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TechnoratiThe Land of the Silent and the Home of the Fearful
I was a speaker last night at an anti-war event sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County, Progressive Democrats of America and Democrats For America in Lincroft, NJ, near the shore. It was a great group of activist Americans who want to see this country end the Iraq War, turn away from war as a primary instrument of policy, and start dealing with the pressing human needs of the country and the world.
Yet even in this group of committed people, one woman stood up during the question-and-answer session and said, "I want to get involved in writing emails to members of Congress urging them to cut off funding for the war and other things, but if I do that won't I end up getting put on a "watch list'" or something?"
I told her the short answer was yes, she probably would. In George Bush's and Dick Cheney's America, no one is safe from such spying, and even from harassment, as witness Tom Feeley, the man behind the website Information Clearing House, who had armed men invade his house at night and threaten his wife complaining about his First Amendment-protected effort to publicize important stories on the Internet.
But I also told her that it didn't matter. She should defend her freedom of speech and her right to petition for redress of grievances, just as she was defending her freedom of assembly by attending last night's event.
The only demonstrably true statement George Bush has made in his sorry eight years in office is that the Constitution is "just a goddamned piece of paper." While it wasn't the point he was making, when he reportedly shouted this at a couple of Republican members of Congress who were questioning the constitutionality of some of his actions, he was right that the nation's founding document is only worth the parchment and ink it's composed of, unless people use it and defend it.
There is a remarkable and palpable fear abroad in this land-not a fear of terrorism, but a fear of speaking up, a fear of being labeled as "different" or as a "troublemaker."
People will lean over and whisper their opinions, if they think they are anti-Establishment, as though someone might be listening. People write me after some of my columns run, praising me for my "courage," though why it should be perceived as requiring courage to merely write something in America is beyond me.
The worst thing is that every time someone says she or he is afraid, or acts afraid to speak or write what she or he is thinking, five more acquaintances become equally scared and silenced.
The corollary, though, is that each time someone forgets or ignores or rejects that fear, five people gain courage the do the same thing.
Now I'm not saying that there aren't people monitoring, and reporting on, what we say. I know our government is busy doing that. I assume that my Internet activities are being monitored by the National Security Agency. I assume my phones are tapped. I assume there was some agent or informant among the fine people at the church last night. But these Stasi wannabes have no power if we don't let them frighten us into silence and inaction.
What I find discouraging is the widespread acceptance, even on the left, of this effort to intimidate us, and the pervasive attitude of fear that has grown up around us. I spent a year and a half living in a truly fascistic society in China, where there are real, concrete threats to life and liberty faced by those who stand up and say what they are thinking, and yet sometimes I think that ordinary people I met in China were braver about stating their minds than many, or even most Americans are. I'm not talking here about saying things like that you think the Post Office is dysfunctional, or that you think federal bureaucrats are corrupt or that taxes are too high. I'm talking about questioning the system, or challenging the war, or protesting military spending. Chinese people would tell me all the time that the Chinese Communist Party was a corrupt gang of thugs or that you could not get justice in a Chinese court. Chinese people are closing down factories that short them on their pay. They have rallied in the thousands and burned down police stations when corrupt police have raped, killed and then covered up the death of a young girl. They have marched in massive impromptu protests at the theft of their homes through eminent domain.
If you want to see where we're headed here in America, check out the workplace. There, we Americans have, through years of collective cowardice and unwillingness to stand together in organized labor unions, allowed our constitutional freedoms to be almost completely erased. Today, an American workplace is more akin to a police state than to a democratic society. Say what you're thinking on the job, and you're liable to lose it. Wear a shirt that says something the boss disagrees with, and you either remove that shirt or you are unemployed. Even that final refuge of free speech, the bumper sticker, can get workers in trouble if the wrong one shows up in the company parking lot. That loss of will and of freedom has in no small way contributed to the loss of jobs and the decline in living standards of American workers.
It's time for all of us to put a stop to this creeping usurpation of our liberties.
The anxious woman who asked her question came up to me after the meeting and said proudly that she would not be afraid, and would start signing on to protest letter-writing and emailing campaigns.
We need lots more like her.
66 Comments so far
Show Allsnydly
The verse of the Star Spangled Banner that we all sing ends with a question.
Oh,
And I should add that the government is actively blocking/ slowing way down these sites. So if you aren't able to link to them, please type them in google and go around that way.
B.F.
"I regret that I have but one life to give for the Constitution."
Attention All: Despair not my friends!
There is hope.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned the EFF (Electronic Frontiers Foundation.) These are the good guys who will help us all keep our free speech and have won victories against the corporate terrorists who have hijacked the government from the boardroom. We all must join.
http://www.eff.org/
Also to become more anonymous (and brave) you need to join and help our fight against big brother with an underground network like "TOR." It confuses everybody as to where you are/who you are. (Yes even them.)
http://www.torproject.org/index.html.en
Enjoy!
Ben Franklin The First American
Folks, there are consequences to speaking out. How about being thrown in jail for participating in a demonstration? It has happened many a time, although we are supposed to have inalienable rights of speech and assembly.
In general, you won't get beaten or tortured for speech yet in the United States. However, jail (a real possibility) these days is a form of torture via sleep depredation and temperature extremes, tactics used at Abu Ghraib, too.
Lindorff's point is kind of exaggerated. Even George Bush says he's for free speech. Indeed, Bush (and his Democratic compatriots in Congress) will ensure that the speech of U.S. citizens gets tapped and filtered in a database. The U.S. PATRIOT Act, agreed to by both parties in Congress, essentially suspends many of our rights. We're just a few decrees and protest cages away from effectually not having any rights at all.
Speech just isn't a threat to the plutocracy, unless it gets on TV. The powers that be are OK with people speaking out, as it's a kind of release valve. Still, expect that your voice will be ignored. For instance, how many years has the peace movement been ignored by Washington, and not just by Republicans?
As Nixon used to say, "Let them protest all they want, so long as they pay their taxes."
More speech is not solving the problem. The system simply does not respond to public pressure, either by voice or written word. Nixon may have shown the way - massive tax resistance, which probably means facing legal harassment, jail time or both.
