The
Power of Protest
By
Hans Wienhold
Thank
God It's Cheque Week!
Some of
the ideas appearing in cyberspace have given me an idea
for a book I'd like to write someday.
A group
of 'anti-poverty activists' are sailing somewhere to
fight poverty. They hit bad weather and are unexpectedly
marooned on a deserted tropical island. Most of their
possessions disappeared when the ship sank and so they
find themselves in a state of grinding poverty in their
new island home. Having spent their lives fighting
poverty and having no one to oppose them in this new
setting they remain optimistic.
They
name their new home Happyland and elect one of themselves
to be their leader. They call him the Goody God. Someone
managed to save a copy of Article 25 of the U.N.
Declaration of Human Rights. This is given to the Goody
God during a solemn ritual. He is instructed to use it as
a guide when formulating policy. He sets off happily to
accomplish his mission.
The
first thing he does is to produce a budget which includes
a promise to provide everyone with enough money to stay
above the poverty line. For example, he uses a figure of
$25,000 Happybucks per year for a single parent with one
child. Since there are ten poverty stricken inhabitants
of the island (curiously, five single parents with one
child each.) the Goody God must raise $125,000 Happybucks
to meet his target.
He is
disapointed to discover that there is no one in Happyland
to tax. So he wonders where he shall get the money to pay
for his compassionate program. He decides to try
borrowing the money but that doesn't work either. He is
forced to produce a second 'Mini-Budget' which,
unfortunately contains no spending whatsoever. Like many
U.S. Democrats, some of the more vocal members of the
community condemn the Goody God's massive spending cuts.
There's even some small talk about the discriminatory
nature of the cuts. A couple of the 'anti-poverty
activists' consider using 'the system' to effect a
remedy.
They
call a meeting and one of the more committed
'anti-poverty activists' stands to make a speech,
We
cannot stand by while the government of Happyland
attacks the poor. The 'Mini-Budget' of July 21 is
proof of criminal negligence on the part of the Goody
God and his entire cabinet. He has taken food from
the mouths of the hungry and undermined the rights of
the most vulnerable people in our society.
The
question has been asked: Who will speak for the poor?
The answer is obvious, we will do it ourselves. The
agencies which provide the services used by the poor
are no longer being heard. It is up to us, the people
of Happyland, to say no to these radical measures
before our children go hungry and homeless.
WE
WILL BE HEARD by organizing and coordinating our
protests, preparing impact statements with both the
poor and the affected agencies and presenting these
to the Goody God, his cabinet and the entire GG
caucus. We are drawing on the resources of MPP
offices and staff, the media and community service
agencies.
And the
poor people of Happyland did exactly that. They organized
and coordinated massive protests. They prepared zillions
of impact statements. They spent months talking. They
formed community service agencies and a lobby group
called 'Citizens for Social Justice'. They circulated
petitions. Nothing seemed to work.
Something
was missing. The 'anti-poverty activists' were at a loss
for what it was. They were absolutely convinced that
their programs would work but it seemed that some crucial
ingredient refused to present itself. Unbeknownst to them
at the time events were unfolding on a similar island not
too far away that would have a significant impact on
their lives.
A year
went by and they had accomplished nothing. They were on
the verge of starvation when one Friday afternoon a group
of strangers arrived on the island. It turns out that on
an island not too far away another group of people had
been marooned as well. Most of these other people were
also 'anti-poverty activists' but one among them was not.
It
turned out that he was a racist. While the majority of
them had been fighting poverty via impact statements etc.
he had gone off by himself and built a small hut. He had
produced some weapons and tools during one of their
protests and had begun to hunt and fish and cultivate
some of the land on the island. The situation had become
intolerable.
The
damned racist was getting rich compared to the activists.
And the rich were getting richer and the poor were
getting poorer until one day their Goody God approached
the racist to demand that his wealth be redistributed in
accordance with the dictates of 'Social Justice'. Rather
than share his wealth with a group of people whom he
considered to be unworthy he followed the lead of some of
the Kulaks of Stalin's Russia and destroyed everything he
owned.
Since he
had taken so much from the pockets of the islands' social
service dependants he was convicted of criminal
negligence and sentenced to death. They had brought him
to this island to carry out the sentence.
Well,
lucky for him, the residents of Happyland came to his
defense and scared off the intruders from the other
island. The racist had learned from his experience on the
other island and, after producing wealth in his new home,
he let the Goody God take a substantial chunk of it away
from him for 'Social Justice' purposes. The 'anti-poverty
activists' were ecstatic. They had finally made progress
in their war on poverty.
Of
course what they took from the newcomer still didn't
quite measure up to their expectations so the impact
statements and the protests continued. They even gave
their man a new name... Chequeweek.
In the
end, Chequeweek, having no one else to talk to, was
converted into an 'anti-poverty activist'. Then they all
died.
Well, how do you like my book
idea? I thought I'd call it 'Robinson Asshoe'.
If this
story has touched your heart you too may wish to consider
becoming an 'anti-poverty activist'. Hey why not? Didn't
some 'anti- poverty activist' on the east coast recently
land herself a government 'job' as a result of her battle
against poverty? Seems to have worked for her.
So if
you just can't handle the guilt of having more than 'the
poor' why not just sell your farm or business, quit your
job and become an 'anti- poverty activist'.
If
interested, contact
...
Citizens for Social Justice - (905) 522-5650, (905)
312-9395 Let's fight poverty! (yechhhh)
"The
state is that fictitious entity by which everyone
attempts to live at the expense of everyone else."
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