Wednesday, April 15, 2015

It's Hardship Is It's Possibility

It is the complex issues of economics, politics, and energy in relation to union labor that makes our jobs as front line union organizers very hard. How are we to frame these conversations when many of the workers who do the work see them as a threat to their very livelihood? Are we that desperate of a people that we can stare directly into the face of mass corporate greed and welcome the disaster? Our state of Kentucky is called a Commonwealth? Who holds this Wealth in common?

Many labor leaders would not touch this conversation and the Democratic Party in Kentucky evades this conversation like the plague. Have we as a people lost control? Have we as a people allowed the industry to dictate to us the results of their profit? How Orwellian can we get with names like "Friends of Coal” “Environmental Protection Agency?” If these names are correct in their suggestion then, what is an environment? Is coal part of the environment? What are the actions that make the activists? What is a Friend?

When I speak my mind at work and with my fellow railroaders, some who have relocated their families to Louisville, Kentucky because of the coal industry, I ask these sorts of questions.

Are the streets of Corbin, KY paved in gold? What did the coal and railroad industry leave to Irvine / Ravenna? We give them a mountain and railroad tracks and they give us what? If a “friend” takes all your stuff and then leaves you with a big mess, is this “friend” an asshole? After posing questions such as those, then I strike up conversation about corporations being allowed to be considered by law... people. Is it ok, for people to poison a river? Is it ok for people to make billions of dollars while people live in poverty? These are questions that are pretty easy to approach, No?  Is there a God? Is there Globe warming?

How long are We The People going to” hang around the smokin' pole” talking like an atheist and a born again Christian in a duel of faith? Or are we going to say.. NO it's not ok to kill the river! NO it’s not ok to make billions while others suffer! NO it is not ok as people who live on a planet to accept the terms dictated to them by industry. An industry that has no exit plan, except to profit until the cows come home... and then leave, and then move on to the next disaster. Is it ok to fracture the earth and then pump millions of gallons of who knows what into it? The conversations about the “big picture” are going on and on and on and on. So far this has been the terms of the engagement.  

Personally, I believe that the left is approaching the conversation in a way that is causing some of the problem. The conversation has been framed in such a way to keep us as people divided. My very close friend Alonzo Johnson is a Peace Maker with the Presbyterian Church and we have had deep conversations in the past about people who are speaking from a place of desperation.

What are we as a people so desperate of? What do we need? I have approached this conversation with part of the equation requiring a nonviolent approach. I have also approached this conversation suggesting that until we have the power as people to offer a viable alternative to the situation, we must speak from a place that includes that reality. Be us “climate activists” or the “people in labor”. And in this conversation we as people should know that we are allowing the "industry" all the resources of government and media to make this decision for us. We as a people have lost power and have little or no control.

Personally, I do not believe in “climate change”, but I am also not a climate change denier. The words that have been selected for us to describe what we are talking about in my opinion are somewhat causing part of the problem. We as a people are being forced to frame the conversation in such a way that we might as well be building the scaffold and tying our own rope around our necks. Words are very limited in their ability to convey the seriousness of the situation. We must understand the terms of the engagement, the rules of the match. Strategy is a game and a means to an end.

I admit, I don't know what to do, and my heart aches thinking about the wars that are being fought for the oil industry. My heart sinks when I think about the fact that the Ohio River has been determined to be the dirtiest river in the USA. I am torn when I operate a train that hauls a commodity that is causing the river to be contaminated. Steel, coal, fracking chemicals and fertilizers to name a few.


It is in fear of a great hypocrisy or the possibility of one that I write and seek out big voices and great minds. I also feel somewhat responsible and do not want to be complicit. Especially if that word is taken to mean what the dictionary defined it to be, "involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing."

I was tasked as Co-Chair of my organization Railroad Workers United to set the tone of our “The Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community and the Environment” conference held in Richmond, California, March 14th and then again in Olympia, Washington on the 21st. We called out for endorsements from all community groups including environmental, labor, civic and elected government. I was fearful for my organization. Railroad Workers United is an organization of railroad workers from all across North America. The issues facing economic-energy policy are somewhat toxic to the normal state of union politics.



I needed serious words, so I sought out the words of Kentucky's own Wendell Berry to help set this tone. The biggest voice I know of and the voice of someone who is not afraid to tackle serious issues mindfully. Someone who is not afraid to go against the current set of rules. Someone who has gone to great lengths to stand up for controversial positions even at the risk of pissing off his own base. I got by way of his Berry Center a poem called "The Vision." What I got was a promise and somewhat of an inspiration that still moves me to tears.

I was so moved, and in labor union language that is the beginnings of resolution, but as written in Mr. Berry's poem "it's hardship is it's possibility."

As I write this article, Greenpeace activists have occupied an oil rig on its way to the arctic and another organization, The Backbone Campaign, which partnered with us to host our conference, is organizing a flotilla to join the protest. I am fearful for their safety. And in Conclusion... I am inspired, but scared and mindful of the complexity of the issues at hand.

John Paul Wright
Co-Chair
Railroad Workers United
Locomotive Engineer








Friday, April 10, 2015

War On The Workers

The Teamsters have a sign that reads... "STOP THE WAR ON WORKERS"



but where is this war being waged? If there is a war, then there must be troops and strategy being maneuvered?  Tactical weapons must be being deployed? Is there troop MOVEMENT? There must be propaganda tactics being deployed against the enemy?

