A couple of years ago on this list, Guy Dauncey raised the issue of civil
disobedience. At that time, I agreed with Guy about the inevitability of cd
but wondered what might be the circumstances in which it could be used as an
effective tactic on behalf of economic justice.
I still think this is discussion that needs to occur. I've tried to raise
the question obliquely on several occasions (e.g., Robert McNamara's
disillusionment with the war in Vietnam and his befuddled, retrospective
endorsement of mass civil disobedience as an effective strategy). I may have
alluded to Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat on the bus in
Montgomery Alabama in 1955 as the celebrated spark that ignited the civil
rights movement in the U.S. south.
In his 1849 essay, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau
asked, "Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we
endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we
transgress them at once?" The complicating factor is that often the unjust
laws are beyond our reach to transgress. A few weeks ago, the Canadian
government acted with obscene haste to plug a threatened 'brain drain' of
its top bureaucrats. The feds plugged the drain with gobs of taxpayers'
dollars. How does a citizen, whose taxes are for the most part withheld at
source, 'transgress' such a 'law'?
The same government that fawns over its highest ranking 'civil servants'
treats its front line workers like dirt. The same government that rushes
like a house on fire to plug a mandarin brain drain drags its feet on child
poverty. Scrupulously documented reports on what needs to be done to respond
to changes in the workplace are invariably met with the smirking
"commitment" to "use the results of this discussion as the basis for further
consultations with key stakeholders." In plain English, "Don't hold your
breath, suckers." Again, from Thoreau, "As for adopting the ways the State
has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too
much time, and a man's life will be gone."
Through the magic of language, those who abhor the bombing of civilians will
resign themselves to the collateral damage from a surgical air strike. Those
who would not tolerate slavery can find no quarrel with the economic dogma
of a downsized, contingent and just-in-time workforce. Make the chains
'flexible' enough and the lash 'self-managed' and slavery ceases to be an
outrage against humanity; its victims "have only themselves to blame."
The chief blessing of 'progress' in the 149 years since Thoreau wrote his
essay would seem to be that we need no longer call slavery 'slavery' nor war
'war',
"There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war,
who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming
themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in
their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even
postpone the question of freedom to the question of free trade, and quietly
read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after
dinner, and, it may be, fall asleep over them both."
Regards,
Tom Walker
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Vancouver, B.C.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(604) 669-3286
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The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
