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The progressive and peace community is still a bit dazed and confused, as if we had all awakened on November 3 rd with some sort of emotional disorder: a dissociative problem of some kind, where our own country seems like someone else’s Spain under Franco, and our own family members seem oblivious to the rising waters; “Don’t all the young people look nice in uniform?” It is that moment when one doesn’t know whether to continue arguing or to simply fall into a glassy-eyed stare, as if behind a martini and too much dark information. Going on is what everybody says must be done, and what nobody feels much like doing. Shall we pass some election reforms, get another cosponsor for the Department of Peace, stand up for our Bill of Rights in our city council chamber? Or shall we just try to meet Rick and Ilsa at the Paris train station and head for some mental Marseille? Do we have the libido in us to see this New Year as a bouncing baby 1776, or is it a defunct 1937 cabaret? Are we energized Tea Party Indians, or Dietrichs longing to be alone with our memories--Kennedy’s promised America, the Great Society, the New Deal, honest elections, such as they were? Oh, but the CIA was always out assassinating these Guevarras and Allendes and Kennedys and Kings and Wellstones and the emerging people’s movements of the world anyway, so vats ze use? America has always been abottoir and executioner and enabler of Sauds and Husseins and Pinochets, no? Depression of the soul operates by blacking out the love and the positives and smirking behind another martini. There is always enough information to justify any mood one falls into. If 1776, we have voices that resonate with all that: William Rivers Pitt and Ronnie Dugger walk Boston streets today. The inquiring, investigating, white-angry newsroom of the Columbus Free Press reminds us that such things are still possible. The organizations that bring us together to protest, to fund efforts, to give voice to an ever more marginalized Common Sense are still here, and not sent into hiding just yet—though we hear the tanks squeaking nearer. It is now quite clear that, if everyone who wanted to vote in November was allowed to vote, and if every vote was counted properly, the move toward fascism would have been stemmed. It is also clear that it was not bumbling errors that prevented an honest election, but creative, purposeful work by many people dedicated to the hard work of disenfranchising millions of Americans. The most troubling aspect of this is that they have no shame about it; they admit it openly and proudly. If you want to be frightened for the future of this country, that is all you need to know. Ronnie Dugger, founder of the Texas Observer, noted biographer of presidents, founder of the Alliance for Democracy, walks on the same Boston streets as did Sam Adams—principal architect of the Revolution. Mr. Dugger thinks we have moved beyond the point where the system can be tweaked back into legitimacy with reforms here and there. He talks of filling the streets of Washington with so many people for as long as it takes to get Democracy back, as if we were some kind of Ukrainians instead of cowards. The danger, of course, and the depression we feel, is that we are too few to do more than populate some busy street corners and hope for some honks. It is hard to be in a space where achievable reforms are meaningless and major reforms are not possible. But if we do not do something, there will be no freedom for our children, and no planet for our grandchildren. So, Captain Reneau, what beautiful friendship can we visualize? Mr. Dugger suggests we are entering a time when Gandhian resistance will be the only effective political tool. Under the New Laws, he puts his freedom at risk to even suggest it. In a recent message to us, responding to our letter asking for his thoughts on electoral reform, he said “ As Arundhati Roy said, the subject in the worldwide movement now has become and must be, Strategies of Resistance. As to electoral reforms, I have not thought that through synoptically for my own part, because it is redolent of the bland and naive ‘we can reform it’ way of thinking which is now obsolete in a country fast sliding toward consolidated military and presidential fascism.” In a speech in Texas on December 4, entitled “We Have to Prepare Our Souls,” Mr. Dugger said, “we are now all in the emergency of all our American emergencies. Along with the Civil War, it is our second crisis of legitimacy, but far more than that, it is the crisis of our identity. Are we a democracy, or are we a Presidential-corporate-military dictatorship? Are we still a good country, or are we a bad country? Mired in the emergency as we all are, what should we do?” “It's right to say, Let's go on doing what we've been doing--we are strong, we almost won, let's organize. […] But we also know this emergency could go either way. One more 