What Happens When Taxpayers Strike?

Although written from a UK perspective, this thread is applicable to most “Western” countries. Just reply if you don’t want to read; I merely explain how to cause a revolution, and (quite separately) why violence is counter revolutionary –even for places where it at first, appears to have worked…

The UK possess 86,000 prison places www.insidetime.org... for its population of 62.6 million -enough (at any one moment in time) for just 0.1372% of our population. In America prison capacity (including secret ones) is enough for around 1% of the population.
(Just for perspective) America has the world’s highest incarnation rate: en.wikipedia.org...
5.983 times China’s and 2.19 higher than even Iran’s).

Anyhow: Britain is far, far away from a functional democracy, the problem is usually described as “The Democratic Deficit” and seems to be growing almost yearly. In April this was the headline

We're sick of the lot of you: Disgusted voters give ALL three 'out of touch' party leaders the worst poll ratings in history www.dailymail.co.uk...

Indeed: The main thing stopping a revolution seems to be the belief that we are a functional democracy (which at least until 2010’s elections) was widely held.
The second is the generalisation that most people engaged in protesting (in fact, throughout the Western) are left-wing -far more so than the populations they come from.
As a result, when they talk about things like occupy London Stock Exchange they draw a crowd but a very, very small one (against the wider populations numbers). They have good arguments, and a well-established class of disgruntled intellectuals but their intelligencer is just not focussed on (and indeed is quite often at odds with) wider public opinion.

Briton is a very right-wing, population, and the first way to know this is by our viewing newspaper sales: en.wikipedia.org... Anyone familiar with UK newspapers will know the left-wing ones are: The Independent, Guardian, I (a tabloid), Daily Record, and Daily Mirror (a tabloid)
Out of a 2012’s combined, daily sales rate, of 9,699,461 newspaper just 20.41% (1,980,215) come from these “left wing” papers with 55.69% of that number coming from one newspaper (The Daily Mirror –frequently nicknamed the Daily Moron because it often has next to no (political) news, and the politics has is as biased as anything from the right-wing Sun).

7 Bones of Contention, that Can Spark a Real Revolution…
1. EU referendum 82% want an EU referendum within a year:

The survey by Populus for The Times found almost half - 49 per cent - wanted a referendum immediately while a further third - 33 per cent - believed there should be one "in the next few years".
Fewer than a fifth - 18 per cent - saw no need for a referendum in the foreseeable future. www.telegraph.co.uk...

The European inflates the cost of supermarket food (with nearly its budget spent on CAP –subsidies for farmers) it costs more in membership than the UK gets out, creates frequently unwelcome bureaucracy, and interferes with the British legal system –often against what is democratically popular. Under its existence multi-million tonnes of perfectly edible fish have been dumped into the water –not because they are plentiful, but precisely because they are endangered. The scandal is due to be changed (after over 30 years) but hasn’t been yet:

As many as two-thirds of fish in some areas are thrown back dead into the sea, including half of all fish caught in the North Sea, according to some estimates. This is the result of the EU's common fisheries policy (CFP), under which fleets are awarded a quota of each species they may catch. When they catch more than their quota, or species for which they do not have a quota, they throw the excess back – but they are usually dead. www.guardian.co.uk...

Many think the total cost of EU membership at 65 billion –around 8% of total government spending
www.democracymovementsurrey.co.uk... under our membership fish British stocks are at least 17 times lower than Victorian times
www.guardian.co.uk...
Under the “free movement of people” Britain is powerless to prevent EU immigrants taking unskilled jobs (even though there aren’t enough, and we’re in recession).
Meanwhile one way the EU inflates food prices is by “food dumping” (destroying the agriculture sectors of third world nations, by selling Europe’s food, at a lower price, than it cost even Europe to produce).

“EU referendum Obstruction” is an issue that could easily unite the police & army against the government. Do the left-wing touch it? Not at all. Almost everybody, considers opposing membership as a right wing issue (support for a referendum is highest with the Conservatives, barely a majority with Labour members, less with the Liberal Democrats). But the vast majority of all MP’s (in all parties) oppose it (since they are neither democratic, nor representative) www.telegraph.co.uk...

