Excerpt from Thomas Sparrow’s crime noir Northwoods Standoff.
Dedicated to the brave souls of the Occupy movement. May their resolve maintain.
PART NINE
He slid off the counter and came lithely to his feet. His body seemed to grow in front of me, his voice deep and fierce, eyes glowing wild and red. “Every so-called, great ruling culture in the history of the world has come to a point where it begins to decline, and its usefulness to the world begins to fade. In their decay, these powers often turn evil and greedy, desperate with the desire to maintain their greatness. Ancient Rome is only one example.
“This inevitable decline always causes great unrest within that nation. Great tension between those who want to tear down the old country and start anew, and those who want to preserve what was, at all costs. That’s what beginning now, right here.
“Look at America… after an unprecedented period of freedom for the individual and an influx of new and revolutionary ideas and concepts, we’re now headed back towards the guiding principles of the gray-world order. Conformity and consumption.
“We’re told to think positive, occupy our time with making money, and not look to deeply at anything that ain’t our business. America, where the less you know, the better off you are.
“Let me ask you, Randy… think about it… don’t you feel like there’s something out there trying to do you in? Are the things you value being systematically attacked? And don’t you think there are people out there thinking of ways to eradicate everything they feel has been responsible for this period of unprecedented revolt and evolution? They want the wild things to be gone from this earth.
“I want you to think deep about it and see if you don’t find there’s something out there trying to eat all the wheat, and leave only the chaff for the rest of us.
“Laborer’s wages are being cut. Smokers of god’s herb are being put in jail at an alarming rate. Society is shunning those who speak out against the unbridled greed and excessive consumption that are fast becoming an American tradition. Defy the Great White Chiefs and go to prison is again becoming the way of the land. Look what they’ve done with the leaders of the Indian movement. They’re either dead or in jail on false charges. The powers-that-be will do what they have to do to destroy us, just like in the days of General Custer.
“Let me tell you, man, a few years back, I was hanging out with some big-time Indian militants, over in your old hometown—Minneapolis. A few of these guys were certified basket cases, sad, but true. These lunatics were pushing us all toward armed revolution. They actually wanted to fight a gun battle with the United States government, if you can believe that. Fools must have never studied history. Christ, who is dumb enough to think they can win an all-out confrontation with the military-industrial complex?”
All this talk of war had me edgy. I relaxed a little as Roy waxed on about the futility of war and the need for the “old ways” to survive. My blood started to boil again as his eyes widened and his voice became venom-tinged.
“What you need to do is fight a guerrilla war, my friend. A war of non-compliance and sabotage, little deeds done for messages. Environmental and economic sabotage coupled with defending the rights of the common man and the individual. One must start at the local level and educate the young. Commando strikes, tax rebellion… anything you can think of to slow down the onslaught of the Locusts.
“This enemy doesn’t kill directly, like it used to. No, no, now their methods are economic shunning, condemnation, foreclosure, drug laws, racial discrimination and gentrification. It happens every day. And you know that it does. They seek to isolate and humiliate. Adjudicate and eviscerate. Government programs designed to help the poor and protect the earth are being attacked unmercifully by high-paid minions of the elite hierarchy. In your big cities, in the poor neighborhoods, once the people are weakened, the gangsters move in with their heroin and the liquor pushers with their rotgut, and soon good people are lying in the gutter dripping bodily fluids into the sewer system.”
(To be continued)
