Forum Post: Why I participate

The other day I attended the march from Liberty Square to the police HQ. On the way, I saw a woman stop another protester and say, "So tell me, why are YOU here?" I saw the young man hesitate for a moment, and give a reply that I couldn't hear too well with all the background noise. I was embarrassed though because if she had asked me, I really don't know how I would have responded. So after hours of thinking about the question. I came up with this.

I am here to say NO. NO to OUR money being used to reward the very people who put us into a worldwide economical crisis while the majority of us were left to suffer without a helping hand. NO to corporate interests ruling our country and preventing the realization of a basic human right such as affordable healthcare. NO to the economic model that has starved the middle class and brought the poverty numbers to historic heights. NO to politicians spending more time playing politics than on working for our common good. NO to a media class that is abandoning the ideals of journalism to slant, obscure, and even outright deny the truth in order to protect the corporate elite. NO to 9/11 and terrorism being used as justifications to strip us of our civil rights one by one. NO to state officials believing they can silent us by denying us our right to assemble and demonstrate. NO to police brutality and unjustified arrests being used to intimidate us and stifle our voice. And NO it is not acceptable in a functioning democracy to have 1 percent of the population hold 40 percent of the nation's wealth.

This is not an American Revolution. It is a Global Awakening. We are also saying NO to all the geological, political, and religious barriers that have divided the great people of this planet. That have been used by those in power to justify bloodshed, to enforce unjust laws, and to oppress peoples. No longer shall the blood of the poor and powerless be used to nourish the crops of the rich and powerful.

We are continuing the work of our brothers and sisters in North Africa who fought and continue to fight for freedom in the face of terrible dictatorships. And although our hardships are not as theirs, although we do not live under a dictatoriship, we know all to well that the air we breathe is not free. We too are here to fight for our freedom against the ever-rising oligarchy. We refuse to quietly bow our heads and pretend we do not see what is happening.

We may not yet have the solutions to the problems which we have addressed but before any problem can be fixed, one must first recognize that that there is a problem. We are here to emphatically point out those problems and vehemently refuse to keep silent and accept them.

We shall be victorious. A lie, to be accepted must be repeated a thousand times, but a truth, once spoken, echoes forever in the heart of those who recognize it.