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Gilded Age Redux

The dreams the old International Workers of the World (IWW) could very well come true because of the capitalist attacks against workers worldwide. At this time, the French workers’ unions are under attack by President Macron, who is out to destroy unions. Then there is the Spanish government’s all out efforts to prevent the referendum on Catalonia’s independence, but 2.3 million people braved law enforcement attacks and voted for independence. The fight was lead by dockworkers, firefighters, public workers and most of all labor groups. Then we have the Kurds, who are fighting for an independent Kurdistan. The Kurds are 30 million strong and have no country to call home. The Kurdish struggle shows that it is possible to stand up to oppression and win. Poland has been slipping into an authoritarian rule for the last two years as the country’s government is cracking down and restricting people’s human rights and ignoring the European Union’s insistence that the government refrain from what it is doing to the people of Poland. This is what the capitalist rulers and Washington, D.C. fear the most that the Kurdish struggle will inspire workers and farmers to fight for their own interests in Puerto Rico and all other colonial rule. But the workers and their unions all over the world, like the UK, Russia, Ukraine, all of South America, and Canada are fighting the capitalist oligarchs, who want to do away with the minimum wage and unions, but with the Internet all workers now can exchange tactics and strategies, and even help with money. This is something the old IWW could only have dreamt of this in the 1900s. Now is the right time to stand up for a living wage, pensions, free education, and healthcare—and also good unions. Today, the U.S., especially under the Trump administration, has returned to the Gilded Age, the period between 1870 and 1900, when capitalists’ greed, rampant corruption, conspicuous consumption by the wealthy and illegal corporate dealings ruled the country. Mark Twain coined the term, “Gilded Age” to reflect that on the surface everything looked glittery and prosperous, but underneath the surface, corruption, scandal and greed was hurting people, if not killing them. Sound familiar?
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