People's Strike + The Floyd Rebellion
/Rush transcript of this segment:
Good question. I think the central thing that we should be looking out for today, is the merger of the systemic issues we've been trying to bring to the fore with the People's Strike and the call to move towards the general strike, with the mass righteous rage that has occurred because of the resistance to American apartheid so, because that's what's really at play, that's what's being brought into question, and folks recognizing you know, Floyd's death is directly linked to all of the black and brown folks who have died needlessly as a result of COVID-19, how it's been managed in the United States and that you know, that death toll is the direct result of the systemic white supremacy of this society and it's settler colonial foundations. And people linking those two right in bringing more systemic energy towards a long protracted campaign of moving towards a general strike, I think that is what we are trying to bring to the fore and convincing folks that we need to use the greatest power that we have, which is control over our bodies, control of our labor, to make the situation ungovernable and untenable in the United States, and to do it in an organized systemic fashion. So the hope is all the folks, young and old, who would have been meeting each other on the first times on the streets you know these last five days throughout this country, see the humanity in each other regardless of what their age sex gender race nationality may be, find their common interests because you know one of the things I'm going back again speaking to some of the new folks who's coming out, it's them finding the finding their same life interests to be, you know, I may be still a little bit ahead of you but that's not saying much in this race, and that we have more in common and we have a set of common enemies which are totally about mortgaging our future for their profit, that we have more in common if we stand together and fight back and and build a new system through our organized, self-organized activities, and building new productive relationships and new overall social relationships. I think today June 1st you know is our second 1st [of the month] strike action, in the midst of what can only be described in my view as the Floyd Rebellion, those two things I think coming together, I hope we are able to give some sustained direction and focus you know, in a broader degree of kind of coherent demands that address all the particular issues that have been uncovered and brought to the fore - that's what I'm hoping happens today, and that I think the People's Strike and all the organizations that have endorsed and [actions] have taken place in one form or fashion bringing to the fore, and I think today we do that first and foremost by engaging in serious conversations with each other about what's next cuz that has to be a broad, you know, a democratic organization where folks are really debating it out you know, but coming to terms and building the relationships that are going to be necessary to to transform you know a rebellion ultimately into a revolution, cuz that's what we need to go. This is the first step - it's a good crack, you know, it's a beautiful fissure in the piece, but that wall hasn't been deconstructed just yet, we got a lot of work to do to tear that down.