WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
A New Democracy Flyer
[newdemocracyworld.org]
Our society is becoming more and more divided into the very wealthy on the one
hand and the majority of people on the other. According to recent polls, 83% of
the American people believe that "this country is headed in the wrong
direction."
Is real change possible? We believe that ordinary people can transform society into a real democracy.
Needed: A New Way of Seeing
Capitalism, communism, and socialism have all led to societies in which a small elite holds the money and the cards. The elite see themselves as the source of the good in society, and see ordinary people as a passive mass or a dangerous problem. We are all taught to see people this way.
To change the world we must see it in a new way. Contrary to the elite vision, ordinary working people are the source of whatever good exists in this society; the elite are the source of the problems. Far from being a passive mass, most people in their everyday lives struggle to shape the world with better values than the values of the system.
The Real Meaning of Everyday Life
To see that most people strive to create a new world, look at the reality of our everyday lives.
We live in a capitalist culture based on competition, inequality, and selfishness. This culture attacks our self-confidence and our relations with others, making us feel isolated and powerless. The education system attacks the self-confidence of our children, so that they accept their place in a society over which they will have no control. We compete to get a job, only to find that it fulfills little of our real aspirations. If we are unemployed, we are made to feel like failures. Advertising tells us to judge our personal worth by the car we drive or the clothes we wear. The media systematically misinform us. Instead they fill us with fear of other people--men are brutes, whites are racists, blacks are criminals, women are mindless. The message is: Trust no one.
The logic of this "dog-eat-dog" culture is that this world should be a loveless and savage place. But in fact most people, in important parts of their lives--with their wife or husband or children, their friends or co-workers--struggle against the culture of competition and inequality to create relationships based on love and trust and solidarity. Most people try to shape the little piece of the world that they think they can control into a better world.
This struggle often may not get very far: capitalism has devastating effects. But to the extent that people have any positive relationships, they have created them by a struggle against capitalist culture.
The crucial element for people to succeed in their struggle to create a better world is to be aware that they--not political or business elites or experts--are the source of the good in society, and that other people share their goal of creating a new society.
When people see how much others share their values, their idea of how much of the world they can change grows. When they gain enough awareness, they build movements. When people's faith in each other grows large enough, they make revolutions.
Real Democracy is Revolutionary
Capitalism concentrates money and power in the hands of the few. Like communism, it is undemocratic to the core. We live in a fake democracy, in which the government, the large corporations, and the media are controlled by a ruling class. "Democracy" has been reduced to pulling a lever every four years for some politician promising that he or she will really change things.
The painful realities which working people face--unemployment, cuts in education and services, homelessness--are not problems which the ruling elite are trying to solve but weapons they use to strengthen their power. Elite control is the problem in society. Democracy is the solution.
We need a democratic revolution to achieve the real aspirations of most people--a society shaped by equality and commitment to the well-being of each other and of future generations. Why must the movement be revolutionary?
*The problems we face are rooted in a system of inequality and
exploitation; they cannot be solved one by one or without creating a new
society.
*Only a new society can fulfill the values of equality and solidarity which
drive people's daily lives.
*Only a revolutionary movement can express the goals which in fact unite working
people, men and women, of all races and nationalities, and mobilize sufficient
forces to win.
What Can We Do?
The first step to creating a new society is to declare that we want one. Let's begin to talk with each other about the society that we really want. We ask you to copy and distribute this flyer. The next step is to link together all who feel the same way.
New Democracy works for democratic revolution. Call John Spritzler (617) 566-9637. For free literature: New Democracy, P.O. Box 427, Boston, MA 02130. E-mail: newdem@aol.com