Refusing to be a drone in the capitalist machine

October 12, 2005
Issue 

Roger X.

I was one of those people who was very much involved in my own world until the dawn of my awakening about a year ago. At the time, I was reading various pieces of literature and it was when I drew links between such worlds depicted in George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and our "real world", that I began to realise what a fucked-up world we live in.

So you can imagine how impressed I was when I stepped into the Resistance headquarters in Sydney and found all these posters plastered all over the walls, the stacks of paper and leaflets all about the place and the people: warm, welcoming and rushing about, organising fight-backs against the oppressors.

Now, I have a purpose truly worthy of our highest aspirations. And that is to build a better world — socialism.

Our first step is to unite all those who are like-minded but do not know where to start. For our world is enslaved by the matrix of the capitalist order. We must unplug more people by bringing up the issues that really hit home. Are you pissed off at this? Are you indignant about that? Do you feel the rage? There's plenty to get angry about. If you feel that way, then why not come join us?

People today have a pretty warped idea on what "normal" is. Is oppression normal? Repression? Loss of inalienable rights? War? It seems so. Because it is now quite "normal" to see daily on the news another dozen or so human beings wiped out on the killing fields of an unjust war. A war waged by the corporate conglomerates, by the Liberal/Labor combine and the US "Republicrat" oligarchy, motivated by greed, and supported by blind "patriots" under the illusion of democracy.

Resistance is not a fad. Resistance is not a subculture, and people should join with the intention of getting actively involved whenever they can. Resistance is a unity of people refusing to submit, refusing to be a drone in the capitalist machine. Resistance is a spanner between the cogs of their clockwork. Resistance is a spear through the hearts of the bourgeoisie, but at the same time, hope for the people.

[Abridged from a speech given to Resistance's 34th national conference on October 2-3 in Melbourne.]

From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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