One should not underestimate workplace repercussions. The U.S. workplace is an inversion of democracy. It is not an equal exchange. These are not stable economic times for most people, so the stakes are high.
So, yes, there are reprecussions, but for the most part, the U.S. Congress and the executive and judicial branches just ignore what people say. Citizen voices are cut from TV, and mostly they are cut from the major corporate-owned dailies too.
We still assert our rights, although they are largely meaningless in our present controlled plutocracy. It's going to stay that way as long as people keep organizing under the two parties. We have taxation without representation. But a general tax revolt would be difficult to organize.
-TIA
What has Obama done to eliminate the oppression of our own government running rough shod over us?
Answer: he voted for FISA a bill expanding government power. He avoided a filibuster of extreme Supreme Court picks Alito, and Roberts. He kept his mouth shut on torture...This author needs to look closely at his own ignorance before preaching to the choir...
I am bothered by the practice of people signing with pseudonyms. It keeps us anonymous from one another but the government has the capacity through their collaboration with phone companies, internet ISPs, etc., to know our identities and track us. As I have said, the government knows where I live and they can come get me if they want to. I will not cower in fear of these fascists regardless of their self-appointed authority to detain us without charge and their ability to ship us out of the country for torture god only knows where.
Speak up often, speak up loud and speak up with your real name.
David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?"
Hello David Brookbank!
I am Marianne Sonntag. I live in Santa Rosa, CA. I am a career dental assistant (I hope you're flossing!). I suspect the powers behind the government of dastardly deeds in the past and planning in the future to secure their position as our overlords, and our position as drones and breeders and serfs. I will vote for Obama anyway and hope for some good to come from it, should he become President.
Please translate "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?" I can get where and has and perhaps practice and truths.
Mr. Lindorff is a bit irresponsible suggesting that simply writing letters to your congresspersons will get you on a list. But, no doubt, running a hard-hitting news website - especially one critical of Israel like Tom Feeleys site, WILL get you in trouble.
I find most of the fear and hand-wringing about getting involved in activism among middle class liberals is due to a debilitating fear of how it might affect their careers and comfortable middle class suburban lifestyle.
The younger, anarchist-leaning activists, who live simply and frugally, have no such fears, and engage in activsm with much more courage I don't particularly like the bandanna mask stuff at the protests either - but first and foremost we have respect diversity of tactics and lifestyles.
Ah, here we are: we CommonDreams' posters (a.k.a., we, the people) ... hidden.
Out of sight, out of mind, CD ownership? ... For shame, for shame!
Interestingly enough, CommonDreams posters are, for the most part, TO THE LEFT of CommonDreams ownership. For example, no doubt those *own* CommonDreams will endorse Barack Obama for president, as they did Kerry in 2004 and Gore in 2000 -- but, lo and behold, notice how many CD posters, in fact, DON'T support Barack Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party but, instead, support Nader or McKinney or some other genuinely progressive candidate.
You know, the voice of the people can be *such* a bother sometimes, can't it? Especially to those at the top.
In any event, Donna Volatile wrote a very interesting article that recently appeared at counterpunch.org entitled "The Obama Construct."
After pointing out that Barack Obama is a.) willing to keep a "residual force" in Iraq for an indefinite period of time; b.) wants to escalate the war in Afghanistan, and
c.) is willing to invade both Pakistan and Iran, Ms. Volatile writes:
"McCain is a war mongering bully who is in your face, Obama, on the other hand, is a smooth talker, whose own Foreign policy positions aren't too far removed from McCain's and one has to wonder which is worse, or indeed if there really is any difference at all. (The idea of voting for the lesser of two evils, McCain being the more evil, according to Obama supporters, seems ludicrous given that both of these candidates will ultimately do the bidding of their masters and the master plan is the same for both parties. This should be quite apparent by now and if it isn't, well, by all means vote for Obama and reap your just rewards...Do you really think 'Obomba's' idea of war will be kinder and gentler than McCain's?...)
"Obama supporters will tell you 'but he's honest and so sincere', and 'he's run a clean campaign' or 'he's one of us' (that one always gets me) but they remain blinded to what is obvious to many on the radical left and many on the traditional conservative/libertarian right: Obama is a player and he is playing the game of the global elitists.
"Since he has all but secured his party's nomination, he's becoming more militaristic by the minute, in both tone and by his stance on several key Foreign policy issues.
"Obama and his VP Choice, Senator Biden, however, are not the crux of the problem but rather the mainstream voters are the problem as they continue to enable the corrupt two party system by consistently supporting the candidates being foisted upon them by controllers who select them in the first place and who are reinforced by the mainstream media machine in the second. These are not choices, these are lack of choices and if voters continue to participate in this sham, then they truly get what they deserve!
"With Obama supporters, the phrase 'blinded by the light' takes on a whole new meaning. What part don't you get?! (This is the party threatening to place demonstrators at the DNC in recently erected detention camps and the party whose House majority leader, Nancy Pelosi, ridicules the anti-war movement and the homeless: 'If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they'd be arrested for loitering but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment.' Funny how both parties get upset over that whole free speech thing...)
"What is most stunning about delusional Obama supporters is, when confronted by the aforementioned facts about Obama, they counter with this inane idea that Obama is only 'saying' these things, he doesn't really mean them, it's only to get elected and once he gets elected the true altruistic essence of the man will save us all from tyranny! (Can we say reality check?!)
"Their indefensible support of this double talker is beyond comprehension. ...
If you want to help put a stop to the rigged election game, if you really want to make a difference and you want your voice of disapproval to be heard, then do VOTE! Vote for ANYBODY but the two buffoons, who have been pre-selected for you by the global elitist machine. Send a message, loud and clear: We refuse your choices.
"Vote Nader, vote McKinney, vote Ron Paul, vote Bob Barr, write in a vote, do whatever but don't support the corrupt system. Commit to a protest vote. Vote your conscience, do not vote under the 'lesser of two-evils' threat because then YOU are part of the problem, not part of the possible solution. (We've been on this trip too many times before ... From 'hope and help is on the way' Kerry to Obama's constant harping on 'Change We Can Believe In', you have been sold a bill of goods from first to last. For all of Obama's talk of change, his words and actions show quite clearly, he means more of the same...)
