I think there's pressure on every mayor who's trying to do the right thing by their people, and that's the pressure of a capitalist society, which does not want to give up a dime. They basically want to constrain the people in every way they can.
Chokwe LumumbaChange does not come on thoughts alone; because we have a revolutionary ideology and give speeches on it. It comes because you can change the material conditions of people, and get people to assist in the change, be the mainstay in the change in their conditions.
Chokwe LumumbaMayors typically don't do the things we're trying to do... Revolutionaries aren't typically Mayor.
Chokwe LumumbaI think some of the most significant things happen in history when you get the right people in the right place at the right time and I think that's what we are.
Chokwe LumumbaIn order to create a permanent atmosphere of change, that's where the solidarity economy of change comes in. You don't want to simply invest in what exists already hoping that the next group of entrepreneurs are not as greedy as the last one.
Chokwe LumumbaWhen we talk about economic growth, we're not talking about bringing a bunch of companies in that can make a bunch of bucks and hope they spend 'em in our city. We're talking about creating jobs, creating new companies and then we move from there to talk about cooperatives which can become some of those jobs, some of the solidarity economy where we can begin to band together people so they'll understand that a job is not a single individual affair but a collective affair.
Chokwe Lumumba