This week, as world leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly and Climate Week, they were greeted by thousands of New Yorkers filling the streets to send a message: ‘Make Billionaires Pay’.
The march was peaceful and the mood positive; but the anger of the demonstrators was unmistakable. Their frustration at the trump administration's continuing denial of the climate crisis as a 'hoax' was matched by widespread outrage over its ongoing attempts to dismantle our democracy. In the U.S., we are under attack by our own government– from cruel and unconstitutional abuses by the paramilitary thugs of ICE, to disgraceful attempts at voter suppression; from devastating floods and fires fueled by corporate greed, to a puppet Republican Congress willfully revoking the healthcare of millions of Americans ...in order to provide an unconscionable tax giveaway of trillions to billionaires and powerful corporations.
We are living in the 21st Century; yet somehow, in place of enlightenment, authoritarian regimes are on the rise, along with a heartless hybrid of capitalism and corruption that threatens the quality of life for everyone, rich and poor -if not our survival itself.
Still, some people are fighting back, uniting across the world to demand a better future for themselves, their communities, and for all living beings. The ‘Make Billionaires Pay’ event was a momentary statement, not a revolution. But there are other such events that are happening as well, and that will continue to happen, in cities and towns everywhere. More and more people are standing up, and raising up their voices. We, the people, vastly outnumber the privileged few; and the future still remains to be written.
