dyfet's blog

Friends,

in the spirit of Haymarket, over 200 of our brothers and sisters have chosen this past week to directly occupy the means of production in Chicago for the first time in over half a century. Workers from Chicago once again have shown us the way forward. But this is only the first step, only a beginning.

Many people speak of the struggle, but I think many do not appreciate or truly understand what it is about. Some struggle in their own specific cause and yet do not fully appreciate what their own struggle is about, let alone how it relates to the struggle that does I feel relates to us all. One of the few I have found who both understand and can express it well is Russell Means, who I sometimes fear is this continents last remaining revolutionary.

On December 17th of last year, a deligation went to Washington D.C. to formally notify the government of the United States that all past and existing treaties between the United States Government and the Lakotah people have been legally terminated. Last month a deligation was sent seeking formal diplomatic recognition of continued Lakotah sovereignty from the nations of the world. As we speak today, a free provisional government of the republic of Lakotah exists and operates out of trailers in Porcupine, North Dakota. How was this government formed? What is it’s source of authority?

Some had asked when I would comment on Venezuela’s choice to nationalize telecommunications, energy, and oil. At the time I was and still am deeply involved with other issues and so was not a good time for me to think about how I wished to express myself on this issue. It is unfortunate, because I was one of the people who was aware this was going to happen through other indirect means, such as the new complex that was built by the energy, PDVSA, and Venezuelan telecommunication companies which was put together rather apparently for this purpose.

We often talk about class mobility in the United States and other capitalist nations. In fact, class mobility, when it exists, is essentially a lottery system, where a few slots are handed out on the back of many participants. In truth, though, in America, as elsewhere in the capitalist world, it is a rigged game; that is one in which prior winners get much better odds than the rest. However, recently I have directly seen the “true form” of North American “class mobility” in action.