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| Illustration by Joe Sacco, from Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt. |
Chris Hedges gives a disturbing reality check about what is going on around the country, and what it means for our future, on his most recent drop in on Democracy Now. He details several of what he calls "sacrifice zones," which he believes are templates for the rest of the country as wages continue to be depressed and the wealth gap rises, and we transition to a "neo-feudal society."
I got his book right after listening to it and will be tweet about the content as I go (the artwork is pretty great as well).
Chris draws some interesting connection with the Chicago Teachers' Union strike that's currently under way. Given his warnings, and the way Occupy was dealt with by the powers-that-be, it doesn't seem unreasonable that the strike could be put down by force. There is already speculation that Rahm Emanuel is looking to pursuit a court injunction on the basis that the strike "is or has become a clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public." Apparently there has been a strike in crime since the strike began. This seems one quick hop away from sending in the storm troopers, but it's not a sure bet that a judge would go along with it. I've also heard that it is illegal for teachers to strike on issues not directly related to pay under some provisions in the new llinois Education Labor Relations Act but I cannot seem to verify this (if anyone knows if this is true or not let me know). Since it's clear that pay is not really the central issue here, we may see that used against the strike (though harder to sell to the rest of us).
