ensure continuity of supply lines after transition. If necessary, the 99% might have to assume control of the factors and means of production. etc. Drastic, necessary, critical change will require pain and sacrifice at first; there's no way around this.
A non-violent revolution of this nature would take long term careful planning,critical mass support, massive numbers of participants, and dedicated organizers.
I believe you are correct, starting to organize now is what will make non-violent revolution successful when circumstances deteriorate to the point where enough people realize, and are done with, putting up with having no other options for ending the corruption, injustice, inequality, and oppression that is imposed upon them by the PTB with impunity.
This is a simple idea for developing complex plan. If anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it. Whatever the case, it is crystal clear that things must change, because our government is publicly supporting torture with impunity, and the torturers are practically bragging about their accomplishments in the torture arena on public television nationwide.
And not only have our leaders not taken any action whatsoever to punish the ghouls who sanction and commit acts of torture, they make excuses for them similar to justifications such as "they were just doing their job".
Organization.
On January 1, 1994, the NAFTA free trade agreement entered Mexico with vigor, promising foreign investment and economic prosperity at the expense of the plunder of natural resources. NAFTA is largely credited for flooding the Mexican market with subsidized corn from the United States, which decimated farmers' livelihoods and provoked massive migration to the United States. Two years prior to NAFTA's implementation, former President Carlos Salinas opened the floodgates to land privatization by reforming Article 27, which had protected communally owned land known as ejidos, created during the Mexican revolution. Thus, the introduction of NAFTA provided the perfect context for the uprising of the indigenous guerillas who formed the EZLN.
However, the 1994 uprising was not a spontaneous endeavor. Twenty years before, Marxist-inspired guerillas arrived in the Lacandon jungle in Chiapas to unite with members of marginalized indigenous communities. In 1983, they formally created the EZLN. They drew inspiration from Emiliano Zapata, who fought in the Mexican revolution in the early 20th century, declaring that the land belonged to those who worked it. Continuing his revolutionary tradition, the EZLN rebelled to demand work, land, shelter, food, health, education, independence, democracy, freedom, justice and peace for all the Mexican people. Their ideas rapidly gained traction as a confluence of indigenous cosmo-vision, Marxist philosophy and progressive theological thought to counter dispossession and poverty. The EZLN germinated the seed of "Ya Basta - Enough Already!"
Chiapas, is rich in flora and fauna, containing between 50 and 80 percent of Mexico's biodiversity, water reserves and mineral resources. However, the richness of natural resources has never translated into prosperity for the population, especially the indigenous people who often live in extreme poverty in marginalized communities. It is estimated that 40 percent of the state's population speak an indigenous language, and the EZLN is composed of Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol and Tojolabal communities. The Zapatistas denounced their marginalization in the first declaration of the Lacandon Jungle: "We have been denied the most elemental preparation so they can use us as cannon fodder and pillage the wealth of our country. They don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education."
In the communiqué released by the Zapatistas to celebrate the 20th anniversary, Subcomandante Marcos described the motivations that prompted their rebellion: "It was not the struggle to survive, but a sense of duty that put us here, for better or for worse. It was the necessity to do something in the face of millennial injustice, the indignation we felt was the most overwhelming characteristic of humanity."
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/21427-from-fire-to-autonomy-zapatistas-20-years-of-walking-slowly
"The global power of the financial centers is so great, that they can afford not to worry about the political tendency of those who hold power in a nation, if the economic program (in other words, the role that nation has in the global economic megaprogram) remains unaltered. The financial disciplines impose themselves upon the different colors of the world political spectrum in regards to the government of any nation. The great world power can tolerate a leftist government in any part of the world, as long as the government does not take measures that go against the needs of the world financial centers. But in no way will it tolerate that an alternative economic, political and social organization consolidate. For the megapolitics, the national politics are dwarfed and submit to the dictates of the financial centers. It will be this way until the dwarfs rebel . . " ~ Marcos
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