author: Grant E. Lee
Shortly after the successful protests of the 1960s, reactionary legislators in both Federal and state governments wrote into the law of the land several provisions denying student financial aid and research grants to anyone who had ever participated in a protest march.
This is not a joke. I personally saw the Federal Grant paperwork that young PhDs were required to sign testifying to their never having participated in a protest before they could even be considered for the grant money. So, if your photo has been published showing you in a protest, or you were cited for truancy, be aware that in a few years you could be denied educational benefits and work positions solely on the basis of your having exercised your right to free speech.
The vindictive and hateful nature of the rich, facist, fundamentalist, and white men in present positions of power is not to be underestimated. You might be aware that even now they are working to find ways to punish you by writing and enacting laws that bind you ever tighter to their service. They will not rest from the labor of trying to make you their slaves.
You may also find that people who were with you in the struggle at the time undergo conversion experiences and become as reactionary as they once were radicalized. Your best defenses against this pincer movement of mind control maniacs are: affinity groups/family support, competence in multiple skill sets, and calm, meditative focus in daily life (such as the Buddhist concept of 'right action').
However, it would not hurt to have universities and grand ecoles and high schools make a pre-emptive strike by declaring that no such limits can be imposed on academic freedoms; that research done on university property and by faculty members will not be constrained in any way by either government or commercial attempts to suppress or punish dissent. Churches, if they are worth their salt, can also denounce this sort of jealous malice from the wealthy old being directed towards the working class young.
Just thought you ought to know how long these people hold grudges for the loss of their illusions of being in control.
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Here's a good piece illuminating the differences:
One of the big problems with Americans (whatever their political tendencies might otherwise be) is their myopic insularity and provincialism vis-a-vis the rest of the world. It's a big, big country, and despite the presence of immigrants from all over, most Americans have never been outside of it, nor have they a clue about the differences between their own and other societies. This retardation (naturally) stunts the growth and possibilities of alternative political perspectives here, too.
This problem is much less pronounced in Europe -- where most people can (and do on occasion) go fifty to a hundred miles in any direction and find themselves in a whole different country, with different languages, political traditions, etc.