Revolution

"When the revolution comes" was the by-word of the early 1970's, to fix all the ills that were perceived in society in those days. Protests happened, largely against the war in Vietnam but not against the multi-nationalization of industry, education, health care, agriculture, transportation, banking, communication and just about any other area of endeavour that you care to mention. Globalization became the new by-word in the next decade and multi-national corporations discovered that they no longer had to fear protests, unions or governments. Multi-nationals could do as they pleased.

The idealism of the '70's, baby boomer population strong, lasted for the instant in time that it took for the boomers to start having families and have to become earners. And life takes a toll, no matter how idealistic. To be sure, some were able to carry on, particularly in environmental causes, for instance Paul Watson who is still leading the Sea Shepherd Society, but by and large, the revolution never came.

Whenever I heard of stupid government policies that yet again sold out benefit to our country in favour of industry and multi-nationals; of industrial degradation instead of environmental preservation; of taxation for the middle classes and not corporations (I know, I know - you say the corporations are just made up of the middle classes. Smoke and mirrors).   Whenever I heard of inequities I whispered "When the revolution comes".

Now we have NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which covers everything from the food we eat to the electricity we produce. However, our standard of wages, healthcare, food quality, resource production or extraction must now meet the standards of the lowest quality participant in the agreement. The largest participant refuses to accept rulings of the courts when it transgresses the agreement yet insists on payment when it perceives a transgression by others. Slowly our farmers and fishermen are going out of business because of dumping from across the border. Our resources are being sold to other nations without adequate royalty agreements to sustain our own industry. And the government in the east is trying to get tied up in a free trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries. When the revolution comes.

Now that I am no longer that idealistic youth, I had a moment of expectation; my heart beat a little faster, when the occupy Wall Street movement spread across North America.  The media failed to report about the underlying causes of this unrest because, after all, the media is big business and in the hands of the people that the Occupy movement was protesting. The police, always doing the bidding of government, and the winter weather did away with most Occupy sites.

What any movement takes to survive is the unquenchable idealism of youth. There is that short span of time between last year of high school, when most realize that they are free to do anything, to when they commit to partners and families and have to somehow earn a living. That is what has given the multi-national corporations in North America so much power. They know that at some point everyone must trade in their idealism for dollars. It doesn't make it right, it just is. Some remember to try to vote idealistically but unless wholesale change happens to the system, nothing will change. When the revolution comes.