A few mouse clicks will sometimes take you right to Yahoo. (which has moved quite far to the right) Doing a little research for that class action lawsuit? Each mouse click is captured by your "enemy" in a harvest of data that can be even more powerfully put to use. (For the unitiated, this isn't some goon towering over a terminal a la 24 or some Hollywood vision of law enforcemnt, although it could be.)
The information is not free, it never was. It is suppressed. One of the triumphs of the current Junta was really putting the screws to openess, with automated secrecy and hauling mountains of previously publically accessable terabytes away from your meddling eyes. The paranoia is so tied to profit in broken US agencies it's a rat's nest of no bid and default intentionally busted infrastructure.
So, when they come for you they'll be using Oracle, but you have free alternatives that are often superior to defeat the bastards.

I have heard of virtual protests in Second Life. That might be a good way to create an image that moves people to action.

For those of you who don't know, Second Life is a virtual world where people can interact in real time as Characters in a 3d virtual world.

http://secondlife.com/

Nonviolence is a vitaly important tactic and we need more of it. We need to use it to shut our own out of control nation down pending regime change. It can still work for us. Unfortunately as we can see in Myanmar, it has it's limits.

No, he would not - I may be wrong but isn't part of non-violence physically standing face to face with another human being that means you harm and remaining calm and feeling love for that other person, no matter what?

That's hard to do while sitting in front of a computer.

As I said, I could be wrong.

It is also hard for me to feel the positive hope that an international day celebrating nonviolence should arouse, when the story is above your headline here of the massacre of peacefully protesting Buddhist monks in Burma. I feel foolish and ineffective tapping away on my computer, and I do not think Gandhi would feel hopeful either. To practise nonviolence, you need to have some trust in the humanity of your oppressors, that they will be reached by your protest. Burma has just suffered an Apocalypse. It is heartbreaking.

Ghandi derived his non violent idea from the bhagavad gita. Now whether the gita is about non violence is totally up to interpretation since Arjuna basically has to go to war with his friends and family. That work of philosphy, religion, spirituality is so apt that I would encourage anyone to read it who hasn't.

I'm of the mind that disobedience may be violent or non violent depending on the circumstances. I had a teacher once who asked, "what are you going to do when they come to rape your sister in your house?" That is if you are one of the fortunate americans to whom the concept of loving other members of your family still applies. If you do, chances are you might be violent in that hypothetical circumstance, and you might be right if you are.

However, in america we are families split apart by various forces. Greed in part.

All this internet is nice, but it's mainly kind of just preparation I think for what is coming whatever the hell that is. You can see it and you can't see it.

What I think is that americans are susceptible to the non violence thing because they treasure life, but what is life really? Any one of us could be gone in an instant. Non violence is fine. But did we live and die, however, for that which we believed? Or did we just go along.

I admire Gandhi and his impressive works, but the US today is the most heavily armed nation, and it has manufactured--through legal gymnastics--the ways and means to lock up dissenters (presented as threat to government, unpatriotic, and therefore potential terrorist threats) into perpetuity. In other words, in this hardly kinder or gentler nation, the penalties of taking to the streets are more sinister than those of our peers in India decades before. With hardline surveillance and a huge budget directed at "homeland security," with a government run by and for authoritarians who see democracy as an inconvenient contrivance, that which would work in alliance with a justice movement has been largely eviscerated or placed into check.
The Internet, to its credit, can establish a basis for national strikes, financial interruptions and other covert mechanisms that COULD lead to some negotiations if these initiatives picked up enough advocates as steam to drive their engine.

Gene Sharp provides a reminder of successful non-violent actions. It is in the interest of violent powers to make one think that one's situation is the worst that has ever happened.

http://www.fragmentsweb.org/fourtx/dishistx.html

Walter Wink's "Engaging the Powers" is a must read.

The biggest and main difference between Iraq and Vietnam was the draft. Bushco is smart enough not to start a draft. these non violent protest over the net don't amount to S---.
Start the draft and you will see proper
protest.

