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NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: SUPPORT DIRECT ACTION AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WHEN THEY OCCUR
Jan 2, 2008
Focus: Government
Action Request: Think About
Location: United States
As Marc said, the time has come for CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE; and that would involve MASSIVE STRIKES, consumer boycotts, not paying taxes, and SOLDIERS REFUSING TO FIGHT, among other things. It is fine to go as far as we possibly can with petitions, letters-to-the-editor, and discussion forums such as this one. What these methods do, is RAISE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS. That prepares people for the more drastic methods of Civil Disobedience.
If this were really the Democracy we have been taught it was -- IF, that is, a big IF -- then petitions, letters, discussions, and Legal methods {such as the NRDC uses} would WORK.
OBVIOUSLY, THESE METHODS ARE NOT ENOUGH. Under Bush, they are NOT WORKING.
Not ALL of us, are in the position to COMMIT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE such as is required. A lot of us are in ill health, have family and other responsibilities, etc. We can't afford, for one reason or another, to end up in jail, as often happens with Civil Resisters.

One thing we CAN do, all of us, is Consumer Boycotting. INFORM yourselves; and REFUSE TO BUY things made from wood from endangered forests. Or using gold or oil or diamonds or other metals and substances extracted by destroying the environment. Unfortunately, that is almost EVERYTHING. Things like toilet paper, plastics, your wedding ring, and gas for your SUV. We must LIVE MUCH MORE SIMPLY, without so much Stuff. Don't buy food flown in from thousands of miles away.

Most of us are afraid of the consequences of not paying our taxes. Soldiers and their families, are afraid of the consequences of going AWOL and desertion. We are not all cut out to be tree-huggers and tree-sitters to stop logging.
BUT WE CAN ALL GIVE OUR VOCAL AND MORAL AND EVEN FINANCIAL AND LEGAL SUPPORT, TO THOSE BRAVE SOULS THAT DO HAVE THAT COURAGE.
There are LOTS of people who DO have the courage, tho the media does its best to suppress their stories. We need to inform ourselves on the Internet, and other alternative media; and do our best to INFORM OTHERS. As is being done here.

As I said, we need to MAKE CLEAR OUR SUPPORT FOR ALL DIRECT ACTIONS OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE that gum the works and make sure it is NOT just "Business as usual"; EVEN AT THE COST OF SOME PERSONAL INCONVENIENCE TO OURSELVES. The personal inconvenience WE may have to face in our daily lives' disruptions, is NOTHING compared to the "inconvenience" of HAVING OUR EARTH RAPED AND STOLEN OUT FROM UNDER US.
 
We are not going to just "go out into the streets" and be mowed down. Everybody here knows that. Demos have been tried. They RAISE CONSCIOUSNESS; that is as far as they go.

We need to STOP THE MACHINE. This means doing things that may be "illegal". {Like not paying taxes or refusing to fight once in the military; or "trespassing" on private or government property.} But, after much thoughtful consideration, and, yes, often prayer or meditation, it becomes clear that IT IS THE MORAL THING TO DO, TO DO THE "ILLEGAL" THING, TO BREAK THE LAW FOR HIGHER ENDS. As citizens broke such laws as the Fugitive Slave Act, that all escaped slaves legally had to be returned to their masters, back in the day.

If we ourselves don't quite have the courage to, or are not in a position to, take risks, WE CAN WITH RELATIVE SAFETY AND COMFORT, ENCOURAGE THOSE WHO DO. I urge you all who are reading this, to start doing so, if you are not already doing it. We can CREATE A PUBLIC OPINION.
That is why, in Europe, as Marc states, strikes by workers are frequent and successful. Because the PUBLIC in general supports them; and the Public is willing therefore to put up with the temporary inconvenience to the flow of their daily lives.
Here, a lot of the Public is still brainwashed. Our unions have been weakened, while we were looking the other way, enjoying a false and temporary "prosperity". It is time to UN-BRAINWASH the Public. In Europe and the rest of the world, "Socialism" is not such a bad word. It means the PEOPLE, and not corporations, controlling things in their own interests. We have really been brainwashed more than we can imagine. The rest of the world was raped, to lull the American consumer into a mindless state of "gimme". Now, the "chickens are coming home to roost" and the American consumer is seeing what the REST of the world was up against.