"For those die hard Obama supporters who refuse to see the hand writing on the wall... YOU are the problem... For those die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters, promising to vote for McCain because your war-monger wasn't the chosen one, seek psychiatric help immediately.
"And one more thing ... Evil is evil, bad is bad, wrong is wrong regardless of sex, race, creed or color.
"And another thing ... If you vote for Obama, you are neither liberal nor are you progressive, so let's get that straight. If you vote for Obama, you are a neoliberal, so get use to it.
"Stop making excuses, there are none and time is running out as an even larger war may be in the making.
"Get those blinders off!
"This is your wake up call!"
(Words in parenthesis Ms. Volatile's)
Click here for the entire article -- http://www.counterpunch.org/volatile08282008.html
"PARANOIA CAN DESTROY YA!".
Wake up people, this is NOT Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, Zimbabwe, China, or any other workers paradise.
I was in complete agreement until the whine: "Today, an American workplace is more akin to a police state than to a democratic society. Say what you're thinking on the job, and you're liable to lose it. Wear a shirt that says something the boss disagrees with, and you either remove that shirt or you are unemployed. Even that final refuge of free speech, the bumper sticker, can get workers in trouble if the wrong one shows up in the company parking lot."
Oh boo hoo! Apparently Mr. Lindorff wants Big Brother watching over employers so that anybody who gets rid of an employee for an "unapproved" reason gets "corrected" and is forced to take the unwanted employee back. How ironic that an article which pretends to advocate courage and freedom descends to such a low.
Here's a small economics lesson: employment is a voluntary arrangement between two parties, the employer and the employee. Either is free to terminate that arrangement for any reason whatever. Anybody who thinks otherwise is a Statist, no matter what piety he attempts to cloak himself in.
Grow up, Mr. Lindorff!
adaptune,
Your "small economics lesson" is decidedly either intentionally fraudulent or wishful thinking that an employer can freely terminate a contractual, voluntary employment agreement for "any reason." I would not care to pay for a termination lawsuit you think of as 'free for any reason.'
As for your cutesy imitation, or plagiarism, of Rovian politics that intimates a defined position on an issue is somehow less than honest or is concerned about ruthless, psychopathic corporate behavior based on whim, without legal redress for the employee when all manner of thousands of pages of legal protection exists for truly disgusting corporate pretensions and indifference to it's effects on humanity. Statism has never in this country managed to rise above anything more than a token nod towards the intellectual, creative and physical labor that is routinely exploited, if not outright stolen, by corporate swill who rely on those abilities in others for obvious, barren reasons.
YOU need to grow up. No, you need to stfu and re-think your wannabe Ayn Rand dictatorship of other peoples' minds. It could become very uncomfortable for your mindset.
DogLeg,
I'm having a hard time making any sense of your convoluted language. Have you ever considered writing in clear English?
In your ideal fantasy world, would an employee have the right to leave a job at any time? If your answer is yes, then please tell me, why should an employer not have the right to terminate an employee at any time for any (or no) reason? Of course, if two parties have signed a contract for a specific time, that's a different matter, but that's not what Lindorff is talking about.
Let's talk about the word "exploitation". Exactly what does it mean? According to Lefties, apparently any time person A hires person B to do something the Leftie does not like, it is "exploitation." Pardon me while I yawn! Yes, it would be swell if we could all tap into a cornucopia and never had to do anything productive. Real life stands in stark contrast to that wish, however. Every one of us has the option to start his own business. Or, if we so choose, we can work for someone else. This is none of the government's business, unless force or fraud are involved.
I do agree that corporations have gotten all kinds of illegal advantages from thugs like Bush and Cheney. Unfortunately, the Democrats have not and will not offer any relief. The answer is not to be found in politics, but in self-reliance.
"Ayn Rand dictatorship of other peoples' [sic] minds"??? You sound like a very frightened person who has zero confidence in his own abilities. More government meddling cannot help you.
adaptune,
This illustration will simplify your response to my posting:
______________________________________________.
amerika is no longer deserving of a democratic form of government.
democracy requires - no, demands - engaged and informed (and therefore educated) citizens. the founders knew this, and it troubled them greatly. 'tis the reason voting was originally restricted to (obviously white male) landed, educated "gentry". perhaps jefferson didn't tremble like hamilton at the thought of a pissed-off and active body politic, but they definitely made him (and the rest) pretty damned nervous.
when american idol & monday night football are more important than substantive policy issues that affect more than just treasure, that impact lives; when an increasing number of citizens (bitching about spanish-speaking brown people "invading" their country) can't point to their own state on a map let alone, say, Mexico; when more people can name the starting line-up of their local NFL or MLB or NBA franchise but have no idea who their elected representatives are; when a majority of americans, when asked if the freedoms spelled out in the bill of rights should be in the constitution (without being told that they already ARE in the constitution) answer in the negative; then we, as a people, have grown too lazy, become too stupid, and have failed the basic tests that qualify any country for admittance to "democracy."
i understand that this is all by design. the (R) and (D) parties long ago realized that an educated, middle-class populace meant trouble for them and their lobbyist "walking ATMs". why, next thing you know, the people are recalling their elected reps, marching in the streets, and demaning accountability! just look at the '60s! never again!
so they've given us no child left behind, removed civics and current events and political history from the classroom, ceased demanding media conglomerates to act in the public interest in exchange for the free use of public air waves, and on and on.
the alternative? personally, i'm all for a temporary shift to a parliamentarian style government loosely based on cuba's much more responsive and functional form of democracy: reps elected out of unions, associations, neighborhoods, whatever who then elect reps to the national house who then select a prime minister. but that's just me. and it ain't gonna happen.
no. the multinational corporations have pretty much cemented their grip on this country. they are the new owners and we ALL work for them. so, i guess i'm outta here (as soon as i find a country to which my social security check can be mailed and that isn't going to impose a quarantine on the 63 feline friends i'll be bringing with me).
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
kgarry...