2. Inability to Pay taxation: Everybody realises government must tax for its existence. But few agree with taxes that take zero account of your personal earning. In the UK these are: Council Tax (something even those renting a house pay) Business Rates (you can have run a shop, employed 20 people, had a bad year, and then get landed with a £7000 bill based on your premises value. Its payable regardless of your circumstance ownership-renting situation.
VAT (supposed to be a tax on luxury items, it even adds 20% to the cost of adults clothing –are our poor supposed to go around in children’s clothes?)
Petrol: This tax costs far more than the cost of maintaining our roads. Often justified as a “green tax” the fact is government is removing the tax subsidies on petrol for public transport. This is from 2010 (before the cuts were implemented) www.guardian.co.uk...

3. End Welfare Without Work Almost everybody believes (able bodied) people, on long-term, welfare should do some work, for their community, in exchange for the government help they receive. The tiniest minority supports exploitation, but the idea of some work is popular because…
A. Doing work is psychologically good for the beholder
B. It means more money is available –either to the unemployed or e.g. government in other areas, like the NHS
C. It would almost completely eliminate welfare fraud.

Yet the “cross party consensus” i.e. dictatorship (and it really is a dictatorship in almost every sense of the word) is against offering our people this option –yep even the option of working for extra benefits. Rather the government forbids people on UK welfare from working, and they can & do go to prison if caught (it’s called “cheating” even if work is so limited, they are actually richer on benefits than in work).

4. Foreign Aid The vast majority want the government practiced abolished, and left to individuals.

SEVEN out of 10 voters want Britain’s spending on foreign aid frozen or slashed.
And 43 per cent want to scrap it entirely, a new poll reveals today.
David Cameron has vowed to increase Britain’s foreign aid budget to more than £12billion by 2013 while ordering most other Government departments to make drastic spending cuts. www.express.co.uk...

Last year the government ring-fenced only two areas of its budgetary spending; the NHS and the Department for International Development (i.e. aid). Healthcare has, and always will be, a major priority for British taxpayers, whereas recent opinion polls have shown foreign aid to be of far less concern. www.nouse.co.uk...

But again (through another “cross party consensus” “Conservative” Chancellor George Osborne was able to increase funding –whilst everything else was cut.

Figures show that the UK spending on foreign aid will rise by 50 per cent, increasing from £8.4billion this year to £12.6billion in 2014 – equal to £479 for every household in Britain. www.express.co.uk...

5. Arms Exports At the same time as reducing public spending, saying we care about the poor (but actually leaving countries even statistically poorer with our billions in aid, than without it: Read exactly how direct from a Zambian woman here www.dambisamoyo.com...
Your charity (UK Plc) exports more munitions (per head of population) than any other country in the world. See here where these killing machines are exported to (interactive map): www.guardian.co.uk...
Meanwhile (when David Cameron became the first Western leader to visit Egypt after Mubarak’s overthrow) when he took 5 arms dealers with him, in his diplomatic entourage (to do doggy deals with a temporary government)

David Cameron was last night accused of using his Middle East tour to promote Arab democracy as a cover for arms sales.
www.dailymail.co.uk...

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Egypt last month with an entourage of arms dealers in tow because he wanted to "make sure that this is a genuine transition from military rule to civilian rule". weekly.ahram.org.eg...

This is the same man (who as well as passionately arguing for increased “foreign aid”) also has the political audacity, to please left-wingers by saying “Britain is responsible for a many of the world’s problems” www.telegraph.co.uk...
With a piece of …. like him around, and him just representative of our 3 identical leaders, I’d imagine he’s one to know –after all he’s personally causing many of the worlds problems!!!

We British realise governments sometimes must export munitions to all kinds of regimes. However (being one of the world’s most 8th most charitable country) (without foreign aid!!!) www.guardian.co.uk... and from those I’ve spoken almost everybody I’ve spoken to is against making a profit on munitions exports to non-democraticnations. Yes by all means export munitions to them, but do it through the government so that it only serves recognised political objectives –accountable to our own democracy.

6. Inability to deport dangerous criminals Often the EU prevents Britain deporting the worst possible criminals e.g…
1. One of America's most-wanted paedophiles can walk the streets of Britain a free man after the High Court ruled that extraditing him to the US would breach his human rights.

