PHOTOS/SARAH JANE RHEE
Editor’s Note: The comments below, made by poet and organizer Sarah Menefee, wrapped up a powerful seven-hour event titled ‘Overthrowing Capitalism.’ Sponsored by the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, it had two forums of speakers and dozens of poets and musicians. It was held on November 15 at the Emerald Tablet in San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — What an inspiring and uplifting chorus of voices we’ve heard today, each uniquely expressing something all of us share—the desire and determination to put an end to the exploitation and suffering built into the capitalist economic system and the alienated death culture it creates. Our common vision is to replace it with one built on peace and cooperation, a world where all have everything they need to express themselves materially, culturally and spiritually.
We are heartened as we’re reminded by these strong and dedicated thinkers and artists how many of us are about this work of evolution/revolution, each in her or his unique way, representing billions with the same dreams. Our desire today has been to bring these practical visionaries together to inspire each other in our ongoing work for social transformation. So many now are dedicating themselves to this epochal and joyous task, expressed in passionate action, as reflected in the words of the organizers and activists, thinkers, poets, and musicians we heard today.
Out of the self-destruction of the unjust and unsustainable capitalist system and its widening cracks comes the zeitgeist of the new and the energies to change it once and for all. The new technologies that are making capitalism a dying dinosaur by eliminating jobs, and thus the wage-slavery that it depends on, would in the hands of our people set the conditions for the liberating of all and the sharing of the abundance it creates.
There is no excuse for homelessness, hunger, want, crushing poverty, planetary destruction, war and the fascism that upholds this system of artificial scarcity, extreme obscene wealth for the few and crushing poverty and misery for billions. It is in the interest of the vast majority of the world’s people, and the survival of all life, that we share our common vision with all its beautiful facets, and take it back out into our work and our lives, to be freely shared. ‘There is no force on earth stronger than an idea whose time has come.’
PHOTOS/SARAH JANE RHEE
San Francisco poet and organizer Sarah Menefee is a long-time homeless rights activist. She is the Homeless Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board, and a founding member of such organizations as the San Francisco Union of the Homeless, Homes Not Jails and 'First they came for the homeless’. Known for her poetry about the streets, her latest collections are Winter Rose, Sign and Holy Eel.
