To be honest, Michael, I am exhausted. I am 71. I marched in the protests against the Vietnam War and shut down the universities and stared down the cops.It did not stopthe forever wars from happening. I have marched, written letters, donated. I stood in the millions at the women's march, I marched against the Iraq war, I stood with only a handful of people on a corner protesting the bail out of the banks in 2008. I protested the death of George Floyd and marched for the kids at Parkville. It has not worked, we get thoughts and prayers and are ripped off again and again. Corporate rule is here. Their plunder will continue until there is nothing left.
The violent plunderers in all of history have crashed civilization after civilization. This post will change nothing. If we do what the folks on Jan. 6 did, they would have opened fire; they showed us this at the BLM marches. I do agree that those marches changed the conversation about race and police and energized the right.
The United States as a political entity is in collapse. It does not respond to us because it is too corrupted and immoral to do the right thing. Greed is a sin we have not been able to arrest. Men like Manchin are everywhere. They have no shame. So the whole thing is about to collapse. That might be the only thing that saves life on this planet.
So I have learned to do regenerative farming and grow open pollinated seeds that can not be patented; I save seeds. I grow and make medicines in fertile soil that I create with back breaking labors of love. When the shit hit the fan with the pandemic, the seed sellers were sold out. People hunkered down and grew food. They did what they have always done. Garden.
We are failing God's test for survival. "Give more than you take." Men have raped the garden creation gave us. We may not survive this. Life on this planet will, though in greatly reduced varieties, survive, maybe.
The EARTH IS A WOMAN, and SHE WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD!
I’m a 71-year old Black-radical, artist and retired professor who has been waging many of these fights since I was 11 years old. From life experiences that have included the Jim Crow south to my segregated hometown in Chicago - and a 30-year residency in New York City - this strikes me as a do or die moment. My dignity, indeed my life, and the lives of those whom I serve, have never been more threatened. This time, however, armed with historical lessons learned from the backlash of Reconstruction and The Civil Rights Movement - the way forward is obvious: A massive ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ movement LED BY WHITE PEOPLE, is the only way to save our democracy!!! Stand up!!! https://youtu.be/wZerNeNRJTY
Michael, ya got me.. I have thought this about the liberals and scratch my head at the apathy I see..much talk no action. My blue county of Lucas in Ohio is as lackluster as you can get. I was in DC for the 2017 Womens March and it was glorious.
Stop by and get me and let's go raise some good old liberal *good trouble*. I'm disabled and on oxygen but I've still got a bit of p&v left in me.
This excellent rant brings to mind, gentle revolutionary Rivera Sun (riverasun.com) and especially Howard Zinn (1970):
"...you are saying our problem is civil disobedience. That is not our problem.... Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders... Our problem is that people are obedient...in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem."
Also see this 4-min vid, incl scenes of cops with batons beating nonviolent protesters (incl Zinn) committing civil disobedience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oRoQTwac9M
I’m a70 year old white woman ready to be arrested in nonviolent protest multiple times Arrested at White House in ‘81 in protest of Reagan’s first budget.
I’m with you!!! What I don’t understand is the issue with the climate... Without a viable environment NOTHING else matters. These corporate greed monsters think that money will save them, but not one dime will buy you a glass of water when there is none. Just leave it to us wonderful humans and we will destroy everything, including ourselves!!! Mother Nature is pissed off and is giving us warning shots, PAY ATTENTION...There is to much apathy!!!
The only time the masses rise up is when they are manipulated by the rich.
The 24/7 Republican Bullshit Machine continually churns out the Republican propaganda on TV, cable, hate radio, churches and websites to keep the masses brainwashed to hate liberals, LGBTQ and the poor. And it always works.
Shoot, Michael, you sound French! Vive la Revolution! Seriously though, my mother who was French and who experienced the German occupation during World War II, never understood why we were in her opinion so passive. She used to say you don't know oppression until you've heard jackboots in the street and living on rutabagas and no heat. Unfortunately her saying was "blood in the streets" and she thought Gandhi was a bit of a wimp. LOL I agree with you though. I came up through u c Berkeley during the free speech era and there's nothing like being out in the streets with your fists in the air.
Mike, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your clarion call to ACTION. We need to ORGANIZE. We need LEADERSHIP. We need a PLAN to show up in person, and not back down.
Your letter can kick off an action planning group asap. I'm 64 and I have time, energy and creativity. I know many many others do too.
Well, you are right, of course, and I DID wonder why the moderates don't stand up and be counted. However, I find you, interesting as you are, to be less than even-handed yourself. I love your movies, but I take you with a grain of salt. Similarly I listen to your podcasts, read your articles, and often agree but sometimes not. I ponder over how to protest without being the same as the Yahoos. Occasionally I go to rallies to support a cause. But when folks dig in and make things all black or all white, I start to get uncomfortable. Do you think it is because I'm a Canadian?