Don't all of you find it intriguing that the MSM gives much more play to the Burmese protests and the crackdown than any protests and their aftermath in the US?

The coverage is meant to make us afraid to stand up in non-violent protest. Our corporate overlords who control the press are trying to intimidate us (and from several comments - succeeding.)

Please read the following about a non-violent partner of Gandhi's. Pay special attention to the 1930 event described. It took many more years but the non-violence finally overcame. I'm afraid we in this country do not have the intestinal fortitude necessary.

In this time of violence, we need to know that we are not alone.

Ghaffar Khan

Peace Warrior

The seething hatred and violence in South Asia, pitting Hindu and Muslim nationalists makes this a good time to reconsider the life of a great Pashtun warrior who lies buried in the ancient city of Jalalabad. His name was Abdul Ghaffar Khan.

His story is contained in Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, A Man To Match His Mountains, by Eknath Easwaran (Published by Nilgiri Press). Easwaran is a meditation teacher who founded the California-based Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in 1961. The Nilgiri Press is associated with the center.

Born near the Khyber Pass to a prosperous landowning family, Ghaffar Khan was more than six feet tall and powerfully built. A devout Muslim, he led a trained Islamic army -- the Khudai Khidmatgars, or Servants of God. It was a private force, formed to free the Pashtun tribesmen from British imperial rule. The Khudai Khidmatgars were thoroughly professional, with uniforms, officers, regimental flags and even a bagpipe corps. But the soldiers swore the strangest oath that warriors -- especially fierce Pashtun warriors -- could take:

I promise to refrain from violence and taking revenge.
I promise to forgive those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty.

Ghaffar Khan believed the mortal weakness of his fellow tribesmen was an obsession with honor and revenge killings. They helped perpetuate a cycle of violence that the British were quick to exploit for their own purposes.

In time, this devout Muslim befriended India's Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of nonviolent protest. Photographs from the 1930s show the diminutive "Gandhiji" sitting next to the immense Pashtun warrior at rallies uniting Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi chanted from the Bhagavad Gita, a work sacred to Hindus, while Khan responded with passages from the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.

The bright-colored uniforms of Ghaffar Khan's soldiers gave them a sobriquet: Red Shirts. On one April day in 1930, the Red Shirts showed their courage and devotion to the non-violent teachings of their leader when the British Army took one whole day to shoot down innumerable Red Shirts. As a Harvard scholar writes: "The Red Shirts kept standing at the spot facing the British soldiers and were fired at from time to time, until there were heaps of wounded and dying lying about. This state of things continued from eleven till five o'clock in the evening. When the number of corpses became too many the ambulance cars of the government took them away and burned them."

Ghaffar Khan endured beatings and arrests and continued to lead his Red Shirts on a path of nonviolence until the end of the British Raj.

As communal and sectarian violence racked South Asia following the end of British rule, Ghaffar Khan and Gandhi travelled the Indian subcontinent, demanding that the fighting stop. At prayer meetings, the two read from one another's sacred scriptures and calmed the crowds.

"A person who has known God will be incapable of harboring anger or fear within him, no matter how overpowering the cause it may be," Ghandi would say.

Ghaffar Khan also championed women's rights. "In the Holy Koran you have an equal share with men," he told them. "You are today oppressed because we men have ignored the commands of God and the Prophet..."

When partition gave Pakistan independence, Ghaffar Khan boycotted the ceremonies -- as Gandhi did similar events in New Delhi. And while Gandhi fell to an assassin's bullet, within a few years, the Pakistani government became the jailer of Ghaffar Khan. His son, Abdul Wali Khan, said that his father spent "every third year of his life in jail."

In the climate of festering hate that exists today, it is good to remember a gentle giant who envisioned a different kind of Jihad -- a path of peace and brotherhood.

"Young people will rediscover the power of non-violence and combine it with their new tools," he says. "I think this will happen soon."

Or they'll continue to see their peers tazered, spied upon, monitored, smeared, and jailed without cause or charge and will hunker down behind their little screens and screeds, which our government could care less about.