SUPPORT Civil Disobedience, if you cannot commit it yourself. This SUPPORT will make all the difference; it is not "nothing". Support Tax Resisters, Resisters in the Military, Strikes, Boycotts, Sit-ins, Free Speech in illegal "restricted zones"; and ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES UP, THAT IS MORAL AND NON-VIOLENT.

[This was Marc's Comment:
"...... France and Spain and other countries are handicapped by labor strikes every few years. Truckers blocking the roads, airpersonel on strike, trains stop running. We had a friendly police action a few weeks back, where the officers let most people of with a warning, or trainconducters who let the passengers run free. The shame is these strikes are only held to improve the own position and get more wages and not for some general higher goal benifitting all. Instead of a labor union it is time for a justice union who unites people in a common cause of protecting life and justice."
SO, YOU SEE, IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK OF REAL CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ACTIONS THAT WOULD REALLY STOP 'BUSINESS AS USUAL'. BMT]

My name is:
B MUTINY MUTINY MUTINY T


[THIS IS MY NEW YEAR'S GREETING TO YOU ALL;
AND MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION!]
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Posted: Jan 2, 2008 7:21pm
BE YOUR OWN MORAL LEADER; DONT WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE
May 9, 2007
An answer to "Where Have All The Leaders Gone?"
book by L.I. cited by Jennie B.
Dear Jennie:

Cindy Sheehan is a leader.
Lt. Ehren Watada is a leader {officer who refused to deploy to Iraq; refused to lead men into harm's way in a pointless war}
Medea Benjamin {of Code Pink} is a leader
Keith Olbermann is a leader {on the air}
David Griffin is a leader {theologian who questions official 9/11 story}

They are leaders just like Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and others, were leaders.

Oh, and so is Dennis Kucinich, a leader. Mustn't forget him!

It is just that the press and media, controlled NOW by JUST A COUPLE OF HUGE CONGLOMERATES, is MUCH LESS INDEPENDENT THAN IT USED TO BE; so we hardly ever hear any NEWS of these LEADERS!!! {Except on blogs!}
And, the SYSTEM IS SO CORRUPT, that ONLY CORRUPT PEOPLE GET "ELECTED", BY FALSE MEANS. That is why we have the thoroly corrupt leadership we do.

There is a theory, that these false "leaders", WANT CHAOS -- that it serves their REAL purposes best! and I tend to agree!!!! Behind the smokescreen of us all struggling for our very lives, and and the other smokescreen of "incompetence" and "stupidity", they may be VERY CLEVERLY MANIPULATING US to serve their own ends of POWER and complete CONTROL of Earth's limited resources! While we are fighting among ourselves! I think this is quite "logical", from their point-of-view!

To GET RID OF THIS CORRUPT MIS-LEADERSHIP, we will -- ALL HAVE TO DO SOME NEW THINKING, AND GET OUT OF OUR "COMFORT ZONES".
You know the story of the frog, sitting in water which is GRADUALLY heated to the cooking point -- doesn't jump out or realize anything until it's too late. Well, WE ARE STARTING TO FEEL THE HEAT NOW. But NOT JUMPING YET!!!!!!

Do you understand what I mean by "comfort zone"????? Sitting around griping, is STILL "sitting in the pot", sitting in the COMFORT ZONE. Waiting for the 2008 elections, is STILL sitting in the comfort zone. Blathering on about "Revolution", as some do here on the Internet, IS STILL SITTING IN THE COMFORT ZONE WHILE THE WATER GETS HOTTER AND EVER HOTTER. Blather, blather, blather, blather, blather!

We are each going to have to be our OWN moral leader.

