Legalize! Organize! Unionize!

We want to be heard! We need to be heard! We will be heard!

We are here to celebrate May Day. We are here to celebrate our power as people who have found unity of purpose. Today we assert our power as working people. We declare our solidarity with all people of the world. We affirm our rights to economic security, to meaningful work, to health care, to public services, to safe and healthy communities, to free, quality public education from pre-K to college, and to civil liberties. Today, we stand in solidarity with all who take popular action to secure such rights, as we begin to form genuine alliances that challenge a system that breeds inequality.

Find events in your city here. Before you head out, check our Last-Minute May Day Checklist. If you are in NYC, check out the full schedule. from occupywallst.org

We often hear the phrase “Fight fire with fire”, but that ideology is no better than “An eye for an eye.” Right now, we live in a world where a small percentage of the world population absorbs and owns a great-majority of the world’s wealth and resources; the same wealth and resources that we all value. This is what the problem is; we all value it.




We like to demand economic and social justice by simply asking for an equal distribution of that wealth; the idea sounds rightful and effective, but in reality, this idea’s achievement is vacant.




If we were to “fight fire with fire”, we would only contribute more fire to the fire we are trying to extinguish. We must be skeptical and look for a real solution. Now we must ask ourselves: “What is that solution?” The solution isn’t to add more flame to an already burring flame, but to rather put it out with water.




Yes, you heard me, water. Water replaces fire and therefore results are yield. What if we were to do the same thing with our economic system, and its product—Money!?




If you are thinking that I am suggesting that we replace money, you are thinking correctly. We must first acknowledge that controllers of the system contribute no power to the value of the system’s products, and that in reality that the users of the system determine the value of the products produced by the system.




If one group retains power just by absorbing and capturing the majority of the wealth, it is up to the people to change the value of that wealth. If we were to disregard the value of the current currency and increase the value onto our own currency, we would decrease the value of the currency that is owned by the leading class.




Let’s think about this in practice. Shall we? Instead of consuming more and more, we could trade. If we were to trade products with each other, we would value the practice of reuse, and decline the value of consumption. If I was in a need of a lawnmower, and you had one that I did not have, I could simply trade you for an item that I have that you do not have yourself. I could also offer a service or my time to a cause in exchange for that lawnmower that I so desperately need. For example, I could offer to paint your house or volunteer at a charity that you are involved in.




This “trade economy” will only benefit us. Not only will it render the wealth of the leading class invaluable, but will increase recycling which would help out the planet, increase volunteer service, and increase community involvement.




If we were to actually render their wealth useless, their economic status would decline, and their influence in law and power would significantly decrease. The leading class would be forced to realize that their influence is gone, that their power has shrunk, and that they now must commit to a fairer system.




If we were to project the majority of our values on the items that we reuse and recycle, we would slowly over time dissipate the longing of human greed. It will only inspire us to connect and share rather than to consume in order to place useless values onto our names and our livelihoods.




The system and its products are, and always will be, valued by the users and not its controllers. We must replace the system that has been corrupted by greed, the system that has been corrupted by arbitrary and unfair rules with a system that has real meaning behind it.




It is up to us to change things. We must always remember that money is nothing more than paper with a mental value attached to it.




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