|
Dissolve into Evergreens
|
||||
|
As the story goes, the Soviet Union at the end of ... Sam, a relatively young man of great wealth and in... Happy Imbeciles At War / Massive U.S. military bui... Esquire:Feature Story:The DiIulio Letter This is ... The Detroit Project - by Americans for Fuel Effici... And the winner for worst policy decision yet by th... DING DONG Shit, jehovah's witness just stopped by... _______@@@@@@__________ HUH?! Listen, I'm just as shocked as you are that... TheStar.com - Bush anything but moronic, according... Justin Oldham - Politics and Patriotism
Wilco The Flaming Lips The New Radicals John Mayer Zero 7 Dream Theater Radiohead Death Cab for Cutie The Notwist O.S.I. Ani Difranco The Shins Elliott Smith Badly Drawn Boy Chroma Key Coheed and Cambria The Streets Andrew Bird Sufjan Stevens Atom Site Feed 
|
1.20.2003
Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Celebrate peace. It's been an interesting few days. Went to a peace rally in the heart of Tulsa on Saturday. Its a bit of a trip to see people here in this town turning out to protest the warlike nature of the bush administration. But I just came home from a Martin Luther King Parade. That is what I wanted to write about first. King is a symbol of peace. In the same footprints of Ghandi he showed that nonviolence was a path to your goals. The true glory of nonviolent change is that it has a lasting effect that change through violence cannot bring. Violence as a tool leads to having to using violence as a tool again and again. As we see in the Middle East we are trying to use violence against nations and peoples as a means of solving the initial colonial violence that began there centuries ago. The chickens will come home to roost. Violence builds the nest that the birds of war will return to again and again. Indeed I would say that the chickenhawks have returned to the nest build during the Cold War. As we stood in line waiting to start our march to downtown I was dismayed to see that several floats were bearing the corporate logos of the same companies that engage in the production of war machines. A float that prominently displayed the logo of Boeing was particularly disturbing. How can the image of the warmakers be displayed during the act of respect for a man of peace? The fact that we cannot yet say "no" to the forces of economic power in this nation shows that the fight that King fought will continue. Even thought the employees themselves will draw paychecks from the makers of war machines they will not benefit from the wars that they supply. Even though the young African American men and women will go and fight for a paycheck they will not benefit from the spoils of the war they fight. The lie is that they fight for their security, rather they fight for the power and wealth that they will not be privileged to enjoy. The link between economic justice and racial and world justice is clear. They will always pay you to fight their wars for you. That is if they cannot get you to fight for free. It’s a tragedy that as the doors of opportunity in this country creak closed that the gates of military enlistment stay wide open. So we have people searching for a way to make a living, people looking for an escape from a economic situation that is bleak and offers little in the way of hope. So they will sign up for the military that will fight the capitalist wars. The military itself is a bizarre beast that people rarely look in the face. It represents many of the so-called "evil" aspects that many right wing and even mainstream Americans dislike. It is the ultimate government program. It’s a completely state-run enterprise that offers first rate medical care, education, training and monetary support for building new infrastructure that the government will denounce for the remainder of the society. Its as if they say that since the "people" of the United States are not making themselves "useful" to the government then they don't deserve the support of the government and are left to fend for themselves against even the government itself. While if you agree to fight to maintain the power and wealth of the elites of America then you will receive the benefits that many feel are a right of every person in this world, food, shelter, clothing, health care, and education. The message is clear: Help us build our empire and you will be rewarded, oppose us and suffer. The very withholding of quality of life issues is a tool to drive us in directions we would otherwise not choose. The response to our anti-war/peace message was well received, as you might expect at a Martin Luther King Jr. parade. I think that you find a level of skepticism of the U.S. government that you don't see in the white communities. Being the victim of US government oppression tends to make one less supportive of unlesheashing that power onto others. Listening to the lies told about yourself will strengthen your skepticism of the lies told about others. That level of skepticism seems weaker in the white communities where they have not felt as much direct oppression by the government that rules them. In fact there is a level of confidence that the government will represent their values and interests. Even the poor white feels closer to the feeding trough of real wealth and power than the African American. It is this false hope I think that is testament to the level of ignorance of class issues in America. Bush Dis-honors King at Church Service. The President had the audacity to preach about King at a First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Landover, Maryland. Noticeably missing were the essential elements of King's message of peace, racial equality and nonviolence. Instead Bush praised King's religious affiliation. In thinly veiled pitches for his faith based initiative and his attempt to gut public schools with his education plan he skirted around King's anti-war messages and pleas for a nonviolent means of resolving conflict. It is a disgrace in my eyes that a man that defies all that is good about King's message can stand and preach messages of division and war on one day and praise King on the next. Is King really about Boeing, Bush and War with Iraq? I hope not. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030120-2.html | |
About Me
Any Box 
|
||
|
Dissolve into Evergreens
|
||||
