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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

 
 
 
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BMutiny TCorporationsEvil
female, age 77, single, 1 child
Seattle, WA, USA
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