Solidarity

Solidarity Constitutes What Life Is All About

When human beings first entered the world

people lived in equality.

Everyone worked

so that all could survive.

For over one-hundred-thousand years

this is the way it was.

Women and men did all the work,

and their labor was appreciated.

Then we began to farm the land.

This meant that the crops needed

to be defended against others who wanted those crops.

And this is how wars began.

At this time a farmer would invite

a neighbor to share a meal.

This was called hospitality.

But this hospitality was different from the equality of the past.

Because of an accident of nature

some people might succeed in farming

while others would not.

So people worked for the successful farmers.

This is how slavery began.

The slave was like a family member

and treated with respect, but not as an equal.

And they began to call this charity.

Then the successful farmers discovered

that they could grow rich by going to war.

By defeating another people they could

steal booty and capture many slaves.

A few gained enormous wealth

and treated slaves as less than human.

They lost all desire to work

and preferred to live in opulence.

But the slave was a human being

who had the ability to think.

Rather than endure continuous humiliation and torture

many slaves chose to fight back.

The slave had no possessions,

and could not offer hospitality or charity.

In order to convince slaves to struggle

they needed to use reason.

If all slaves united,

they had the potential to be free.

This meant they had to act in solidarity.

One for all and all for one.

There were thousands of slave rebellions

in the history of the world.

The one which occurred on the island

of Haiti was the only one to succeed.

But there were other revolutions

for independence throughout the Americas.

Each one benefited humankind.

They were possible because of solidarity.

Then there were movements of

workers demanding decent living conditions.

There were those who demanded that people

with a dark skin color be treated with human rights.

A movement erupted to end the war

against the people of Viet Nam.

Another broke out so that women would have the power

to choose if they were to become mothers.

All these movements were effective

because of thousands of acts of solidarity.

The same solidarity that existed

for a million years before we became civilized.

But today they tell us that success

is the result of individual effort.

If you study diligently, work hard,

and do what you are told, you can succeed.

But the rich get richer,

and everyone else struggles to get by.

How could this be any different

when the top priority is maximum profits?

Why can’t we organize society

based on human needs,

the way our ancestors did,

working so that everyone benefited?

We can build descent homes for all.

Give quality education to all.

Provide health care to all who need it.

So that everyone will have their place in the sun.

A society built on the foundation of solidarity,

one for all and all for one.

This same characteristic

that allowed humanity to survive for a million years.

Love is a profound emotion.

It is usually reserved for individuals.

Solidarity is the love of all human kind,

and the willingness defend those who are abused.

Solidarity is the human characteristic

that has enabled us to advance throughout history.

Solidarity has never been easy,

but it is the essence of human life.