Shawn Sullivan was reprieved by the same court that ruled Asperger’s sufferer Gary McKinnon should be sent to America despite evidence he may kill himself.
The 43-year-old Sullivan, who was on Interpol’s most-wanted list, is now free to walk our streets without supervision www.dailymail.co.uk...

2.

The UK Border Agency has reacted with fury to a court ruling allowing a Sudanese asylum seeker who raped a 12-year-old girl to remain in Britain. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk...

3.

A Nigerian rapist escaped deportation yesterday after European judges ruled he had a right to a ‘private life’ in Britain. www.dailymail.co.uk...

4. Of course it applies to less serious crimes too

Right mess: Albanian robber can't be deported... because of HIS human rights
Florian Abazi sneaked back into Britain to commit more crimes - and has been allowed to stay because he had a child with an English woman www.mirror.co.uk...

5. Cat Gate, the Truth:

A judge allowed an illegal immigrant to dodge deportation because he feared separating him from his cat risked ‘serious emotional consequences’, it emerged yesterday.
www.dailymail.co.uk...

We fought for our freedom during WW2 but were rewarded with a liberal suppressor –incidentally or not, covering almost exactly the same territory once held by Nazi Germany.
So if anybody begins a revolution on the basis that we British “do not like vile, foreign criminals” you will have so many people come out of their housing estate that it would culminate with David Cameron, Michael Howards, and Williams Hague’s Balls all being publically crucified on the cross –never mind what would happen to “our” other Lib Dem & Labour Party “leaders”.

7. Foreign Wars Generally –most notably Afghanistan

I don’t believe our foreign wars are as important (to most people) as the first 5 issues. Nevertheless the public is far from happy about them.
The reason why over 425 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan (see pictures & names here) is not to bring Afghanistan democracy www.bbc.co.uk... .If that had been the case we would simply have armed, and vaguely assisted the Northern Alliance en.wikipedia.org... –back in 2001 (before leaving their country within a year or two later). But alas these guys (who had been fighting the Taliban long before we put a foot on Afghan soil) wanted a type of tribal democracy would have been fitting to their culture. Whilst the Western powers wanted a Western democracy –something history has time and time again shown always fails in Tribal Society’s. The closest example of it ever working is South Africa –a place which (despite fair ballot counting) is now virtually a one party (ANC) state.
Nor did we invade to tackle heroin production which has risen 61% between 2011 & 2012 alone www.dailymail.co.uk...
Because (if we sincerely cared about heroine production) then this fungus which only tackles opium poppies and developed in 1998, would have been released years ago news.bbc.co.uk...
Instead US embassy cables reveal we are fully aware our Afghan President Karzai is actively involved in heroine dealing (by selectively giving “pardons” to those even Afghan justice catches

In April, President Karzai pardoned five border policemen who were caught with 124 kilograms of heroin in their border police vehicle. The policemen, who have come to be known as the Zahir Five,, were tried, convicted and sentenced to terms of 16 to 18 years each at the Central Narcotics Tribunal. But President Karzai pardoned all five of them on the grounds that they were distantly related to two individuals who had been martyred during the civil war. www.guardian.co.uk...

No wonder why Afghanistan is a failed mess, never mind state! Forever hooked on expensive, allied support.

How To Start A Revolution
Before announcing a protest date, first gather 0.25% of the population support through online partition (i.e. about 1 in 400 people). Forget “occupy” I want a protest even the best state propagandist would have trouble slandering i.e....
A protest for For A Functional Democracy Itself! (As defined by long overdue referendums actually being held).
0.28% is enough to twice overwhelm UK prison capacity, and (although most original signatories wouldn’t be true to their own commitments) the publicity, plus popular political nature, means more than 0.25% will participate. That’s only the start: The longer the protest the more people owe –the harder it is to given in, and the more people who will join in.


Why Violence Can’t Work…
Violence and politics mix about as well as fire and petrol. It’s not that they don’t mix, just greatly impoverish all sides. In this fashion, armed resistance is (historically) one of the most costly, least rewarding, political activities.

