A common refrain today is how ‘the government’ needs to do something; the openly voiced belief that those in authority hold all the power, while the ‘common folk’ are merely cogs who have no strength to change anything. The government is invoked as villain and savior alike, from railing against public policies that make life harder, from the speaker’s perspective, to complaints about the misuse of tax funds – most notable recently in the complaints about the uses of the bailouts around the globe – to the quiet desperation of those drawing on resources such as food stamps, looking to the authority to provide for them as they find themselves sliding into an economic pit. The theme is ever the same: we, the people who are not the Elite, not the Rulers, not the Wealthy, are powerless; we are reliant upon the largess of the mighty to merely survive, and so we cannot do more than mumble complaints when the mighty abuse their position.
This is, of course, a fantastic and bald-faced lie, one told since the rise of the first king in the early days of human civilization. Many of the greatest moments in history were possible solely because the common folk chose to reject this age-old lie; within the last few centuries alone we have seen rebellions cast off the rule of distant empires, simple, normal people stand united in opposition to the blind arrogance of elites who knew nothing of the real costs of their actions, and the transformation of civilization over and over again. The rise of civil rights was not a government-sponsored situation; it was a bitter struggle by ordinary people, in the face of persecution and opression, to demand justice for themselves and for those who chose to believe the tales told by those who would crush them into obedience.
It has always been this way; in the face of a trial, there are those who stand with the firm strength of conviction, alone at first, but inevitably drawing the support of those emboldened by their example. From the first person to tell the rulers that their actions would not be stood for, through to the modern struggle for security of food, water, and climate – it is the actions of the ‘little’ person, the non-elite, the brave commoner, that truly shapes the future of the world. It is the choice of action or inaction that decides if those who feel themselves to have authority – be it the authority of the political world, accumulation of wealth, or the blunt, crushing force of militaristic strength – are able to claim legitimacy or not. It takes courage to stand up, to be the first to speak out against the status quo. All too often, those who benefit from the current situation will do the work of the mighty for them, trying to shout down the dissenters for fear of ruining what they see as a good thing.
And yet, time and again, people continue to stand up and speak out, to struggle against the tyranny of the minority and the silent majority. Time and again, when the trials of the present are too much, anger at the injustice of it boils over and incites the normally placid into action. It is a curious fact of history, and one that may well play itself out across the globe once again as we approach the convergence point of Peak Energy and Climate Change. Those who are being made destitute by our blind reliance on fossil fuels; those who are being marginalized by the industrial world and globalization; those who see the danger looming as our world warms due to the rise of technology gulping down an ancient legacy of concentrated sunlight, spewing the waste into the skies; these people now stand up in defiance of the voices of the governments who back globalization, the corporations that reap windfalls from the poisoning of our world, the elite who would rob from the future to ensure their own comfort in the present.
It is the power of people – not ‘the’ people, merely people in general, as a whole, who are willing to stand up in defiance of this short-sighted and greedy behavior. It is their courage in the face of an oppressive, world-straddling civilization, one built upon exploiting the poorest to benefit the richest, that now stands as the battlefield in the age-old struggle between the kingmakers and the common folk. It is the climate change activists, striving to block the construction of new coal plants. It is the protestors who encourage stores to buy locally-sourced food, or fair trade products. It is the innovators who devise alternatives to the current regime of fossil fuels. It is the guerilla gardener, sneaking into an abandoned lot to plant flowers and saplings in resistance to the lifeless design of the modern city. It is the small farmer, growing his food without a reliance on chemical agriculture. It is the shopper who chooses to support a farmer’s market over an international chain store, who supports a CSA, who refuses to give away their cash to the already-wealthy. It is anyone who tries, however small the effort, to make a difference in the world. It is anyone who strives toward the words of Ghandi, attempting to be the change they wish to see in the world.
It is these people, who stand in defiance of the Grand Lie told to us all by the people who rely on silence and conformity, who shape the world’s future; and any of us can be these people. It is our true birthright, our power, to stand up for what we believe in, to speak up against cruelty, tyranny, and blind, ignorant opression, to be the change in the world.
Go on, stand up.
