Today, our revolution must be a different one. Like you say, our bubble is too warm and comfortable for the kind of revolution that sleeps in our history books. Victory today will be a change in people’s perceptions of what is right and what is moral and what is fair, especially in regards to the distribution of wealth. A coup d’état and new political system is not the answer here. It must become accepted in our nation’s consciousness that rules for the rich must apply to the poor. And that rules for the powerful must also apply to the powerless. This is about accountability. Wages, expenses, power. These must all be justified, and it is only in the bleak aftermath of a crisis that justification can stand trial. Rewarding failure is not justified. The buying and selling of power is not justified. The exploitation of loopholes by our politicians is not justified. The gaping gap between the pin-stripes and the paroles is not justified.
Greed has been the motivating factor (and, in fact, policy) in our economy for over thirty years now. Progress for progress’ sake. More is more and bigger is bigger. We have been building a great pyramid with the point at the bottom. And now it has collapsed. This great pyramid, of course, needs to be rebuilt, but this time we have the gift of hindsight. We know that we need the most bricks at the bottom and new regulations and policies must be introduced to ensure that this happens. Greed will not go away, but the way it is monitored and regulated can still evolve.
So today shouldn’t be about hate and violence, but hope and change. That’s not an easy ticket to buy, but I have a good feeling. Prof Chris Knight seems to be the ideal figurehead to lead a protest like this and push the notion that change is not only a whim of the violent or only a right of the oppressed. It can happen here with pens and handshakes and not swords and hand-grenades
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