My biggest fear is the first targets will be the “mildly well off, but basically top of the working class” because those are people that are visible and are your neighbors or people you know that can actually take a vacation, and the 0.1% will stoke that as a way of keeping the spotlight off of them.
Pillaging by the Super-Rich Will Continue Until the Working Class Revolts
Submitted 5 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to workreform@lemmy.world
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/working-class
Comments
Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I realize this is gunna make me sound fairly radical and murdery, but it’s more legit curiousity…
I sometimes wonder why out of all the people living in misery why someone hasn’t gone on to just pick a CEO and… assassinate them? Like they are generally not super well protected. They aren’t living like spies with people tasting their food for poison or anything.
People have been losing their patience with Corporate wealth for a long time and talking pitchforks for decades but it’s not like these people are untouchable and unknowable. A lot of this stuff is fairly public information. I figure the prerequisites for stochastic terrorism would be pretty ripe but like… Why haven’t we heard about even one case? Is it just too personal you think? What is the threshold for domestic terrorist incidents? Why do we see all these lone wolf gunman going after schools and clubs because they have been made so VERY angry… but not tracking down singular people? Is it a different psychological requirement?
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I work in the development department of a tiny city that’s surrounded by a major city on all sides. It’s an enclave for the super-rich, with the average new house here costing over 10 times that of the surrounding area.
There’s actually sections in city code regarding the regulation of servant’s quarters.
The houses are mostly owned by shell corporations designed to hide the identity of the actual residents. But I know who a lot of them are, and you’ve definitely heard some of the names, though a lot of the obscenely-rich work hard to start out of the press. There’s a billionaire here whose picture I cannot find anywhere online.
Among my many duties, I review the plans for all the houses coming in.
They have sooo much security. You just don’t know about it. There’s multiple panic rooms, security offices, popup bollards, bulletproof windows, and more.
There are no sidewalks or parks. No sightlines from the street to the house. They build “water features” (moats) and plant vegetative screening to make accessing the house impractical except through the gate - some of which have guardhouses.
They are absolutely terrified of peasants.
mojo_raisin@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I sometimes wonder why out of all the people living in misery why someone hasn’t gone on to just pick a CEO and…
I have some guesses…
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As long as mainstream media exists, any lone actor will be branded as a terrorist or murderer and will be viewed as this by most people rather than the start of a movement. This makes it very likely to be arrested or killed as well as bring harm and unwanted attention to your loved ones.
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The rich people are fairly well protected, by living in exclusive neighborhoods, spending time where threats can’t afford to get near, knowing the police are there to protect them.
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People are taught to give our right to self defense to the state, that self defense is not ok for “civilized people” except in cases of immediate mortal danger.
Don’t kid yourself, the whole point of the state is to facilitate relatively safe theft from classes not in control of it. We are taught to conflate it with “government” and told that it is necessary to prevent utter chaos.
Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I am not sure that’s entirely it. Like… Those “exclusive neighbourhoods” basically just means “has fence and security system”. If you didn’t care about getting caught - basically spree killer style martyrdom- there isn’t much to stop you. Most CEOs are notorious creatures of habit and they publicize where they will be fairly regularly. Just hang out by the right golf course and you’ll find em.
I think it’s just a different mindset. Maybe picking a specific target is more of a cold blooded logic killer thing not a hot blooded spree killer thing and the two require entirely separate buy ins? Or the target type is the difference. Spree killers tend to pick big populations for shock value or because it represents a wider social movement. They also take a bunch of people with them which probably satisfies a feeling of making it “worth it”. It is kind of a “fuck that guy in particular” kind of premeditation you would need combined with a conviction to essentially light yourself on fire to burn someone else… And a one to one trade isn’t exactly a feel good catharsis.
I don’t think it’s a matter that a couple of isolated incidents wouldn’t cause a panic or not be consequential on a wider scale. I feel like the allure of extreme wealth would lose it’s luster pretty fast if suddenly people felt the need to have extreme security details all the time. I don’t think it would stop people from dragon hording but it wouldn’t take too many incidents before they all would be too afraid to walk to the corner to grab a coffee in person at least for awhile. Generally being rich comes with the idea that it gives you more freedom, not less.
I think it’s something on the horizon though. A lot of the language around the extreme wealthy is pretty dehumanizing. Like “He seems like a robot” or “souless narcissistic dirtbag” or “eat the rich” type rhetoric is pretty normalized. I think it’s just most people value themselves more highly then taking out a single CEO regardless of the differing scope of individual impacts. We are kind of wired to look at the extreme wealthy as both above and apart in ability to impact the world stage… While simultaneously being kind of non-special people who aren’t more or less worthwhile than we ourselves. It might just be that there’s still enough hope around that things will change through non-violent means.