Remember, today's "young people" have spent seven years learning why our Constitution is "just a piece of old paper," why torture is a necessity, and how "checks and balances" is nothing more than a quaint expression. Seven years learning that obscene greed is cool, that stealing billions from taxpayers is a medal-worthy achievement, and that being wholly unqualified does not necessarily exempt one from a high government position that will parley into a super lucrative lobbyist job.

And they've learned that no amount of protests will ever be effective against an administration which clearly could give a giant New York City rat's ass about "the people."

The tales of abuse of power by the Bush administration are never ending! After the most recent, or nearly most recent, concerning the report in the Spanish journal, El Pais, that Bush turned down an offer by Saddam Hussein to go into exile in order to avoid war, I wrote a blog articled, called "Let's Honk our Horns as a 'Last Resort." In it I noted how often the Bush administration promised that they was doing everything it could to achieve a peaceful result and that war was a "last resort." I suggested that since the Democratic Congress won't do anything about the matter, we should all set a date and time and honk our horns for five minutes as a way of protesting this latest betrayal by Bush and Co. Silly perhaps, but there must be someway to express our outrage! I imagined horns blaring all across America and tv stations in every small town and big metropolis showing clips of their streets normal except for the incessant honking. Anyway, I mention it here because we do need to all get together and perform public acts of non-violent protest. The internet, however, can be a vehicle for organizing that protest, for mobilizing large scale public participation, and for dreaming up new ways to express our outrage. The Kielburger's article makes a very important point. We have to get out in the street. All of us on the internet ought to be dialoguing about how to make it happen. I agree with BugsBBunny III.

If voters in the violent country of Colombia are lucky, the following statement composed by religious, labor and other organizations that comprise the National Movement for Peace will be on their ballots on October 28, when they will vote in local and provincial elections:

"I vote for freedom, peace and a humanitarian accord (for a prisoner-hostage swap). I say no to kidnapping and forced disappearance and displacement, and no to violence against children and all other civilians. I say yes to life, truth, justice, reparations and guarantees that abuses will not be repeated again in the future. Peace requires a political commitment, a ceasefire, dialogue and negotiated solutions."

Would that we had a similar opportunity on our November 2008 ballots.

CURMUDGEON 99: I found your post very inspiring, apart from two rather existential caveats. First, our ancestors lived shorter life spans, and plausibly as a result, witnessed their struggle often ending in success. Today, both as a result of extended personal life-spans and that evidenced through the record of history, we wonder why it is that we must lay down our lives OVER AND OVER again for the same causes; or as a feminist friend of mine said, "Didn't we already fight THOSE battles in the trenches?" She was referring to reproductive rights for women. I mean it gets daunting... like some kind of Catch 22 where Yosarian asks plaintively, "What's it all for."

FRANK: I think a lot of young people have also learned to live in a separate virtual universe. They think food grows in the supermarket, that every desire is granted from the electronic genii of the world wide web, provided you possess the enviable pass key (that would be money); and that video games simulating massive destruction have NOTHING to do with similar training to kill REAL human beings, etc. Maybe this is some kind of Darwinian mechanism of adaptation as the world they are about to inherit is none too cheery as per global warming, DU, and the rise of the corporate global state and its surveillance apparatus.

As much as I should be applauding Craig Kielburger, he actually drives me insane. He seems to offer simplistic platitudes about complex problems. I've seen interviews with him and he just comes off as smarmy and fake. I feel like he's exploiting child poverty in his own name. He makes middle class people (like me, I'll admit to it) think that if they do a few minor things, they can eradicate a complex problem that is the result of their (our) lifestyle. I feel complacent enough as it is without someone offering me an easy way out. A way to make myself look and feel good instead of encouraging someone like me to really make a difference.

