David Swanson's Blog, page 203
September 28, 2011
The Danger of Simplicity
I sat down during a lengthy protest occupation to play a game of chess, but my friend was better than I am. So, halfway through the match, I said to him, "What's your one move?"
He didn't know what I meant. "What's your one winning move," I said, "and which piece are you going to use? Get all the other pieces off the board. If you can't win with one piece in one move, you'll never win!"
My voice was getting louder as I said this.
He was looking at me like I was a little bit nuts. "Sure I will," he said very slowly as if I were an idiot, "and you won't even see it coming."
September 26, 2011
The Occupied Turn Occupiers
In a recent debate Congressman Ron Paul claimed the United States military had troops in 130 countries. The St. Petersburg Times looked into whether such an outrage could actually be true and was obliged to report that the number was actually 148 countries. However, if you watch NFL football games, you hear the announcers thank members of the U.S. military for watching from 177 countries. The proud public claim is worse than the scandalous claim or the "investigative" report. What gives?
September 25, 2011
Constitutional Amendment Brainstorming
At the conconcon.org conference we just had a good workshop on left-right organizing. Some asked that this list be posted where they could find it. This was produced by 3 people, no one of whom necessarily agrees with all the proposals in it:
The individual national right to vote with automatic registration, and with votes publicly and transparently counted at each polling place.
A ban on gerrymandering.
A ban on the revolving door of politician-lobbyist.
A ban on reductions of Congress to super committees.
Term limits.
A limited election season.
September 22, 2011
Fobbit Humor
"How many PRT [Provincial Reconstruction Team] staff members does it take to screw in a light bulb? One to hire a contractor who fails to complete the job and two to write the press release in the dark."
A FOB is a Forward Operating Base, and the Fobbits who live in them have their own brand of sad SNAFU humor, enough to fill many volumes and constituting, in my opinion, the silver lining of our wars. The above bit is taken from Peter Van Buren's new book "We Meant Well." The author has been in the U.S. Foreign Service for 23 years, working in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the U.K., Hong Kong, and -- from 2009 to 2010 -- in Iraq. The book is about Iraq.
September 21, 2011
Troy Davis and Our Pro-Life Government
Wednesday evening, when the news was mistakenly announced that Troy Davis would not be killed, the crowd that I was with erupted with joy and with the enthusiastic realization that we all were capable of believing that something good had been done by our government. I was at the dedication of the Howard Zinn room in the new Busboys and Poets restaurant in Hyattsville, Maryland.
September 20, 2011
There Must Be 50 Ways to Leave the Military Industrial Complex
And we heard all of them from two dozen brilliant speakers during a three-day conference this past weekend. If you missed it, the video is all online. So is the text of many of the papers presented. Here are a few excerpts to whet your appetite:
September 17, 2011
September 12, 2011
Oct. 6, Freedom Plaza May Feel a Bit Like Tahrir Square
LISTEN TO DAVID SWANSON:
We will be nonviolently shutting down buildings and offices and hallways and streets. – David Swanson
Oct. 6 marks the end of the first decade of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the beginning of a nonviolent action that may make D.C.'s Freedom Plaza feel a bit like Egypt's Tahrir Square. "Thousands and thousands of people have pledged to be there, and not for one day," said author and activist David Swanson, who is helping organize the event as part of October 2011.
As he stood outside the White House on Sept. 3, the final day of the two-week mass civil disobedience against the Keystone XL pipeline, Swanson discussed the upcoming action, which will see protesters camping out day and night at Freedom Plaza.
We'll make the same persuasive arguments that we always make about the agenda that everybody has: taxing the wealthy, ending the wars, cutting the military, saving the environment, creating jobs. But we'll do so with actions that take inspiration from the Arab Spring and countries around the world where people try to interfere with what their government is doing, not just speak to it. We will be nonviolently shutting down buildings and offices and hallways and streets.
While the action has been organized by individuals, there are more than 100 organizations supporting it. October 2011 lists "Fifteen Core Issues the Country Must Face," including: corporatism; wars and militarism; worker rights and jobs; criminal justice and prisons; healthcare; education and housing.
Swanson noted a paradox plaguing the U.S. political process: Americans are quick to criticize their government, but reluctant to take constructive steps to make it better.
[There are] millions of Americans who are able to say: "The system is broken." "The government is not working for us." "The government is completely corrupted." But [then they also say], "How dare you shut it down?" Somehow, too many Americans think that's an approach you take toward evil, non-American governments, [but not] the American government [which] is sacred, even though it's "completely broken" and "corrupt" and "working for Wall Street" and "screwing us all."
Somehow, if we can get over that hump of loyalty to the government, of loyalty to a party, and have people say, "We are the sovereigns of this nation [and] it's We The People in whose name the Constitution was written," then we'll have a movement. It won't accomplish everything this year, but it will be started.
Related Links:
October2011.org
RootsAction.org
DavidSwanson.org
Related Stories:
Code Pink's Medea Benjamin Calls for Cheney's Memoir to be Moved to Crime Section, 9/5/11
Private Bradley Manning: The White House Protest, 3/21/11
Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops, 10/6/10