OK, I wear my John Lewis sweatshirt that says “Get in Trouble, Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble” all around my house.
Honestly Michael, you have just pushed every one of my “guilt” buttons. I KNOW that I am watching the bitter end of Democracy occur in front of my very nose, and I KNOW the planet is dying, quickly.
Wanting to be a good role model for my grandchildren, I bought them all bamboo toothbrushes, joined a solar farm “until we get around to putting up solar panels on the house” and told them we're seriously thinking of buying an electric car.
I talk the talk but I don’t walk the walk. I don’t know how.
I agree that having a specific event planned at a specific place (or places) would be helpful, and would very likely bring me out from under the rug. I would show up swinging my baseball bat (just for protection, of course), and I would wear my sweatshirt.
Thanks for lighting the kindling. I hope with all my heart that the fire catches.
Right now, a hunger strike about climate change is taking place on the Capital Steps. Where is the news coverage on this? If brave people make it difficult for the lawmakers and the press, things get talked about. But it has to be insane to make it onto the news. More hunger strikes at every state capital. And here is a good one: Withhold sex ladies. Let’s have a sexual revolution in reverse. Women need to take back their lives yet again, but with a vengeance. Leave men. Create, then move into political convents and help each other to stay strong. Rebel against misogyny by walking out on the patriarchs, both figuratively and actually. If the women really United in a real way, it would blow things up.
This may be the first time or one of the few times I disagree with you. Deep Deep down I already have their "guts" and have put it on the line before in the civil rights movement, in college-medical school, residency, on missions & now the COVID lines as a physician & old guy. I have no envy of these miscreants and what you are calling "guts" I see as "pathological willful and spitefully ignorant acting out." It is also evil and I don't use that term very often but I think in these times it is applicable. The ugly underbelly of our nation / society has been further exposed and I only find it depressing & abhorrent. My kind of guts is to never give in to any of this horrible stuff and to continue to confront this by rational & non-violent service.
To be honest, Michael, I am exhausted. I am 71. I marched in the protests against the Vietnam War and shut down the universities and stared down the cops.It did not stopthe forever wars from happening. I have marched, written letters, donated. I stood in the millions at the women's march, I marched against the Iraq war, I stood with only a handful of people on a corner protesting the bail out of the banks in 2008. I protested the death of George Floyd and marched for the kids at Parkville. It has not worked, we get thoughts and prayers and are ripped off again and again. Corporate rule is here. Their plunder will continue until there is nothing left.
The violent plunderers in all of history have crashed civilization after civilization. This post will change nothing. If we do what the folks on Jan. 6 did, they would have opened fire; they showed us this at the BLM marches. I do agree that those marches changed the conversation about race and police and energized the right.
The United States as a political entity is in collapse. It does not respond to us because it is too corrupted and immoral to do the right thing. Greed is a sin we have not been able to arrest. Men like Manchin are everywhere. They have no shame. So the whole thing is about to collapse. That might be the only thing that saves life on this planet.
So I have learned to do regenerative farming and grow open pollinated seeds that can not be patented; I save seeds. I grow and make medicines in fertile soil that I create with back breaking labors of love. When the shit hit the fan with the pandemic, the seed sellers were sold out. People hunkered down and grew food. They did what they have always done. Garden.
We are failing God's test for survival. "Give more than you take." Men have raped the garden creation gave us. We may not survive this. Life on this planet will, though in greatly reduced varieties, survive, maybe.
The EARTH IS A WOMAN, and SHE WILL HAVE THE LAST WORD!
When Obama nominated Merrick Garland and the Republicans refused to consider him, THAT was when we shoudl have made our stand!
I’m a 71-year old Black-radical, artist and retired professor who has been waging many of these fights since I was 11 years old. From life experiences that have included the Jim Crow south to my segregated hometown in Chicago - and a 30-year residency in New York City - this strikes me as a do or die moment. My dignity, indeed my life, and the lives of those whom I serve, have never been more threatened. This time, however, armed with historical lessons learned from the backlash of Reconstruction and The Civil Rights Movement - the way forward is obvious: A massive ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ movement LED BY WHITE PEOPLE, is the only way to save our democracy!!! Stand up!!! https://youtu.be/wZerNeNRJTY
Michael, ya got me.. I have thought this about the liberals and scratch my head at the apathy I see..much talk no action. My blue county of Lucas in Ohio is as lackluster as you can get. I was in DC for the 2017 Womens March and it was glorious.
