Robert Niles

A Declaration of Independence from America's Past

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:14:00 MST

By Robert Niles:

Upon the 400th anniversary of slavery in America, we, the people, hold these truths to be evident:

That America was founded not by pilgrims seeking religious freedom but by corporations seeking profit,
And that many of those corporations achieved their profits through the enslavement of human beings,
And that the Revolutionary War began not as a War of Independence but as a War of Insurrection, aimed at gaining wealthy, white males in the American colonies representation in the British Parliament, and if that could not be achieved, the overthrow of King George III to clear the way for American representation in Parliament,
And that the Revolution became a War of Independence, a year after its start, because it became clear that there would be no support elsewhere in Britain for the colonies' cause and that to concede the war meant death as traitors for the colonies' leaders,
And that the United States of America's first attempt at government - the Articles of Confederation - failed,
And that the Articles' replacement - the Constitution - encoded in law that a black slave was worth only three-fifths of other human beings,
And that the first 90 years of the United States of America's economic, social, military and political development was made possible because of the exploitation of slave labor,
And that the United States of America was able to exist and expand only by waging genocide against Native people,
And that when some Americans stood up to end the disgrace of slavery, 11 states chose to secede and take arms against the United States of America rather than end slavery,
And that Confederacy was founded upon the principle of white supremacy, declaring Black Americans as "an inferior and dependent race,"
And that the Civil War was fought over the institution of slavery and for no other unrelated cause,
And that since the Confederacy's military defeat, white supremacists and Confederate sympathizers have sought to recast the Civil War as one between the states over the right of self-governance and to glorify traitors against the United States of America while diminishing those who fought and died to expand civil rights,
And that white supremacists have enlisted law enforcement to oppress, harass, injure and kill people of color and their allies in order to preserve, protect and expand the cause of white supremacy in the United States,
And that corporations and owners of capital have enlisted law enforcement to oppress, harass, injure and kill working men and women to prevent them from organizing and bargaining collectively for higher wages and greater benefits,
And that the United States of America has denied and continues to deny participation in its government to people of color, to women, to the young and to others whose voices disagree with those in power at the moment,
And that the United States of America has interned in camps classes of people - without charge or cause - for the purposes of oppressing, intimidating, terrorizing and even exterminating those people,
And that our nations' founders made explicit that while Americans were to enjoy freedom of religion, "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,"
And that leaders within the United States of America nevertheless have pursued the cause of Christian dominionism at the expense of the freedom of women to control their own bodies and of people of other faiths and no religious affiliation to live their lives unmolested,
And that the government of the United States of America is influenced more by wealth and by nepotism than by the will of its people,
And that the United States of America has accomplished great things in its history — including the liberation of Europe from fascism and the peaceful exploration of space — proving that America can do better than the worst moments of its past.

We, therefore, resolve that it is time for all Americans to question our nation's mythology... and to work together to build a better United States of America that, at long last, lives up to its promise of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, with liberty and justice for all.

To show your support for this declaration, please share it with others.

What changed to finally get America's attention on sexual harassment and abuse?

Fri, 29 Dec 2017 16:02:00 MST

By Robert Niles:

Okay, here's a question about this year's flood of sexual abuse and harassment accusations:

Why now?

What is it about this specific moment that has made people ready to accept and act upon the reports of abuse and harassment that, frankly, always have been there for us to hear?

Why are we listening now, and not just continuing to ignore them?

I have to concede that nothing qualifies me to answer this question. I'm a guy without a #MeToo anecdote to give me any authority, and I haven't done any formal research. But I do want to throw one thought out there — one observation that might explain why we seem to have hit a social tipping point right now.

And, fair warning, it's about the money.

I agree with many people who've written on this topic that harassment and abuse aren't sexual expressions — they are expressions of power. Power — over money, job security, grades, legal entanglements, and professional and social reputation — allows abusers to intimidate their victims into silence. Women who speak up risk losing their careers, while the men who are accused know that an army of people who depend upon them for future pay, employment and recommendations will come to their defense. What she says, he says to forget. So people do.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

So what has changed? Well, the thing about using money to buy power is that at some point, you actually have to spend it.

It's not hard to notice that amoral, powerful people are pretty greedy, too. Over the past generation, they've sucked up more and more of our nation's money by cutting workers' hours, shipping jobs overseas, eliminating benefits, and getting cheap on (if not outright stealing) pay.

That changes the equation when you're trying to cover up abuse. If the people you are abusing no longer have any job security, good pay, or promising future to protect, they have a lot less incentive to keep quiet about what you are doing to them. And if you're ripping off the other people you employ, too, they no longer have much of an incentive to look away and defend you.

Yes, many brave women have risked it all to speak up in the past. They would not let money buy their silence. But we never seemed to get to that social tipping point that we have reached now, when entire industries are demanding reform and men who once wielded unquestionable power are losing their jobs.

As a fan of great stories, I love the hero's journey... but I cheer for the ironic downfall, too. For too long, we as a nation celebrated greed, selfishness, and arrogance, allowing a small class of wealthy, powerful men to exploit us and push our nation to the brink. Thank goodness for the women who are speaking up now... and giving some of those wretched abusers a final push over that cliff.