Bastille Day July 14

"We announce to the world the true principles of our actions. We wish an order of things where all low and cruel passions are enchained by the laws; all beneficent and generous feelings awakened; where distinctions arise only from equality itself; where the citizen is subject to the magistrate; the magistrate to the people, the people to justice. Where industry is an adornment to the liberty that ennobles it and commerce the source of public wealth, not simply of monstrous riches for a few families. We wish to substitute in our country morality for egoism, probity for a mere sense of honor, principle for habit, duty for etiquette, the empire of reason for the tyranny of custom, contempt for vice for contempt for misfortune; the grandeur of man for the triviality of grand society. We wish, in a word, to fulfill the course of nature, to absolve providence from the long reign of tyranny and crime."

Maximilien Robespierre

There is something, perhaps, between the dualism of violence vs. non-violence. There is state monopolized violence, forced conscription, identification, manufacture and dehumanization of "the enemy", and the authoritarian world view which demands that its conscripted soldiers set aside their own morality, ethics, etc. and totally subordinate themselves to The State.

But there is also the age-old pan-human obligation that tribes people, parents, brothers, and sisters have met to take charge of their own ethics and, if necessary, defend themselves by force against aggressive violence.

I've pondered this carefully for a couple decades. This state of being, "ethical self-determination" is the prerequisite for both Ghandi-type non-violence as well as arguments for self-defense. Until one can become in charge of his/her own decision-making autonomy, this whole discussion is moot.

The essential problem with even the self-defense or "shoot back if fired upon!" arguments is that the "enemy" in the crosshairs is not one who has passed through this lens of understanding. The person at the other ends is some kid who's not in charge of his own faculties.

I know it's cliche, but I really wish we could round up the world's leaders and put them into a pen. Issue each a knife, and let them settle it themselves. The rest of the world can watch. The winner who emerges victorious goes to jail for multiple counts of manslaughter.

I would like to clarify one thing regarding Gandhi. It was not non-violence that won the day rather it is something else that imperialism has hastened to bury and bury it well they have.

It was non-cooperation. The infamous salt march - is the most impressive example. Thousands marched to the salt flats and collected salt - to how that they would no longer buy salt (a British monopoly- as were many other products- particularly textiles). That is why the symol of the spinning wheel is in India's flag . In short - this was maddingly effective since the indains were an overwhelming majority and by refusing to cooperate economically they in fact won their freedom. Therefore - non-cooperation was the lever and non-violence the fulcrum.

The point is with the continued promotion of non-violence (as a sole concept) is good for the tyrants and governments - but you will rarely hear about the promotion of mass non-cooperation.

Gee and I always thought non-cooperation was part of non-violence.

But I think you make a great point,iamwutiam.

I assumed that if people demonstrate non-violently in the streets, they by default are not cooperating with the conduct of 'business as usual'.

What may be needed is for activists to organize themselves on the net and through this coordination, GET THE WORD OUT! Back in the primordial sixties (an ancient time of myth and magic...mobilization), we had underground newspapers, newsletters published by small groups and a sense of unity which carried the day. Oh yeah...we had the draft as a motivator which made things personal for people and their families. Moms and dads who didn't want their sons going to 'that' war and so the moms and dads would march too.

But how did they know? Well...that was the activists' job. We wrote and put up posters and gave out fliers and used mailing lists (I hope the good Lord forgives this sixties sin since it was in a good cause...lol)and spread the word. These mags and newspapers and newsletters etc ...aren't here anymore nor the networked activist community which distributed the fliers etc.

Or are they? On the net today are far more 'publications' and information than we ever had but what is missing is the 'pulling it all together' that was done by activists. Several times I missed news of some action or demonstration which wasn't 'announced' until it had already happened.

What we need is that sense of voluntary unity which made activists in one place get the word out to others in another state about an upcoming march etc.. We read common dreams and any number of progressive sites but we can't read them all. So a march in a city may not actually have gotten the word out as effectively as we did back then when individuals did so personally. Now when it is posted on a group's web site, those who read it or link to it know but others who would participate never read about it elsewhere.

If the net (which is the 21st century's reality and only a dream back in the sixties) is to be the free speech alternative to a consolidated mainstream media, then ... ORGANIZE IT!