Great post! I'm with you on the wondering where to go when I retire in four years. And I too will be taking the cats with me.
I have a friend who immigrated to New Zealand several years ago, and I envy her. NZ is also not without it's problems, but I think I could have liked it. However, to gain citizenship there as an immigrant, one must be 55 years old or less, prove marketable skills for employment and/or show financial assets. So, at 62, I can only go as a tourist. My friend took 2 cats with her...they had to remain in quarantine for 6 months, I think. She drove hours every day to be with them in their "cell."
Keep posting...It's good to read intelligent comments.
kgarry,
I would prefer Kerouac's,
"Look around you, stay open, question the roles society has thrust upon you, don't give up the search for connection and meaning."
Or, perhaps;
"What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining, elusive element which is life itself-- Life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose." Willa Cather, American writer.
Besides, I learned long ago that I determined my employer. I, and I mean 'I,' do not work for any psychotic corporation. The cost? Fewer steaks than most suburban hiccups, I never developed a taste for American pizza, I am terrible at 'Trivial Pursuit,' the baby boomer game that assumes the complete generation swallowed the false culture of the 'idiot box,' complete unto itself of encouraging a pretend, one-dimensional rewrite of the 200,000 year evolution of 'Homo Sapiens Sapiens' into Kelloggs Corn Flakes, Geritol, Pall Malls, Marlboros, Lucky Strikes, Budweiser, Chevies, Buicks, Ford pickups, Al Capone, unknown numbers of evangelical Christian Ministries begging for bucks with large breasted, tribal, reproductive icons with black mascara as backup and bribe.
What Convention?
I watered my vegetable garden...
I am going to bed, to sleep. Too many repeats on T.V.
Dafoe
A free people vigorous in the defense of their constitution is the best defense against any terror, resident or foreign. What have we got, a congenital idiot, twice elected who treats the constitution like a bit of tp and what do I hear? Zip nothing in fact one hears cheers fer keepin' amer'ca safe. The democrats won't act much better, both parties have been bought by corporate amer'ca and the booboise suck it up and believe the country is free.
Those secessionists folks in Vermont are on the only right track, remove yourself from this dysfunctional union.
If you're reading this and thinking about getting yourself on a watch list by writing congress, I must tell you, don't bother. Your better off to talk it up amongst your friends and family and people you know aren't going to turn you into the fascist state. Grass roots doesn't require groveling and begging for mercy from your oppressors. I've been blacklisted for more than 10 years, before even 9/11. I was protesting the federal governments mass murder by tobacco subsidy when my life fell all to shee-yat. I went from making about 17 dollars an hour to incapacity to get a job for 6 months at a time and when I got one it was for a half cut in pay... The politicians are going to keep pursuing their immediate self interest regardless of what poetry you drop on them so don't bother. This way, if you don't openly protest, when it comes times to take up arms against our oppressors you won't be immediately locked up. What the above propaganda writer is trying to accomplish with dissenters was accomplished with Mexican immigrants over the past few years. The government with some bogus feel good work visa promises got them in the streets demanding rights. Then they got them all on film and in databases, now there's no one to pick the lettuce or clean the bathrooms...
Instead of writing congress, store canned goods and bullets in a bomb shelter.
rocyahsoul@yahoo.com
www.lamegame.name
Daniel Vincent Kelley
How many liberals served,died,were maimed for this country?I'm one
EMOTIONS
I cried for my country and many will wonder for what reasons and will not see the abyss where fear reigns supreme and genders strife.
My tears went into the ditch of anguish and despair to mingle with others who would help and nurture freedom struggling for life.
A patriot act nourished with the swill of fear and death and what? The swill is in the sty and that is the jailer and not the protector.
Guantanamo is an abomination and a shame to all who would say that they stand for freedom and not just be a spectator.
To claim the rule of law to keep, even one person, in jail at the whim of one person is the law of power and not of justice.
Religion and law, why? If heaven is so exclusive then why want to make law that will send some (gays, many people of color, liberals and who knows who else) into the big pit damned with no comfort and no bliss?
Fetus yes, babies no. Save the fetus, let babies be without entitlements they need and should have if only there were deeds.
E.T is looking down and not coming down because it is a wonder and, worthy of a tear, how long before this world is denuded in earth sea and air and fit only for hardy weeds.
The Constitution should always be for the advancement of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all and not the few.
The tears will dry and I will join the battle for freedoms promised in the Constitution. Exclusive heaven or the big pit? I’ll take the big pit it has a bigger and better loo.
Tony 15/11/04
a
Somebody pass the butter, please...
Excellent discussion, relevant topic. Everyone dissent more regularly, not necessarily loudly but consistently, openly to make dissent a regular thing. Openly discuss politics in public - no need to confront - just get people talking, make it a common occurence for people to overhear others talking politics (even those on cellphones may participate) - the far right wing extremists will not engage in highly relevant debates in public, but get them to throw out their "grand old arguments" and you can then smile at them - subtly - just smile, don't criticize, just smile and get everyone talking more openly - we want to displace the trivia in the public discussion with substantial topics, those that matter most to the people. The energy of this society is focused on the benefit of a tiny few who turned the rest of us into milk cows - that's right - yummy hay and water in, milk out. We're shutting down that farm and turning the animals loose. "Vote third party" in all of your exchange/association (public discussions, etc) and help make it happen.
One good general strike could bring down the whole house of cards. We just need enough people, with the courage to act, and we're there.
A general strike is a great idea. It could be very effective. And it's legal!! So far, no leader has come forth to organize We the People. We must think of a way to unite enough people so that we could pull it off.
Great article. The fear of nonconformity among Americans has been noticeable for years, and it's especially rife among the young. It's always good to compare Americans' behavior to that of other countries, and I've heard many times in recent years how lacking in principled social action Americans are compared to other people. Can we even imagine Americans attacking a police station because police had raped or even killed someone, the way the author describes the Chinese doing? Americans seem to always side with the police, even though US police are constantly killing and maiming people. And white Americans tend to deride black Americans when blacks do stand up to the police. We ought to be more like the Chinese on these matters. And like Venezuelans. And like Argentineans. And like the French. Hell, we could even look back at the way we were pre-Reagan, particularly in the 1960s and 70s, when thousands of people were in the streets and buildings actively working to improve their lives and the world. Now everyone's too afraid that their neighbors might talk, too afraid of being seen as "extreme" by the bulldog Republicans and Libertarians they live among. Americans suck at this point.
