"these goddamned newspapers!"

Chris Hedges, columnist bij het fantastische TruthDig.com, bracht deze week een zeer lezenswaardig interview met Ralph Nader, de Amerikaanse activist en herhaaldelijk presidentskandidaat. Enkele rake passages:

"The more outrageous the Republicans become, the weaker the left becomes. The more outrageous they become, the more the left has to accept the slightly less outrageous corporate Democrats."

Over het verschil tussen Bush, McCain en Obama is hij glashelder: "But once you take a broader view, it is the difference in the mph of corporatism. McCain is 50 miles per hour and Obama is 40 miles per hour."

Hij maakt een vlammende analyse van de toestand van links Amerika vandaag de dag:
"The left has disemboweled itself. It doesn't even have a strategy every four years like a good poker player. The best example is Richard Trumka and the AFL-CIO. Obama has given them nothing. Therefore, they are demanding nothing. They huff and puff. They make tough speeches. But Trumka hasn't even made Obama's campaign pledge of a $9.50 minimum wage by this year an issue. If you want to increase consumer demand, what better way to do it than to unleash $300 billion in wages? The card check for unionization, which Obama pledged as his No. 1 sop to the labor unions, is dead. The unions do not even demand a hearing. And now wait till you see what they will do to the public employee unions. Part of it is their own fault. They are going to be crushed. Everybody is ganging up on them. You have new class warfare. It is non-unionized lower income and middle class taking it out on the unionized middle-income public employees. It is a classic example of oligarchic manipulation. It will start playing out big time in New York State with Andrew Cuomo and others. They will start saying, ‘Why are you getting this? Most workers who pay the taxes, who pay your salaries, are not getting this.' This plays."

de media:
"The so-called liberal media, along with Fox, is touting the tea party and publicizing Palin. There was an editorial on Dec. 27 in The New York Times on the Repeal Amendment, the right-wing constitutional amendment to allow states to overturn federal law. The editorial writer at the end had the nerve to say there is no progressive champion. The editorial said that the liberals and progressives have faded out to let the tea party make history. And yet, for months, all The New York Times has done is promote Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. They promote Newt Gingrich and the neocons on the Op-Ed pages. The book pages of the newspaper ignore progressive authors and pump all the right-wing authors.

"If we don't raise hell, we won't get any media. If we don't get any media, the perception will be that the tea party is the big deal."

"They are afraid of the right-wing because the right-wing bellows, and they have become right-wing. These goddamned newspapers should be picketed."

En tenslotte de toekomst:
"Every major movement starts with field organizers, the farmers, unions, and the civil rights movement. But there is nothing out there. We need to start learning from what was done in the past. All over the country people are pissed off. They hate Wall Street. They know they are being gouged. They know they are slipping behind. They know their kids will not be as well off as they were, and they were not that well off. But no one is putting it together."
The only way the union leaders can continue is to be in the shadows. And you don't build a strong movement in the shadows.

"The black swan question is whether something will erupt that is rare, extreme and unpredictable. It is amazing that it hasn't happened in any pockets of the country. How much more can the oppressed take before they revolt? And can they revolt without organizers? These are the two important questions. You have got to have organizers, and as of now we don't."