ORGANIZE THE NET. The info is there, the freedom to say what you wish is there (as yet...notice how governments fear the net's potential to unify and get the word out) and most importantly ...a vast but latent potential to easily communicate to millions exists which wasn't there in the sixties. No one has to seek donations to pay postage for mailing newsletters nor for printer's costs etc.. It was amazing what was accomplished by dedicated people of good will!

Why don't we have a site where everyone knows to go to find out what is happening and where they can help out? A community bulletin board in every progressive newsletter informed people of what was happening in their town and elsewhere. Where is that on the net? Maybe the numerous progressive sites could remember what worked back then and do it again on the net now? Each progressive site should have a 'bulletin board' which says what all the other bulletin boards say. A demonstration will be held on___ in the city of ___, a protest will be held on ____ in the town of ____ etc..

That shared community is what is needed on the net. The getting the word out to everybody TOGETHER. We need THAT. We have the free speech and the information on the net but as yet ...not the unity. ORGANIZE THE NET.

The net is the great equalizer to mega-corporate control of the airwaves and printed page. So use it ...like they don't want you to.

P.S. Noncooperation is nonviolence. Boycotting is too. Protesting and marching and civil disobedience. All are nonviolence. Nonviolence is what we do. No violence...simple as that. Everything else... is the future! With RSS feeds etc. where is the place where every event and protest is announced ahead of time? I'd like to know... and so do you.

Paul Bramscher said

"The essential problem with even the self-defense or "shoot back if fired upon!" arguments is that the "enemy" in the crosshairs is not one who has passed through this lens of understanding. The person at the other ends is some kid who's not in charge of his own faculties."

That enemy is literally our brother/sister, we all share a common mother in Africa about 200K years ago.

How can the leaders of this World order to kill their own family members, and then pray and go to sleep tie ?

How can anyone of them even pretend they are really God fearing believers ?

In America this hypocrisy is played daily, our leaders have zero moral authority, what a shame.

iamwutiam,

Great post. I think the insight you posses in your paragraph here is the salient key to our success in stopping these dark armies of government from being unleashed upon us (which may be the inevitable course of neocon Orwellian behavior.)

My experience was in a labor struggle (which we won) and I see parallels between what happened at that level and what is happening at a national level in the U.S. now. Worker abuse was rampant by the corporation in which they made similar decrees like this administration has in stating that any troublemakers would be subject to drug tests, extra training (which you might not pass) and a myriad of other harassment's. This went on for years in which you were considered disloyal if you talked about or advocated any Union affiliation. They read our email, hired a police prison force to watch us, and paid over one-hundred million for a legal dream team to derail our progressive movement. After a decade of firings, accidents, and theft of work rules, benefits and pay, even those of us who hated Unions realized that we would have to at some point hold this company accountable in a legal contract signed by both sides and arbitrated outside the control of the company. We organized over 70% of the workforce, and hit their bottom line by refusing to work overtime or to pick up the phone on days off (Legal under the federal law.) The company was so dependent on overtime work, that key ten-million dollar contracts with customers went unfulfilled and were lost. Many of us were fired or dragged through the coals by middle management, but the losses registered with shareholders and Chief Corporate Officers. They caved and we had our first contract.

The Gov IMHO is taking the corporate model right now. Their bosses: Wall Street CEO's are dependent on the consumer, the depositor, the 401K investor and to lesser extent, the productivity of the U.S. worker.

We have to first organize the red state masses, then bring about a perfect storm of pressure on the earnings of CEO's (who are telling washington leaders what to do.) in order to get their attention. Secondly, use our right of free speech for peaceful assembly to protest grievances against the government (first amendment right) before we loose that alltogether.

When the storm hits, reasonable cools heads should prevail from both sides, because if they don't.......

Look Out.

The very essence of Being an American is what's being taken away from us. The founding fathers warned us this would happen from time to time, but we don't read their writings anymore so it is a shock to us.

Organize the red States
Boycott everything
Protest
et al.

The above are all just my opinions only.

pacplyer