Resistance Is Possible in the Spaces the 1 Percent Have Abandoned

As the 1 Percent consolidates its control of public life, with the housing market and public educational system as two of its chosen spheres, the path of resistance may have to take the form of creating alternative institutions. As a result of intensive discussions I have had with activists and my students this semester, I am now pushing for two such alternative institutions- Residential Communes , where groups of people, especially young people without decent paying work opportunities, occupy or rent out abandoned or forcelosed private houses which dot the landscape of urban, suburban and small town America, and share living expenses and tasks; and Freedom Schools, where teachers, students, and parents create alternatives to the test driven, heavily policed public schools and charter schools which are now the norm in Urban America, and are becoming the chosen model for the entire nation. The 1 Percent has the money and the power, but as they continue to drive more and more people into poverty through union busting, wage compression and crushing of small businesses, they have left in their wake hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of abandoned and foreclosed homes, apartment buildings, office buildings and shopping centers. It is in those spaces that we can create the basis of resistance by generating alternative ways of living, teaching and learning, and developing and sharing resources ranging from food to technology. Remember, there are not enough police to control us if enough of us act. We have the power in our hands to make a new world, especially since the old one is collapsing before our eyes May 2, 2011