Paul Tillich has quite a bit to say about America ("this country") and conformity, including
"Nations are saved if there is a small minority, a group of people, who represent what the nation is called to be. They may be defeated, but their spirit will be a power of resistance against the evil spirits who are detrimental to the nation. The question of saving power in the nation is the question of whether there is a minority, even a small one, which is willing to resist the anxiety produced by propaganda, the conformity enforced by threat, the hatred stimulated by ignorance. The future of this country and its spiritual values is not dependent as much on atomic defense as on the influence such groups will have on the spirit in which the nation will think and act."
Paul Tillich *The Eternal Now* 1963
There was an interesting thing by Will Potter about animal rights groups and the FBI.
He mentioned a speech by an FBI person to corporations which revealed that the main concern was not terrorism(the FBI acknowledges AR activists pose no danger) but economic damage caused by activism.
It was also revealed that ar activists are not scared of the FBI despite the green scare tactics.
I assume this is for 2 reasons.
One is that they know they arent doing anything terrorist related,and regard the whole affair as absurd--despite the few cases of convictions for running AR websites etc, and the other reason is they know that if they dont do something, the victims get no help.
With anti war activities and the like, there tends to be less of a specific target-and more of a general lifestyle/idea.
Anti-war, anti-hate, anti-poverty--without a specific target(i.e. a corporation).
Thanks Dave. Agreed with most all... especially in regard to exercising rights to express our opinion. Disuse can lead to complete atrophy... as we increasingly seem to be witnessing.
We need to return to the streets.
good article...
expression of first amendment rights involves courage but these rights are often tied to privilege. i was dismayed by the small amounts of people (relative to our population) who went out in the streets in 2003 to protest the impending invasion of iraq. fundamentally many americans -through economic insecurity- cannot afford a lawyer to represent them if they were arrested, or don't have the leisure time (i agree turn off the tv) or cannot take a day off of work to organize or participate in a demonstration. students and those of means are able to express their opinions for the many who are unable to participate. although i would encourage everyone to express their right to dissent.
i agree w/ Arry August 28th, 2008 2:38 pm, good point
'Corporatism and particularly consumerism has been like a radical transforming force that erases the strong human qualities derived from community and self-reliance, among which is courage.'
americans at their core believe moving ahead in american culture (which worships competition winning/losing) requires a blind obedience to consumerist culture and the repressive military expansionism that feeds this culture.
the question in my mind is will the system be changed/altered through traditional mechanisms of change (electoral politics, large demonstrations, letter writing campaigns, electoral reform on the local/state level, the development of ngo's to address governments inadequacies),
or is our system so bankrupt that 'revolutionary' restructuring is required ? americans are romantic by nature (see how our media describes our victories over nazi germany, or how we portrayed american expansionism in north america through the mythology of the cowboy in films) and the possibility exists they can re frame their perception of their government to create a new structure (government) that will be responsive to the peoples needs.
as our society crystallizes into a fascist society where there is a them (privilege,status) and us (the remaining 98.5% of americans), a threshold will be crossed that will turn the suffering experienced by the many into a flood of emotions that will be impossible to control(maybe it's 25% unemployment, or a massacre of unarmed demonstrators, or a limited nuclear war, or another inadequate government response to a crisis like say a major earthquake in los angeles).
some view demonstrations as a prelude to a larger 'revolutionary' struggle, which would explain the wearing of masks. our identities/activities are heavily monitored (soon even our bodies will be tagged w/ gps microchips for our security - like tourists in mexico)
if a persons intent is to engage in revolutionary activity it's crucial to have an alternative solution (a call to action) and it's important to mask your identity (sub commandant marcos, che guevara) and location. think of the resistence in NAZI germany, vichey france, franco's spain - watch the film pan's labyrinth).
i'm sure the masked demonstrators have their lists, i doubt they want them publicly displayed. i doubt the death squads driving around latin america in white suburbans assassinating activists in the 1980's (one crucible of US fascist techniques) had identification badges on - as i doubt the prisoners in the middle east resisting corporate expansionism were able to identify their captors through the black fabric bags tied over their heads... as police interacting w/ demonstrators in denver were not wearing any identification preventing any personal accountability for monitoring police abuses...
...peace...
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/26/denver_police_arrest_91_fire_pepper
"JACOB: 99 percent of the officers tonight that are operating—look behind me—have no
identification, which is against the law. An officer has to be identified by a badge or a nameplate. If you look behind me at all these sheriffs, there is not one of them identifiable. As you can see, these guys could hurt us at any given time, and we would not know how to hold them accountable. We can’t identify these guys. These guys are operating with complete impunity."
...peace...
Yeah-- they're like the Imperial Stormtroopers from the first "Star Wars" movies, except in black instead of white-- as indistiguishable to humans as one killer bee from another.
Dave Lindorff says the Stasi have no power if we let them silence us; but this presumes a different era in the American "control machine." Although no overt public executions have begun, there are lots of prison beds, and the basic judicial rules of engagement have broken down along with phony elections, a bought press, a never elected president, a raped treasury and the MANY illusions that our society is still working to preserve the rights enshrined in The Bill of Rights and the Constitution. People in high places have been killed, accidents arranged; the litmus test that ruins lives under the banner of the "war on drugs" has been tolerated as it eviscerated presumed liberties starting 20 plus years ago. Environmentalists or those who would dispute the rites of "Free Trade," carry descriptions that loosely fit those used to describe terrorists, in other words, the legal language is lOOSE.
Like others who comment on CD I am an activist in my own way. Not only jobs are on the line, consumers have been thrown out of malls for wearing "the wrong T shirt," and there is a painful problem with social ostracism when the elites who control message manage to confuse the populace so much that it unknowing votes against its own best interests. Issue oriented voting/polls suggest a far more liberal public than generally is recognized, even by its own constituents.