Stop by and get me and let's go raise some good old liberal *good trouble*. I'm disabled and on oxygen but I've still got a bit of p&v left in me.
This excellent rant brings to mind, gentle revolutionary Rivera Sun (riverasun.com) and especially Howard Zinn (1970):
"...you are saying our problem is civil disobedience. That is not our problem.... Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders... Our problem is that people are obedient...in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem."
Also see this 4-min vid, incl scenes of cops with batons beating nonviolent protesters (incl Zinn) committing civil disobedience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oRoQTwac9M
I’m a70 year old white woman ready to be arrested in nonviolent protest multiple times Arrested at White House in ‘81 in protest of Reagan’s first budget.
I’m with you!!! What I don’t understand is the issue with the climate... Without a viable environment NOTHING else matters. These corporate greed monsters think that money will save them, but not one dime will buy you a glass of water when there is none. Just leave it to us wonderful humans and we will destroy everything, including ourselves!!! Mother Nature is pissed off and is giving us warning shots, PAY ATTENTION...There is to much apathy!!!
This is America the land of Selfishness.
The only time the masses rise up is when they are manipulated by the rich.
The 24/7 Republican Bullshit Machine continually churns out the Republican propaganda on TV, cable, hate radio, churches and websites to keep the masses brainwashed to hate liberals, LGBTQ and the poor. And it always works.
Unfortunately, it seems like the Left is too obsessed with pronouns and virtue-signaling to do anything like this.
Shoot, Michael, you sound French! Vive la Revolution! Seriously though, my mother who was French and who experienced the German occupation during World War II, never understood why we were in her opinion so passive. She used to say you don't know oppression until you've heard jackboots in the street and living on rutabagas and no heat. Unfortunately her saying was "blood in the streets" and she thought Gandhi was a bit of a wimp. LOL I agree with you though. I came up through u c Berkeley during the free speech era and there's nothing like being out in the streets with your fists in the air.
RISE UP is my mantra. Michael, say more, please! What, specifically, shall we do?
Mike, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your clarion call to ACTION. We need to ORGANIZE. We need LEADERSHIP. We need a PLAN to show up in person, and not back down.
Your letter can kick off an action planning group asap. I'm 64 and I have time, energy and creativity. I know many many others do too.
People are ready. Let's go.
Well, you are right, of course, and I DID wonder why the moderates don't stand up and be counted. However, I find you, interesting as you are, to be less than even-handed yourself. I love your movies, but I take you with a grain of salt. Similarly I listen to your podcasts, read your articles, and often agree but sometimes not. I ponder over how to protest without being the same as the Yahoos. Occasionally I go to rallies to support a cause. But when folks dig in and make things all black or all white, I start to get uncomfortable. Do you think it is because I'm a Canadian?
Heh heh
OK, I wear my John Lewis sweatshirt that says “Get in Trouble, Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble” all around my house.
Honestly Michael, you have just pushed every one of my “guilt” buttons. I KNOW that I am watching the bitter end of Democracy occur in front of my very nose, and I KNOW the planet is dying, quickly.
Wanting to be a good role model for my grandchildren, I bought them all bamboo toothbrushes, joined a solar farm “until we get around to putting up solar panels on the house” and told them we're seriously thinking of buying an electric car.
I talk the talk but I don’t walk the walk. I don’t know how.
I agree that having a specific event planned at a specific place (or places) would be helpful, and would very likely bring me out from under the rug. I would show up swinging my baseball bat (just for protection, of course), and I would wear my sweatshirt.
Thanks for lighting the kindling. I hope with all my heart that the fire catches.
Right now, a hunger strike about climate change is taking place on the Capital Steps. Where is the news coverage on this? If brave people make it difficult for the lawmakers and the press, things get talked about. But it has to be insane to make it onto the news. More hunger strikes at every state capital. And here is a good one: Withhold sex ladies. Let’s have a sexual revolution in reverse. Women need to take back their lives yet again, but with a vengeance. Leave men. Create, then move into political convents and help each other to stay strong. Rebel against misogyny by walking out on the patriarchs, both figuratively and actually. If the women really United in a real way, it would blow things up.
This may be the first time or one of the few times I disagree with you. Deep Deep down I already have their "guts" and have put it on the line before in the civil rights movement, in college-medical school, residency, on missions & now the COVID lines as a physician & old guy. I have no envy of these miscreants and what you are calling "guts" I see as "pathological willful and spitefully ignorant acting out." It is also evil and I don't use that term very often but I think in these times it is applicable. The ugly underbelly of our nation / society has been further exposed and I only find it depressing & abhorrent. My kind of guts is to never give in to any of this horrible stuff and to continue to confront this by rational & non-violent service.