Assassination is the worst. The strange, almost paranormal fact about this course of action, is even when it does work e.g…
A. Stalin At least 7 attempts history.stackexchange.com...
B. Gadhafi at least 8 attempts…

Prior to this year, there have been at-least 8 recorded unsuccessful assassination attempts against Gadhafi. newsone.com...

And here you can actually see the photo of a bomb that failed to explode in a house were Gaddafi was resident, in this still unofficial NATO attempt www.telegraph.co.uk...
C. Hitler survived 27 attempts…
en.wikipedia.org...
D. Saddam Hussein literally hundreds, in 1991 alone…

In the 1991 war, allied forces launched 260 air attacks on "leadership" targets, such as bunkers, party headquarters and military command centers, in an attempt to eliminate Saddam and his top aides. abcnews.go.com...

He became known for his paranoia, which was not unjustified, considering he had survived at least seven assassination attempts. www.notablebiographies.com...

And least two 2003 rense.com...
E. Castro up 683 www.guardian.co.uk...

For almost 50 years, Fidel Castro has relished telling audiences large and small of the hundreds of assassination attempts he has survived.
www.cia.gov...

Successful assassination tends (far more often than not) backfires. Either by leading even worse people into power, or by making history take less obvious, till then unforeseen, courses. A book covering all major, modern assassinations Terminate With Extreme Prejudice makes this very clear –not through opinion, just through the facts. www.amazon.co.uk...

What Works…
Military Coups: But power often corrupts their most moralistic objectives. Coups work best, when they’re most bloodless (both during & afterwards). So…

Anyone wanting to start a revolution should first study history –particularly Ghandi of India. One man kicked that British Empire out of India without killing so much one person. Extreme, torturous, and generally quite evil violence was used against many of his own supporters, but the more we British turned to violence, the shorter our time in India (ultimately) became.
Had Ghandi supported armed resistance, extreme, brutal violence, would still have been used against his supporters; but there would have been much more of it (not only for him, but of course avoidable British deaths too).

Next: Study how the Ireland gained Independence in just two years 6 months. en.wikipedia.org... violence was used by all sides, but the way it most benefitted the Irish cause, is when the British retaliated with far more of it-evil, than they ever committed. They benefitted because the British were more violent than they were –not really because they were violent!

In The End: It was collective, civil disobedience, which truly turned history in their favour (just as Ghandi had realised in India). And the biggest, most effective act, they ever committed, is when they got the Irish people to refuse to pay their taxes to Britain, (and instead their own local governments).

are you basing this thread on the assumption that revolutions are started by the people in response to tyranny?

reply to post by Liberal1984


the problem with revolution,, is the world cant stop,,.,. everyone cant take a break and protest and reshuffle around to create a new system.,,., 2 days after everyone stops the old system and attempt to formulate a new one the country would be in complete chaos.... it was an intricate and infinite series of careful cause and effects which created the (semi) organized system of society, government, and economy,.,.

rainbowbear are you basing this thread on the assumption that revolutions are started by the people in response to tyranny?

More on the idea, there's a limit to how much any government can proclaim itself to be a “democracy” whilst at the same time, ganging up (with the other parties) to form a consensus against the vast majorities will being enacted on.

A taxpayers strike would be an effective protest, which could only be successfully crushed once a government had gained most peoples respect. And to gain that respect, compliance with (most) of the majority’s demands would be quite mandatory.

Revolutions start for many reasons, but representing the majority is obviously by far the most noble & potent one. Revolution take a whole spectrum of forms. I don’t believe killing anybody (even my most hated political characters!) is an intelligent way to go, but ignoring them (in numbers) is something else, with quite endless potential.

Striking would not help the UK citizens cause. To top that, the UK gave up their rights, to bear arms. How can a Country get their Country back, when the Leadership controls the weaponry? When there is a Camera in every street corner?


As Americas Thomas Jefferson, so eloquently proclaimed......


The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.



Good luck.

They will still go to prison.

If theorists are to be believed, there are FEMA camps being built around the USA which can potentially house millions in camp like conditions.

It would not work in America, to not pay taxes you would have to not buy anything. If you are talking about income tax then it would be pointless as most people that would jump on board with this idea don't make enough money to pay taxes and get them all back at the end of the year anyways, OWS is a great example.