When the right to have redress for complaints; when dissension is isolated from the physical context of the debate; when the 'police', those great arbiters of American justice, have morphed into paranoid, psychotic, delusional executioners for the same traitorous corporate fascist families that have ran this country since day one, see a terrorist in every human face; when the only venue for public consumption of legal dissension is the internet or a book, thereby limiting access and the human need to know you are not alone, physically; when human interaction has been minimized, sanitized, securitized, caged and beaten into acceptance; then there is silence.
Now...How much more pablum do I, do any of us, have to continue to hear?
This is not discourse. It is intellectual dishonesty, it is cultural dishonesty. It is masturbatorial rhetoric.
The American people are not sheep.
They are a single cell, lower life form.
And of absolutely no consequence. Except limited toxicity.
Damn, I'm angry today. :)
I will keep it quick. The people who thought up 9ii were brilliant. They knock over a couple buildings and installed fear in everyone to a point the Gov can do what ever it wants. Question even the most blatant wrong doing and the brown shirts kick the door in. I feel so sorry for americans the largest banana republic in the world. Democracy die that day in Sept.
Manipulating people into blind obedience through fear is what churches have used for millenia.
That's why so many 'God Fearing' Christians vote Republican.
God intends and Nature provides everything we need for a happy life.
Iblis uses churches to prevent 'true believers' from having religious experiences.
Fear not.
the theme of cd today seems to be stories about the delusion and fear at large in the empire
land of the free - no, not anymore
land of the brave - forget that one
now it is the land of the color coded fear state, listening to you phone calls, gestapo knocking down doors, torture, rendition
i can't recall who pointed out that a brave man dies once but a coward dies a thousand times
so america is the land of the cowards - and apparently for good reason
cheers, b
I speak when I'm motivated to speak, but am finding myself less and less motivated to do so as I consider what, exactly, I'd be trying to change...the underlying problem I see is the psychology\behavior of the human animal and the resulting impact on our one and only living environment...how do you speak out about people limiting their houses to only the minimal square footage, or their wardrobe to only a couple of garments, or their food to grazing locally-growing vegetation, or their energy use to only critical functions, or their transportation to their own bodypower, or understanding that the very notions\structures supporting their entire world (finances, energy, resources, politics, corporatehood, property ownership, jobs, education, infrastructure) are simply to maintain an un-maintainable capitalistic devouring of the living molecules of our planet, leaving them non-living, and unable to support life?
This is nothing to rail at the US government about...neither Obama nor McCain can or want to fix this...in fact, they do everything in their power not to, just like my two senators do...I have also found requesting others to change according to my wishes to be less than fruitful...nevertheless, since I am speaking...
this is about the way we live together and view one another...how do you stop acquiring product\waste to elevate yourself socially above your neighbor? how do you stop viewing the acquirer\waster more positively than the abstainer? how does respect get transferred from the gorgeous, perfumed wealth-glutton to the hairy, fragrant minimalist? a total alteration of social norms is in order, and I would suggest they include the widespread endorsement of music, marijuana and much more mating, among other things...I mean, if you're gonna smell, why not smell funky?
people need a new motivation...simply buying the most crap doesn't seem to be enough of a goal to warrant a life...our entire american lives have become one long, hard denial of the rampant underlying and natural sexual feelings we have for one another...marketing campaigns, including political ones, are based on it, as are entire industries...religions rely on it and ruin it...let's get back to being the naked animals we are, worshipping the planet and the myriad life forms and the physical and emotional joys of less-inhibited sexual expression, enhanced by the naturally elevating effects of marijuana and music...after all, why'd you buy those new shoes anyway, darlin'? To get laid? Well, skip the shoe manufacturing and buying, turn off the damn TV, and get right on with the laying with the guy you really want at the moment...saves time and resources, and gets right to the point, which is being sexy for ourselves and each other and spreading the love...worship the phallus, worship the vagina\womb...sing and dance...if the road we're on is so obviously wrong, how can one not entertain a new direction? Why not one that includes a vast increase in mutual pleasure and a huge decrease in paranoia and vicious attack? Manufacturing\consumption must end, so, what to do with our time and energy instead? Hmmm...
Congratulations to Dave Lindorff on his August 21st article, "Loserville: How Obama Blew It."
Quoting from that article:
"Barack Obama, the prospective Democratic presidential candidate, has managed to turn a 5-8 point lead over prospective Republican opponent John McCain into a 7-point deficit—a double-digit slide—in just two and a half months following a campaign that had voters really excited over his candidacy.
"How did he manage this feat (which is documented in the latest latest Reuters/Zogby poll)?
"Simple: he followed the tried-and-true strategy of Democratic centrist advisers who have increasingly dominated his campaign since the end of the primaries, and who have a proven track record of producing Democratic electoral disasters now for several decades. ...
"Continue with the present losing strategy, and we will see John McCain as president, and the continuation of a weak, compromised, sell-out Democratic Congress for at least the next four years.
"Now as sympathetic as I am to the politics espoused by Ralph Nader and by the Green Party, I'm well aware of the futility of Third Party campaigns. Even so, count me as one progressive who at this point has stopped supporting Obama."
I applaud Dave for withdrawing his support for Obama. I do, however, disagree with him on two points.
1.) The only way for a progressive third party to succeed, Dave, is ... TO VOTE FOR IT!
2.) Dave writes:
"There is probably still time to turn this electoral debacle in the making around. Obama needs to come out unambiguously for a quick end to the war in Iraq. He needs to do an about face on his call for an expansion of the war in Afghanistan. He needs to flatly rule out preemptive war as a policy for the United States of America, unless the country is in danger of imminent attack. He needs to scotch plans for expanding the military, and instead to start talking about how to reduce military spending, so that those funds can be shifted to domestic priorities like improving education and dramatically increasing research into carbon-free energy production. He needs to call for a national healthcare system that will provide quality, affordable medical care for all, and he needs to call for an aggressive campaign to combat joblessness and to reduce income disparity within the US." http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff08212008.html
What if Obama does all these things *before* the Election -- why believe him?