911, martial law, attack Iran, and the United States can now disappear into fascism. What are the odds we'll go fascist in the next four years? I'd say about 50-50, not less. This situation is astonishing. But it is real. We must believe it,” Mr. Dugger said. What works, he asks? Not violence, for that is counterproductive, wrong, and, given the technologies of the day, unlikely to prosper. “Revolution should be sought by nonviolent means,” he said. Civil disobedience doesn’t quite describe what he thinks would be useful. Getting arrested for show, to make a statement, doesn’t do much these days, if it ever did. Getting arrested for gumming up the machinery of injustice, however, has been and usually is effective, if there is enough support and dedication to keep the wheels of injustice jammed indefinitely, until justice has to be considered and adopted. It requires sacrifice, not violence to others or to property. Nonviolent non-cooperation, Mr. Dugger says, can be the sufficient answer. He cited the Israeli soldiers who refused to fight a war of aggression. He might have cited the lunch counter and bus protestors of the 1960s in America, or the Solidarity shipyard strikers of Poland. Or any union that stands up for its members by bringing the wheels to a halt. A union of citizens is what he proposes, without saying it. Mr. Dugger imagines multitudes of Americans filling the streets of Washington and taking over the newsrooms of the corporate media. They disrupt the injustice by refusing to go away until their peaceful assembly causes a redress of their grievances (and the de-licensing of Fox affiliates). While this new union of Americans will violate laws of trespass and assembly, they will at least have the Bill of Rights on their side, for all the good that old thing will do them under the New Laws. A general strike and an escrowed tax revolt (triggered when one million people sign up for it), and even a government in internal exile are also among Mr. Dugger’s mentionables, though the present number of possible participants might go unnoticed. He says that could change, as for example when Roe v. Wade is overturned, Social Security is sold at auction, or we invade Iran or France, or a de-Sauded Saudia Arabia. “And if fascism comes? Why then we go to samizdat, until the agonized dawn. Too much? Well, other than leaving, what do you suggest? Now is the time to say. If we are on the brink of fascism, as I believe that we are, we have to prepare our souls,” Mr. Dugger said. He cites Ms. Arundhati Roy, India’s great voice of democracy heard increasingly on our shores. Ms. Roy claims the right to speak up about America’s tragic situation because, as an inhabitant of the world, she is a subject of the American Empire with standing. Her call to an era of resistance is linked here: “ Exactly what form that battle takes, whether it’s beautiful or bloodthirsty, depends on us. ” Read Ms. Arundhati Roy's Article While the big struggle of human scale and freedom vs. the monster trucks of
corporate empire must be waged with big ideas and creative leadership, it is
important to understand that the human scale has its own tactical advantages. Taking to the streets in DC is impressive, but it usually happens on a Saturday when all the Members of Congress are back home and the news media are asleep. It is often more effective to visit a Member’s district office with a handful of constituents and an appointment. Small-scale local actions, but organized nationally, can be a way to put the brakes on some of the worst dangers of this time. MoveOn and MeetUp technologies have laid the groundwork for such a new era. This website itself is being developed to help coordinate local and national calendars for such action. The Bill of Rights Defense Committee has demonstrated that local councils are far easier to persuade than Congress, and that a popular groundswell can be generated in key issue areas. The parts are in place, if the leadership and the integration are not quite visible yet. This will be a year for that. Gandhi prescribed five elements to nonviolent social change. They are: know the truth before you take your position; give the powers who have the ability to solve the injustice an opportunity to solve the problem; engage the conscience of the larger society in important issues; apply personal sacrifice to demonstrate the importance of the injustice, if those in power do not act to resolve it—and increase the sacrifice as necessary to overcome the moral resistance. The fifth element is that we should be courteous in victory, allowing the other side to save face—for they are people and we live on the same planet with them, and will struggle with them again. Gandhi’s fifth principle assumes victory. He believed, and he demonstrated in his own life, that the people always win if they are willing to sacrifice sufficiently. Home - Past Issues - eCards - Classifieds - Blog Spot - Free Subscription - About Us |