A group of ctivists have walked from Los Angeles to Sacramento, some 380 miles, to fight the system and its rampant corruption. They have come to the state capitol to stage daily actions and protests in order to force the government to reform itself. An organization, formed by activists active in the Occupy movement called 99 Rise, has led the march and daily protests.
According to V’ Launce, who is supporting the protest movement, money and corruption are the main problems. He is right in that in capitalist America, rich corporations use their wealth to write the laws that politicians pass. The immense wealth that corporations have is so great today and is more than in any other time in history. For example the fast-food industry grosses $200 billion a year and the average CEO salary is $25,000 a day. But fast-food workers in New York on average make only $11,000 per year.
Corporations use this great wealth to hire lobbyists who flood legislators’ offices and convince them to act in favor of their employers commonly called the 1%. This is a situation where corporations can virtually buy off politicians. This is what the activists are struggling to change. Because while the corporations use money to voice their opinions, it blocks the average workers’ voices from being heard.
Some of the activists are supporting three bills: Assembly Joint Resolution 1 (AJR 1), Senate Bill 1272 (SB 1272), and Senate Bill 52 (SB 52). They say these bills will help with transparency and also limit the ability of corporations to influence the politicians by helping to overturn the Citizens United ruling which allows corporations to donate unlimited money to political campaigns.
The protesters are aware of the unwillingness of the legislature to move in favor of the working class on their own. One protester said that “We have to force the government to act in our favor”. They intend to do this by holding continuous actions in the state capitol disrupting its affairs, calling attention to the issues, and staging sit-ins which are resulting in arrests everyday. They plan to continue these actions until the legislature agrees to their demands for democratic reforms. As of the first of July, 38 protestors have been arrested for their actions.
Progressive and revolutionary people should agree with the demands of these protesters. We must create a government that acts in the favor of its workers, not the elite 1%. But as we fight for reforms of the government we must point out that all reforms can be reversed by the corrupt politicians. This is why we are calling for the formation of a revolutionary movement to establish a workers’ government whereby we will truly be in charge and our rights will no longer be up for sale.