-- During the primaries, Obama was a peace candidate. ...
-- He then won the nomination and immediatley lurched to the right. ...
-- If he continues to trail McCain he may, out of desperation, start spouting populist rhetoric.
... But why believe him? ... Given all his cynical, opportunistic political manuevering, why should he be believed, let alone supported?
Genuine progressive candidates (Nader, McKinney, et al) don't change their positions as the political winds blow. They are who they are. (Can you imagine Ralph Nader thinking: "Gee, I should start tacking right now -- no left -- no, wait a minute, maybe right."
Michael Yates writes in "Obama and the Working Class" -
"If (Obama's) lead over McCain slips further or disappears altogether, we can expect to hear some populist rhetoric from Obama, as we heard from John Kerry as his disastrous bid for the presidency crashed and burned in 2004. But who will believe it now?" http://www.counterpunch.org/yates08262008.html
Who indeed?
Vote as if you were a sane person. -- NADER '08 --
Agreed. I found that article most refreshing!
That's right. Get on the lists. Let's have *millions* of people on the lists.
But there is a pervasive fear but it manifests itself in a number of ways. The fear of "terrorism" allows certain people to consider the Constitution to be inconvenient and negligible. (If not terrorism, it would be something else.) There is fear of getting sick, of getting old, no longer to qualify for membership in the celebrity society...the old narcissism thing. There is the fear that consumerism is phony, something we are stuck in and which is pulling us down, but maybe if we buy a few more things.... There is the fear that the show of the "American Dream" is bogus and the big question (eliciting fear) is where do we go from here. There is the fear that the enveloping cocoon of big brother corporatism/government is diseased, but what can we do as we are part of it? There is the fear that we can't quite "get it" or control anything as the "news" races from one shallow story to another. Fear feeds on fear and creates a society of fear.
Corporatism and particularly consumerism has been like a radical transforming force that erases the strong human qualities derived from community and self-reliance, among which is courage.
It is likely that we will regain courage through the necessity of struggle. That necessity is not yet real to many people who see it in a kind of disconnected (yet disturbing) way.
Please don't call liberals cowardly. That is a sure way to separate people from each other and to ensure that we all lose to the war machine in the end. There is hope for liberals and all of us if we set our differences aside and work together.
Don't give George Bush so much power, just because he called the Consitution "a goddamned piece of paper." If we commit to living by and protecting our Constitution, that makes us strong. The Constitution is about humanity and wisdom. It is George who is just a goddamned piece of paper.
Saila
Wow! I was wrong again. I used to get mad and write unfavorable comments about Americans because I thought they were either uninformed, misinformed, or downright careless about what their government was doing. I never thought of them as timid and cowardly.
If fear of your government makes you speechless, then what is the difference between the USA and a dictatorship like Egypt? For one reason or another, America has been in the business of popping up dictators to replace unfriendly governments. At last the chickens are coming home to roost, and you are getting a taste of your own medicine, so why complain?
That said, you now have my deepest sympathy, for what it’s worth. Just remember what one of your presidents has said: The only thing to fear is fear itself.
I am fortunate to be able to put your fears to rest. There are very few people in America that are afraid to speak out against their government or anyone else for that matter.
If Abraham Lincoln read the Gettysburg address on the steps of the Jefferson memorial on the 4th. of July there would be somebody there to protest it for some reason.
Thomass More:
Now that you have tortured logic, that 'thinking' act that is cruel to people who set up false arguments, into your own malleable slave of your stupid opinion: I can sleep well at night knowing my fellow citizens will perform "Silent Majority" for me when the police forced their way into my house without a warrant in 2007.
Go back to sleep...
Are you simply obtuse?
No.
You just don't have the capacity to comprehend what you read sometimes. Perhaps you have a limited exposure to extended thought and discourse, and varied writing practices. I could be wrong, but I am convinced you are not used to the abstract functioning of advanced logic.
But that doesn't mean I don't love you for who you are...
Obama recently said, "If the Republicans come at me with a knife, I'll come at them with a gun." An admirable sentiment because if you actually put a gun to a Republican's head he/she will crap his/her pants. However, have you heard Obama actually do this? McCain has given him plenty of opportunities, yet Obama is still doing his impeccable impression of John Kerry.
and that would be the candidate 'war hero' kerry, not the senator 'peace hero' who spoke last night.
I agree with you that people are afraid to speak out. There are pragmatic reasons to exercise such caution, such as not wanting to be singled out for "special" treatment every time one flies on a plane.
In addition, I think it's naive to say that if only people would stand up for their rights they would be protected. That's true when the state is not so powerful, but when the state becomes nearly omnipotent, such naive obstinacy can get one killed. Just ask the 20 million victims of Josef Stalin about that. I'm sure they were stammering about their rights all the way to the gallows.
Sometimes the wisest thing to do is keep your head down, quietly adhere to your principles and wait out the storm! (Cowardly as that sounds.)
Dave
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com/
its more like a hole than a storm, its not going to blow over. the longer you wait, the further you will have to climb out.
You missed the greatest arguement about the perception of fear. What would they do if you did all act-up?
Lock up all the liberals? how would the gov't pay for that?
Shoot everyone who opposes them? not too likely, that would spark a larger outcry and even neo-cons know that.
Rig another election that shows a narrow win for Mcsame? Well, ya know that just might work... but I doubt that the usa could afford another four years of repuke incompetence.
This article reminds me of the time I lived in Spain, in the months leading up to Fascist dictator Franco's death in 1975. I remember getting my legs kicked under cafe tables if I was talking about some off-limits subject - the guy reading his newspaper at the next table could be a secret policeman, or an informer. But, wherever and whenever it was safe to do so, we did talk about what my friends wanted to know - how does democracy work, what role do trade unions play, what's it like to have free speech.
It gladdens my heart, every time I visit Spain now, or watch an Almodovar movie, or see Spain on the TV news,to see how she has been transformed into one of the most liberal and enlightened countries in Europe. I hope this process starts to happen in the US next November.
well said dave. we need more. like its said about your legs or your brain, "use it or lose it". first amendment rights will never be stricken from the constitution, their interpretation will just continue to shrink as people fear to test the limits.