Lt. Ehren Watada, got out of HIS comfort zone! Risks jail, the end of his desired career, curses, beatings perhaps even. His family, also, which supports him 101%, takes risks in doing so.
We have to do what HURTS. Not pay taxes maybe, boycott something we would otherwise buy, do what is FORBIDDEN, commit Civil Disobedience, break UNJUST laws like Rosa Parks did, "trespass" like people in my State are doing to protest military and naval shipping.
Maybe get teargassed, have to go to court, or actually get injured. Leave our families for awhile.
In other words, SACRIFICE and TAKE RISKS and even risk LIFE ITSELF, if absolutely necessary! Be COMMITTED. Not blather on & on, whether about "Comes Da Ravolution" or "Peace & Love" or whatever!

Lee Iacocca is in a bind. He is a rich guy who is a part of the Establishment; even tho he puts VERY WELL what is WRONG, he is still not going to risk his comfort zone or his place in the Establishment to make a difference! At least that's what I think!

I have said it before, and I will say it again and again and again.
THE TROOPS HAVE TO FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF LT WATADA AND REFUSE LIKE HE DID, TO DEPLOY TO IRAQ.
So what if they risk jail? and curses and beatings? even their lives?
THAT IS STILL FAR BETTER THAN DYING OR BEING MAIMED FOR LIFE IN A DIS-HONORABLE CAUSE. THERE IS NO HONOR, THERE IS NO GLORY, IN THE CAUSE THAT BUSH IS SENDING THEM TO DIE FOR.
As veterans of the Viet Nam war who RESISTED that war have PROVED, THERE IS LIFE AFTER RESISTANCE. Many of them, altho jailed and persecuted, here many years afterwards HAVE MADE SUCCESSFUL CAREERS and are HONORED by their communities!

So, THAT is what I mean, one form of ''GETTING OUT OF ONE'S COMFORT ZONE".
I myself was ARRESTED and jailed {for a few hours only!} for chaining myself to railroad tracks protesting the Viet Nam war! But, another protestor at another protest, this one in California not Washington State, HAD BOTH HIS LEGS CUT OFF BY A TRAIN THAT WOULD NOT STOP. I have met this brave hero! Is he sorry he did what he did? NOT AT ALL.

I can't tell anyone else what to do! The papers take it on themselves to SQUELCH any new "Movement" or "Leaders"! The Civil Rights Movement was HELPED by television! Now the media moguls know better!!! The media print practically NO news about IMPEACHMENT, or 9/11 QUESTIONING!!! Or, for that matter, THE RESISTANCE WHICH I KNOW FOR A CERTAIN FACT, DOES EXIST WITHIN THE ARMY IN IRAQ.

The very LEAST that anybody can do, to THINK IN A NEW WAY AND REFUSE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE "COMFORT ZONE", is to SUPPORT THE AWOL, CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR, WHISTLEBLOWER {on things like torture}, AND REFUSING TO DEPLOY, TROOPS. I have a button that says, "Support our AWOL troops"!
THERE WILL BE MORE RESISTANCE WITHIN THE ARMY, IF THEY KNOW THAT WE THE CIVILIANS ARE BEHIND THEM IN THEIR RESISTANCE.
Because of the structure of the Army, it would be better if TROOPS DESERTED OR REFUSED TO OBEY ILLEGAL ORDERS, AS A UNIT. There IS PRECEDENT FOR THIS.

Well, I'm not one to tell other people they have to go to jail! BUT, IT SEEMS WE COULD ALL BREAK THRU THE CURTAIN OF MILITARY CENSORSHIP AND TELL OUR TROOPS, THRU FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS AND THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA, THAT WE SUPPORT THEIR RESISTANCE AND DO NOT SUPPORT THEIR FIGHTING AND KILLING!!!!!! It seems that is the very LEAST we ALL CAN DO!!!!

I guess I'll maybe make a blog out of this! Yes they don't seem to work!
You have my absolute permission, if you want to pass this on, to do so! In any form! I STAND ABSOLUTELY BEHIND EVERY WORD!!!!
And, Jennie, if you want to continue the discussion, fine, as I find time to do so!
BMutiny T
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BMutiny TCorporationsEvil
female, age 77, single, 1 child
Seattle, WA, USA
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