Right?

It is a war? no?

OUI!!!



In the clip above, the music is being used to scare the enemy and to pump up the soldiers. so....

What are the tactics that are being used to "win the hearts and minds? Anyone who has any knowledge of military strategy, knows that one of the first things to do is to control the flow of information. This may include taking out radio and T.V....Shutting down the internet access... and dropping hundreds of thousands of leaflets on the town from airplanes....  



This image was just recently dropped on Syria, by the US military... Why? 

Psychological warfare works.. 


This same tactic of psychological warfare is used in corporations to make people run the plan and to gain control. It is also used to make people fear reporting injuries. In the corporate world this plan even has it's own symbol...

SIX SIGMA

WE MUST ELIMINATE ALL WASTE!
WE MUST ELIMINATE ALL HUMAN FACTORS!
ALL ACCIDENTS ARE PREVENTABLE!

In George Orwell's Book 1984.. Big Brother had a symbol too. and party slogans!


WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH


George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948 to warn people about what can happen when psychological warfare is used to gain total control over information and people. 

One of these things is real and one of them is fiction. 


BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!


Six Sigma is real and behavior based safety is it's psychological warfare methodology. 

Hey union workers on the railroad and in other industries that use party slogans like...

"All accidents are preventable."

This is the war that is being waged...

To get you to run the plan and to not ask questions.. to control the flow of information....while the company cuts all waste... AKA .... Jobs...
'
AND!!!!!

These tactics are being used against you to get you to hide injuries! 






Mutual Accountability is a six sigma style corporate plan... and part of the psychological warfare package..... 

So, union workers.. my suggestion would be.... watch 1984 and then study Six Sigma and Behavior based safety...because

 there is a war on the workers and it's time we started calling the shots....



George Orwell's 1984 


DOWN WITH Behaivor Based SAFETY
DOWN WITH BS
DOWN WITH BS
DOWN WITH BS....


SOLIDARITY!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Railroad Music dot ORG...


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Saturday, April 4, 2015

47 years ago. MLK was executed... and his works.. were put into action!

Forty Seven years ago MLK jr. was executed.



A couple of days ago... I was sitting in a local bagel shop hanging out with my son. I overheard two guys talking about Jesus. My son was looking at my phone, checking out his daily dose of Instagram when I decided to strike up conversation with the Christians. I asked them plainly, “Are y’all talking about Jesus?” One of the dudes straight out said yes. He then asked me if I was a Christian and I told him no, not really…. but... I told him that once I was a Muslim and that I still enjoy talking about Esa. He then asked me who that was and I told him that Esa is the Arabic name for Jesus. We then introduced ourselves and I said to them that my name was John Paul.

We mostly talked about:

What Jesus was doing back in the day.

I like to ask folks a question. Why did they execute Jesus and who was "THEY?"  I like to mention that the word execute goes much better with the story, because execute can also mean to be put into action. As in, they killed Jesus and then God’s words were put into action. Our conversation went back and forth for a bit until I was asked, “well, what do you think Jesus’s central message was?” My answer to that question was easy. I think he was rising up against state oppression. This does not sit very well sometimes with “lawful” Christians, but I mentioned in my answer that he was arrested and put on trial.

We talked about Ferguson and I told them that I had written a song about it. We also talked about the disputed “other” Mary. That conversation then led to a conversation about punishment. We then talked about prisons. I asked about law and judges. I then posed the questions. Should prisoners work for private corporations while in jail? Is making money for people deemed punishment to pay a debt to society? 

Question 2: Should corporations be allowed to contribute to the political process if judges are appointed to courts that enforce the laws of the state?

My Christian brothers were starting to get frustrated with the conversation, and the other dude then poised his suggestion that I must be a conspiracy theorist. I suggested that I was a Liberation Theologist muckraker. I asked them if they had ever heard of Liberation Theology?

They said no. 

I asked the question. “What was Martin Luther Kings’ central message and why was he killed?” The brother said that MLK was all about equality. I suggested that MLK was rising up against oppression. I then told them that several things had happened in the days before his murder. I told them to listen to the speech that he gave in Memphis. He was calling for a General Strike and a Boycott. I also told them that MLK had come out against the Vietnam War. I also suggested that MLK had friended Malcolm X. Who had been calling for African Americans to quit the war.






It is in my opinion that it was ok for MLK to rise up for “equality,” but it was his preaching to:

 Stop the machine !!

that ended his March. In April.. 47 years ago.


There was more to our conversation of course, but the meat of the discussion is represented. Today is the 47th year after MLK jr. and in my opinion, I think there is much in common with the two brothers known as Martin and Esa. My Christian friends kept asking me if I believed that Jesus was the “savoir” I suggested that I believed that Jesus was a very important man in a long line of important people. I also suggested that the Book that tells of him has been manipulated by man and that to use the book as a tool is fine, but one must remember that folk stories often change and morph over time. I also suggested that tools can be used for many things and that sometimes tools are used incorrectly and can cause accidents and even death. I also suggested that the Jews still don’t think that Jesus was the “savoir.” I always like to ask… “Where was Jesus from?” Here is my tune that I was talking about...