Lucille Gould
I live in North Dakota, a very Republican conservative state, and I work at the North Dakota State Hospital. My car has been adorned with anti-Bush bumper stickers for the past 8 years. Right now I have two of them which say; "Bush should serve another term--in prison", and "Let's all get along, I'll hug your elephant if you'll kiss my ass" (with a picture of a donkey on it). I've had other ones such as "9/11 was an inside job, our country is in peril", which I am about to get a new one of those. On the 4th of July this year, we hung our flag out for the 1st time in years--upside down.
I am no coward. And nobody says anything to me about it. I wish they would try.
That's a bit unfair and self-congratulatory. I have seen masses of liberals at demonstrations in Washington and New York against the Iraq War.
Furthermore, it is often people way over on the left who refuse to give their names, wear masks at demonstrations, don't sign their names on sign-up sheets for organizations trying to develop contact lists for future actions. This kind of gutless behavior by leftists makes organizing difficult and spreads fear among others.
It's a phenomenon hardly limited to "liberals."
Dave Lindorff
www.thiscantbehappening.net
C'mon David. You know these people are anarchists. Their masks are statements not what you call "gutless" behavior. Jeezum David. Were you there at Constitution and K street on G.W.'s inauguration day in 2001 (the opening scene of Michael Moore's "Fahrneheit 911")? If it was not for these "gutless" people there would have been a huge violent confrontation with the black armed uniformed police thugs that were preventing Moore's crowd from reaching the intersection where tens of thousands were awaiting them. No one I know nor my family saw from this "masked" crowd feared them. They were grateful they were there. If there was any fear it came from those that searched us, patted us down and shoved us into "free speech zones". So please, David, know what you're talking about before you spout off.
Yes, liberals are a rather cowardly sort. This fear amongst them of standing out from the general public is endemic in liberal circles. That's the reason so few of them can every be found demonstrating in a public place. They would rather hide out in voting booths and liberal churches instead. Or in little forums of about 25 people talking all to themselves about 'non-violence' and Gandhi.
I must assume this post sarcastic, how else to explain the millions around the world who turned out to demonstrate against the impending invasion of Iraq? I would offer that the absence of those millions today from our streets has much more to do with a lack of any rallying point, a dearth of opposition from the Democratic Party itself which disheartens many, a worsening of our economy and a growing alienation from our political institutions which ever more blatantly show themselves disinterested in the wishes of the majority.
I believe that the majority of folks are liberal, subscribe to a progressive agenda and, should a focal point be present , would demonstrate that leaning, and by the tens if not hundreds of thousands. I know that the conservatives hate the people, fear us and seek to diminish our role in governance, but they cannot succeed in the long term.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
No, Ardee, I don't think LoganSafi was being sarcastic. Yes, millions turned out for protests around the world to demonstrate against the impending invasion of Iraq. But we are still in Iraq killing Iraqi, not to mention increasing our killing of civilians in Afghanistan, and possibly on the way to an impending invasion of Iran. Not to mention aggression, intimidation, blackmail, sanctions, and other practices aroung the world. And how many people do you see protesting now? LoganSafi, if anything, may have exaggerated with his choice of the number 25. But I don't think he was being sarcastic.
David Brookbank -- "Hasta donde debemos practicar las verdades?"
"I know that the conservatives hate the people, fear us and seek to diminish our role in governance, but they cannot succeed in the long term."
Are you seriously suggesting that all conservatives hate "the people"? Aren't conservastives part of the people?
No right-wing conservative Republican policy since WW II has improved the human condition. Republican leaders are anti-people.
Not all "Conservatives" are Republicans though. Read the American Conservative to see what I mean. amconmag.com Then afterwards listen to democracynow.org and read more articles here.
Even Gore Vidal who I consider to be a lefty spoke of he return of the old Republic. Think people and don't just engage in easy stereotypes.
And I say this as a hard left direct action activist who was arrested for supporting tree sitters trying save ancient forests in Humboldt County California. We are going to need EVERYONE who is good hearted, decent and moral to overthrow the globalist elite New World Order IMO.
And yes they really did use "black helicopters" at the Dim Convention. Just do a search for black helicopters DNC convention on youtube to see them. Some of that "paranoid right wing conspiracy theory" stuff is alas true.
no, Thomas, they aren't. They abdicated that part of themselves with the takeover by the "religeous right", "moral majority" and that great divider, Ronald Raygun. There hasen't been a moral, decent republican president since Ike.
Neo-con Republicans have screwed the pooch most definitely. OTH I think there are pale-cons and Libertarians who while I may disagree with their economic policies have more to offer than say the average Democrat. The names Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, Paul Craig Roberts, and that guy who wrote Ain't my America come to mind. It could even be argued ecological thinkers like Wendell Berry are a kind of conservative in opposing state centralism and praising localism tradational forms of agriculture. Demonizing and smearing people is always wrong IMO.
IMO we ought to unite with these honest true conservatives against the corrupt globalist center. Then afterwards we can attempt to educate them on gay rights, the right to choose abortions, religious tolerance (including atheists like myself), the importance of the environment, co-ops, feminism, America's endemic racism, etc. But we have to overthrow the war mongering, earth wrecking, third world exploiting corporate globalists FIRST and IMO the Ron Pauls of the world are more helpful in that project than the Joe Biddens and Barack Obamas, YMMV.
I guess that was my point, many conservatives are not the religeous right nor the moral majority. They are simply liberals that haven't found their way yet!
And, don't we need them?
You're so right about liberals being cowardly. In the years I didn't vote - after JFK's assassination - I'd watch the campaigns every four years and get sick by the wimpy, cowardly way my party responded to the attacks from the other side. It was just like watching a victim being tormented by a bully, and being terrified of fighting back. I don't think the liberals know how to do otherwise. It seems to be in their genes.
That's why I became an Independent. I think there are enough people on both sides who hate the way their party acts and if ever a third party formed that embraced a balance of both party platforms, we might end up with a pretty good government for all of the people, and not just for the those of the party in charge the way it's always been.