What #MeToo taught me I was doing wrong about sexual harassment

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 12:01:00 MST

By Robert Niles:

Reading Facebook and Twitter for the past day has been heartbreaking. With each post tagged #MeToo, I ache more and again, watching so many women (and men) I know identify themselves as victims of sexual harassment or assault.

#MeToo reverberates because I have tried so intently during my life never to be the person who would lead someone to have to post #MeToo. If you know me IRL, you probably have witnessed my social reticence. Reading individuals always has been tough for me, so I have tried to protect myself by erring on the side of caution in relationships.

With women when I was young and single, that meant that if I was not 100 percent certain that you were interested in me, I wouldn't have dreamed of even suggesting anything remotely physical. As a manager when I was older, I tried to treat my crew the way I would want to be treated. I never wanted to be the creep. Still, I cringe when I think back about how I consistently gazed down when talking with people instead of looking them in the eye. I am sure that many women considered that creepy, but I didn't look men in the eye, either.

But I don't write any of this to absolve or acquit me. I write this to accuse me, instead.

#MeToo tells me that nothing I did — or did not do — likely spared a single woman around me from having to endure sexual harassment or sexual assault at some moment in her life. Even if I tried to never be the harasser, harassment still happened to almost everyone I knew.

I thought that if I behaved, I had done my part and didn't have to worry about sexual harassment. I was wrong.

I join those who believe that harassment and assault are rarely about sex. They almost always are about power. And if one person cedes power — in any arena — someone else inevitably takes it for himself. So what if I didn't harass anyone? Someone else just did, instead. Someone else would take the power that I refused for myself.

And that's why #MeToo bothered me so much at first. It's not just because of the expressions of real torment that so many people have had to endure in their lives. That pain cuts me, yes. But it also hurt me to think that this noble attempt to expose the grotesque scope of this problem wouldn't do a thing to stop it. The abusers didn't care about their victims then. Why should they start caring now?

Shaming people won't stop assault and harassment. Everyone who does this crap knows damned well that he shouldn't be doing it. But the predators continue, anyway, because they think they will get away with it. And they almost always are correct.

So people stopped Harvey Weinstein. Great. But I guarantee you that on the day that the Academy expelled Harvey Weinstein, dozens of young men sexually harassed or assaulted someone for the first time and got away with it. The Whac-a-Mole strategy never will end sexual harassment and assault. Every victim of Harvey Weinstein told a variation of the same story: He was a powerful movie producer who could stall or end their careers. So even if they could walk away, they could not stop him from attacking others.

The only way that people get the protection they need against the powerful is to find a way to stand together and change that balance of power. With every story I read about Harvey Weinstein, I wondered where SAG/AFTRA was. The actors' union could have provided a counter-balance to Harvey Weinstein and those like him. Rich men might be able to by off politicians, bully police, or charm the courts, but an aggressive union can shut down even a rich man's business with a strike over workplace safety.

Sure, it would be great if the bullies and predators of the world simply stopped abusing others. But history shows us that people very rarely give up power voluntarily. If we want to stop abuse, it will not come from asking those who commit these crimes to leave the rest of us alone. It will come from our standing together... and taking back the power that they use to abuse us.

Women can find allies in men here. Many of us are as sickened by this as you are. Abusive bosses don't limit themselves to sex as a weapon against those they seek to exploit. Those who abuse power for sex almost always abuse their power for money, status, and control, as well. If we men want to free ourselves from that exploitation, we must join women in standing up against sexual harassment and abuse, too. Stopping the abuse of power liberates us all — regardless of gender.

I thought that simply not harassing people was the enough. That was naive. Not one of Harvey Weinstein's victims could stop him. Even Harvey Weinstein, or any other predator, locking himself in solitary confinement won't stop this. As long as anyone has the power to abuse and get away with it, abuse will continue.

Here is the awful realization that #MeToo has forced me to confront — that individual will accomplishes nothing in the face of greater power. But that applies to everyone — including the powerful. If we want justice, we have to find a way to organize to shut down the businesses, the campaigns, and the careers of the powerful, so that we can create our own, greater power to take back control. This isn't simply about outing predators, one by one — though I hope that continues. It's about creating unions, political parties, and law enforcement offices that look out for us, instead of for them.

It's about being willing to walk off a job and onto a picket line to support victims of harassment in your company or production. It's about getting behind a primary challenger to candidates who refuse to treat the people around them with dignity, instead of getting cowed by the fear of your party's candidate losing in the general. And it's about packing local council meetings to demand the jobs of cops and prosecutors who won't pursue credible claims of abuse. Only when people stop getting away with this will it end. Only when the powerful learn that the price for harassment is the loss of their power will they choose to behave.

This is not a job for victims of sexual harassment and abuse to do on their own. They owe us nothing. We owe them. I owe them. I am sorry for not seeing that until now. #MeToo won't shame the predators into stopping. But it can rally the rest us to unite against them.