I personally just hope we can tax the everliving bajeezus out of them and start some sensible basic quality of life initiatives and electoral reform before it starts getting properly ugly.
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masquenox@lemmy.world 5 months ago
It’s been done before… before the “Red Scare” there was the “Black Scare” - it’s where the trope of the “bomb-throwing anarchist” comes from.
It’s a valid tactic - but if it’s not carefully done and well thought through, it can end up creating a lot of blowback… as it did for the anarchist Alexander Berkman when he attempted to assassinate the capitalist Henry Clay Frick (hint - don’t assassinate a capitalist during a strike… if the striking workers thought that’d work they’d probably do it themselves).
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
I often wonder why people wronged by these mega corporations just don’t buy a cheap drone and fix an explosive to it like you see in Ministry for the Future or in Ukraine’s defense against invading Russian soldiers. They don’t even need to assassinate these CEOs, they can just blow up their assets to hurt them. Insurance might pay for the damages the first few times but they’ll stop covering these assets if it becomes too large a burden for them.
DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
That’s my plan if I come down with a fatal disease.
kandoh@reddthat.com 5 months ago
General Strike in '28
Preparations must begin
SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Damn.
This seems both far enough way to be attainable and so far away we may all be husks by then, Impaled on spikes by the geth.
kandoh@reddthat.com 5 months ago
There’s a reason for the date! The UAW has called for a potential general strike in the United States on May 1, 2028.
UAW president Shawn Fain has invited other unions to align their contract expiration dates with April 30, 2028, setting the stage for a coordinated national strike on May Day 2028[1][3].
This call comes after the UAW’s successful strike against major automakers in 2023. The union sees this as an opportunity to unite workers across industries and flex collective labor power[1][3].
The proposed 2028 strike aims to address broader working class issues beyond just the auto industry. Some advocates suggest focusing on demands like Medicare for All[2][4].
To make this general strike a reality, unions would need to start planning now to align their contract dates. It would require unprecedented cooperation between major unions[3].
While ambitious, this proposal is seen as more credible coming from a large, established union like the UAW rather than social media activists[4].
Critics note that organizing an actual general strike is extremely challenging and rare in the US. However, supporters argue that even the process of organizing towards this goal could reinvigorate the labor movement[2][3].
The success of this initiative depends on whether other major unions embrace the idea in the coming months and years[3].
Citations: [1] The UAW Strike May Have Finally Set Us Up for a General Strike www.teenvogue.com/…/uaw-general-strike-no-class [2] May Day 2028 National Strike: Focus on Medicare for All - PNHP pnhp.org/…/may-day-2028-national-strike-focus-on-… [3] A General Strike in 2028 Is a Uniquely Plausible Dream inthesetimes.com/…/uaw-auto-workers-general-strik… [4] The UAW’s 2028 National Strike Should Center Medicare for All jacobin.com/…/uaw-general-strike-medicare-for-all [5] ‘We want everybody walking out’: UAW chief outlines mass strike for … theguardian.com/…/autoworkers-uaw-shawn-fain-may-…
Triasha@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Gonna have to do a whole lot of union drives to make that feasible. Good luck.
PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 5 months ago
We just need a little more inflation and a few more Netflix price hikes before we lose our bread and circuses.
SPRUNT@lemmy.world 5 months ago
The working class is already revolting.
Ba-dum-tss
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 5 months ago
CommonDreams coming in clutch with the 2A
Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 months ago
Hypothetically, how would one do said pillaging?
phoenixz@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
When the working class revolts, the Uber rich will just use misinformation to blame it on the blacks/Jews/gays/<insert popular minority here> and the working class will kill them instead
That’s how it always has worked, the working class isnt exactly know for seeing through propaganda. This is also the reason why in the US, the Republican party works so hard to destroy education. Dumb people are easier to control, easier to lie to, easier to suppress.
Don’t say it ain’t so, this shit is right now happening with Trump, and large swathes of the working class are lapping up his lies as if it were caviar, even though Trump is the very prime target they should direct their anger to.
Pandantic@midwest.social 5 months ago
I know that’s true, but we have to devise plans to fight back against this. How could we fight against misinformation from the ruling class and their control of the media?
Pantoffel@feddit.de 5 months ago
Fight misinformation with information. There are independent shows, podcasts, news that you can share with your friends and family.
jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
Not always. Sometimes, the whole system collapses, and then after a period of insecurity, we all enjoy a period of massive prosperity.