Thursday, September 22, 2011

See what Bradley Manning started?

DSC00648
As mostly oldsters considered the stranglehold of military spending on the nation and wondered what to do about it at the MIC at 50 conference in Charlottesville last weekend, mostly youngsters began the occupation of Wall St. that mimics the Arab spring. Will it grow to Cairo proportions? I hope so. It contains many of the same elements including good grassroots organization, police harassment, and splendid chanting (e.g. Banks got bailed out, We got sold out!).

Sixty thousand marched against nuclear power and weapons in Tokyo, causing the alarm of Japan's prime minister to manifest by minimizing the demonstration as a "parade." Mie and Steve Ahearn completed their 200 mile march from Rockland, Maine to Boston where they presented a petition to the Japanese consul, calling for the government to protect children and pregnant women being exposed to ongoing radiation from Fukushima.

We march where we find ourselves.

Organizing continues apace for Washington DC Oct 6 and beyond. From Starwhawk, one of the co-founders of CODEPINK, comes this invitation to join the Pagan Cluster:
Where: Freedom Plaza, Washington DC
Focal day: October 6
We'll gather and work our magic October 3–8.  Come for an hour, come for a day, come for as long as you can.
Contact us at: pagancluster2011@gmail.com

The Wheel is turning.  The veil is growing thin. Around the world the people are rising, calling for freedom, claiming their power.  Can you hear Mama Gaia calling - calling us to serve Life?

I'll be supporting from the back benches until I can get down there myself. (Actually, Wall St. is a lot closer.)

As for why thousands and millions of people are giving up on reform, and getting together to start a people's movement for nonviolent change, here's just a smattering of related news from the last few days: the US is setting up drone bases all over northern Africa and the Arab peninsula; NATO night raids have increased dramatically -- and are likely making the situation in Afghanistan worse by fanning the flames of violent insurgency; Obama claims we need to cut Medicare and Social Security to fund the inevitableness of wars; and Troy Davis was put to death yesterday in a travesty of justice that once more demonstrates that the war at home is a war on the poor, the non-white, and -- incidentally -- is highly profitable.

See what Bradley Manning started?




18 comments:

chrisrushlau said...

The process of finding a political voice has been studied, I suppose. Pedagogy for the oppressed.
"As soon as I found out where I was from,
I decided to be someone new."
I'm quoting myself singing while bicycling yesterday. I had a walk around Brunswick with my bike on my back (flat tire, en route to bike shop) and the people I encountered were not the people I think of growing up around (college, base, "Establishment"--Angus King, to put a fine point on it: Brunswick's "brand") but the people I actually grew up around, the faceless, unimportant, insignificant, loser-class, everyday people with whom I formed my world map=Weltanschauung: my people. I felt like I'd come home and I hadn't even thought I'd had a home.
So this was the guy I've been being all those years when I wasn't being who I was supposed to be.
But as soon as I realized this ("welcome home", said the guy in the LL Bean bike shop after I told this story (during my second flat of the day)), I realized that that guy is not who I want to be. I don't want to be from anywhere. I want to be going somewhere. Too glib? "You gotta get into it before you get outta it." --Frank Zappa. People are not tree fungus. But people do grow on trees. But to grow up you have to climb down out of the tree. Morphogenesis recapitulates orthogenesis?
Bradley Manning is someone who realized early on where he was from, and thus found the freedom to get on the way to somewhere.
I've long been comfortable with the ageold wisdom that you have to be able to sit quietly and listen if you want to be effective and at peace--integrated. Now I guess I have to add to it that you also need a crisis: to bring home to you what you're made of, who you are. Sorry for that pun? No, I'm not sorry for that pun (paraphrasing the movie line).
As soon as I found out
Where I was from,
I found that it was time to leave home.
This is democracy, it is faith in God, and it seems to be the nature of things--the best description of characteristically human experience.
If politics, or religion, is not seated in human nature, it is not "transformative". Unless the transformation you seek is replacement of your pet delusion with the school-solution delusion. People get tired of wondering where they're from, so they pretend they're from someplace else, which nobody has ever been to, and nobody has ever been from.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Heya i’m for the first time here. I found this board and I in finding It truly helpful & it taught me to be out a lot.

I'm hoping to present something backside and help others as an example you aided me.
Here is my web site - Costa Blanca

Anonymous said...

I am only commenting to allow you be careful of what a fabulous experience
our kid experienced visiting your webblog. She realized a significant amount of
My homepage - freelish.us

Anonymous said...

That is extremely interesting, You will be an overly professional writer.

I've joined your feed and be up for seeking more of your great post. Even, I have shared your site within my web 20!
Also see my webpage > Albox Property Classifieds - Albox Apartments For Sale

Anonymous said...

Usually I dont read post on blogs, but I would rather to point out that this write-up extremely pushed us to make an attempt to do extremely!

Your literary genre has actually been astonished me. Thanks,
quite sweet post.
Feel free to surf my page : mazy

Anonymous said...

I do not even understand how I finished upwards here, but I thought this publish use to be good.

I do not realize who you might be however certainly you might be
visiting a famous blogger should you decide aren't already ;) Cheers!
Also see my page > Solar Powered Swimming Pool Heating

Anonymous said...

Hey! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone

4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your

posts! Carry on the great work!
Also see my web site: topsy.com

Anonymous said...

Pretty part of content. I simply stumbled

upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I
acquire actually enjoyed account your weblog posts.
Anyway I’ll be subscribing in your feeds and
even I fulfillment you get admission to persistently
fast.
Also see my webpage - Look At This

Anonymous said...

A powerful share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing just a little evaluation
on this. And he in truth purchased me breakfast as a result of I discovered it for him.
. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat!
However yeah Thnkx for

spending the time to discuss this, I really feel strongly about it and love studying

extra on this topic. If possible, as you grow

to be expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more

particulars? It is highly useful for me. Big thumb up for this


blog submit!
Also visit my web page - common dishes spain

Anonymous said...

After examine a few of the weblog posts in your

website now, and I really like your approach of blogging.
I

bookmarked it to my bookmark website checklist and might
be checking again soon. Pls try my site as well and let
me know what you think.
Also visit my web-site - Unknown

Anonymous said...

There are some fascinating points in time in this article however I don’t know if I see
all of them heart to heart. There may be some validity but I'll take maintain opinion until I look into it

further. Good article , thanks and we would like extra! Added to FeedBurner as well
Have a look at my homepage ... http://www.southsideuk.com/member/58630/

Anonymous said...

Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with

Search Engine Optimization? I'm trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I'm not seeing very
good

success. If you know of any please share.
Cheers!
Stop by my site just click the up coming website

Anonymous said...

My brother suggested I might like this website.
He was totally right. This post

truly made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I
had spent for this

info! Thanks!
Feel free to surf my blog - http://studio384.be

Anonymous said...

Hello there, I found your site via Google while looking for a related
topic,

your web site came up, it looks good. I've bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Feel free to surf my web blog : variolas

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I could have sworn I've been to this blog

before but after reading through some of the post I realized it's new to me.



Anyhow, I'm definitely delighted I found it and I'll
be bookmarking and checking back often!
Feel free to visit my web-site - http://Priuschat.com/members/bettyedwards1971.95489/