occupyyourears:

Pete Seeger - Solidarity Forever

Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
For the union makes us strong

When the union’s inspiration 
through the workers’ blood shall run,
There can be no power greater 
anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on earth is weaker 
than the feeble strength of one?
But the union makes us strong.


They have taken untold millions 
that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle 
not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power; 
gain our freedom when we learn
That the Union makes us strong.


In our hands is placed a power 
greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of armies, 
magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world 
from the ashes of the old
For the Union makes us strong.
 

Unions are often old, hierarchical and corrupt, but there was a time they were very similar to the Occupy movements springing up around the world. Even though protesters are being cleared out of a lot of cities, after Obama’s speech in Kansas, it is clear that they have affected the national debate. The Tea Party was an expression of the worst side of America, the Occupy movement is representative of the best.

NY TIMES: "Though it was lacking in specific new policy prescriptions, (President Obama's) hourlong speech and the days of buildup that preceded it marked the president’s starkest attack on what he described as the “breathtaking greed” that contributed to the economic turmoil still reverberating around the nation. At one point, he noted that the average income of the top 1 percent — adopting the marker that has been the focus of the Occupy movement — has gone up by more than 250 percent, to $1.2 million a year. The new tack reflected a decision by the White House and the president’s campaign aides that — with the economic recovery still lagging and Republicans in Congress continuing to oppose the president’s jobs proposals — the best course for Mr. Obama is to try to present himself as the defender of working-class Americans and Republicans as defenders of a small elite."