Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The Reveres are wending their way (separately) back to their home bases after a month on vacation (Mrs. R.:"Vacation? So how come you were blogging every day!"). Soon we'll be in the heaven of broadband after a month of dial-up. This heaven is here on earth, however, fiber optically speaking. Which brings us to our Sunday Sermonette, text by Joe Hill.
Joe Hill (born Joel Emmanuel Haggland in Sweden) is one of the U.S.'s most famous labor activists and songwriters. An organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, "the Wobblies") he wrote many songs, among them, "The Preacher and the Slave." Joe Hill was framed on a murder charge in Salt Lake City, UT and executed by firing squad in 1915.
A Song by Joe Hill to the tune of "In the Sweet Bye and Bye"
Long-haired preachers come out every night
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer with voices so sweetChorus
You will eat, bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and Pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you dieAnd the starvation army they play
And they sing and they clap and they pray
Till they get all your coin on the drum
Then they tell you when you are on the bumIf you fight hard for children and wife
Try to get something good in this life
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell
When you die you will sure go to hellWorkingmen of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrainLast Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye
When you've learned how to cook and to fry
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye
play mp3. Happy Labor Day from The Reveres
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http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen09022006.html
The above reference refers to an article on the political explosion in Mexico, that may result in much violence and death. The Mexican Army killed students during the riots of 1968, and it is doubtful they will kill Mexican citizens now, when the violence explodes. There may be mutiny in the ranks of the military.
Why am I talking about Mexico? It is because a religion caused the problem. What is that religion?
Today it can be safely said that our national religion is The Market. Religion may be braodly defined as a "kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety fo life and thought."
Religion as the term is used here does not necessarily refer to anything traditionally metaphysical, theological, or church related. It is the cultural overlay taht animates the spirit of a people.
Modern corporate capitalism is driving the destruction of the environment. The real question is not whether or not there is a deity, the real question is how do we stop these corporations from producing irreversible climate change.
Americans have one thing in common: a commitment to free enterprise. What has happened now is that the Market has become our new god, and market capitalism our new religion. It is what we all have in common.
But neoliberal free market policies in Mexico have now caused a critical mass of resistance within the citizens to explode. The Market and capitalism in Mexico will not be overthrown. There will never be a just society in Mexico, and the workers will never take power.
But The Market will cause chaos in Mexico, in Iraq,
in the whole Middle East. Neoliberal capitalism will never be reformed or overthrown in a revolution. But the social injustice will cause this critical mass of resistance to explode all over the world, leading to more and more repression. Social justice is now only an illusion. The environement will be completely destroyed.
This free market religion is all powerful. It is best to accept the destruction of all life on the planet, and the slaughter inspired by this critical mass of resistance. Now the future is bleak, and there is no hope.
Reveres: Thanks for the Labor Day post. It's great you had a month off to recharge for the year ahead. If only that was the norm for most Americans. Lack of recuperative time off from increasingly stressful work lives is a major public health issue. Much of our hypertension, obesity, depression, substance abuse, etc. could be helped if people had real time off.
Great laborday post. Memories flooding of drunkenly singing this song and other great ones after getting a contract for our TA union at ** State University in 2002 (after striking and brining the U to a standstill...).
Si se puede. Si se puede...
Oh thanks for that - we played it and danced. Nice start to the day.
Ah the free market! The God, Mammon!
A mythical force, supposedly beyond human's influence, as in the market will take care of finding the best solution, a statement one can read several times a day if one has a mind to it.
Slaves were sold on the free market, some fetched more than others.
US upper class people are now asked to believe in ethanol from corn, and pour it into newly equipped SUVs. Heh.
Don't know much about Joe Hill, a hero who died, killed by the state.
The system will crack, how is impossible to predict.
Thanks to the Reveres for their blog and this particular reminder.
Hey! Somebody just left this in a comment on my blog.
Let Them Eat Jesus
Must be the Lord's work.
Ana, here in the UK the system is slowly cracking in insidious ways. Probably much the same elsewhere. Some good friends who are senior managers report more sick days being taken than ever, and more staff cracking up. The press reports alarming rises in alcohol abuse leading to illness. Drug abuse isn't reported much but it hasn't gone away (friends at the other end of the spectrum tell me it's getting worse). We're catching up with the US in the obesity stakes.
People are working themselves into an early grave, failing to eat properly because they are so tired and have so little free time, and anaesthetizing themselves with vino et al. Then they become a burden on the health and social services, and those left working have to cough up even more. Margaret Thatcher has a lot to answer for: that bitch killed the working class work ethic and created an angry, unemployable underclass who breed more of the same without reservation. At least we have an NHS, but I can see that collapsing as our politicians follow the lead of the US and bleed it dry to fund ill-considered interference in the middle east.
I had hoped for an uprising so I could go out and chant and wave a big stick, get it off my chest like the French do. But like the others I'm too tired to organize it. Merd. By serendipity I absorbed the Barefoot Doctor's musings, and now do what little I can but otherwise sit back and observe the obscene game of chess rather than playing the part of a pawn, making myself angry and ill in the process. As one person I don't have what it takes to make a difference. All I can do in defiance is not work a moment's overtime, take the motorbike out for a spin and play fiddle (badly) to counter the crap of the day.
Which brings me back to the tune. Got itchy fiddle fingers now to give it a go. So, Revere, your post has done something positive for at least one of us :-)
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Sadly the world thinks more of money than time off. Personally, the unions fought hard to get reasonable working hours and now the COMPANIES want 12 hour shifts. Until we get back to family and free time, life will deteriorate.