Dream Defenders Storify Civil Disobedience Tips

https://storify.com/Dreamdefenders/tips-for-planning-a-non-violent-civil-disobedience

Today in Mariupol

The People respond to the Kiev-coup regime's attempts to enforce their rule by deployment of "soldiers" who fire into the crowds.



Several were shot and killed in this incident. Graham Phillips' Twitter has pictures of the gruesome aftermath. He says hospitals report up to a hundred killed. Monstrous.

The citizens show no fear, nonetheless.

Ukrainian Lurch Into Madness Continues

Hello Soldier!

Furthermore, what fresh hell is this?

Given my druthers of course, the Ukrainian People would come out on top of the portentous events building on the Russian border, but the likelihood of its happening is about as strong as it was in Libya or Egypt or Syria or... well, you get the picture.

The People are not operating these events, and they have very little chance of taking charge as bit by bit, Ukraine is spiraled into madness to become yet another trophy on the neo-con/neo-lib Wall of Despair.

It's relentless and inevitable. Just as it was for the target regimes during the Bushevik reign of terror and despair. There is no escape. No succor. No relief from the ongoing tragedies.

Reports out of the various eastern sector locations where the Kiev coup-regime leaders have placed their troops to conduct an "anti-terrorist campaign" (save me), have varied from lethal clashes to outright humiliation by peaceful rebel/resistance activists. There have been sporadic reports of defection by Ukrainian troops to the cause of the resistance, but there is no way to tell, through the competing barrages of propaganda what is true and what is merely fluff.

The CIA's Brennan was in Kiev recently and apparently advised the rather bumbling coup-regime to step up its game, make a stand of some sort, force the issue if you will, against the pro-Russian resistance, but do it in a "measured" way.  "The covert war has begun..." Oh? Really? Begun? It's been going on for years.

I expect the death squads to be working overtime soon. There have been reports out of Russia that an American mercenary outfit called Greystone (an offshoot of the illustrious Blackwater mercs) has been deployed in the Eastern Sektor and has been doing some wetwork, but who knows. The denials are to be expected in any case. We are so used to this. We are so cynical.

And the People of Ukraine continue to suffer because they matter not at all, they are not even props any more. They are at best in the way. And observers worry that Putin-the-Great, as he might be styling himself, is being lured into a trap -- the upshot being the dismantlement of what's left of Russia. Could be.

I was going to write about David Graeber's take on why "austerity" -- which has arrived in Ukraine with a vengeance -- is so "accepted" by the massed rather than being resisted fiercely. But Ukraine has turned into something of a type-model for what he's pointing to. The People care "too much" for one another, whereas their governments and leaderships and the global master-classes care nothing for the People, not even to acknowledge them in most cases.

Ukraine is only one of many boiling pots of neo-con/neo-liberal bullshit on the globe today, but it may be the one that proves the case once and for all that the People play no role in the course of events.

"The Problem is Civil Obedience"

Matt Damon reads excerpts from a speech Howard Zinn gave in 1970.

Matt Damon reads from Howard Zinn's speech "The Problem is Civil Obedience" (November 1970) from Voices of a People's History on Vimeo.




More info:  http://www.peopleshistory.us/

I Hate Politics

The Sacramento City Council meeting at which the issue of OccupySacramento's Occupation of Ceasar Chavez Plaza was discussed at length -- and very articulately argued by numerous OccupySacramento participants and supporters (I've decided most are law students or lawyers, but that's surely not true) -- because the council pulled their usual shit on the citizens. They heard them reasonably respectfully, then they turned the tables.

There would be no vote, the Mayor said. They couldn't vote on the matter, it wasn't an action item on the agenda. There was no way. They could only take testimony. The Mayor smiled broadly at his cleverness. But some of them knew the kind of thing that is typical in their dealing with -- ew-- "citizens." The crowd began to murmur. Then after all the testimony was taken -- and I think there were close to fifty speakers, though only forty were announced at the start of the testimony -- one of the councilmen, the most sympathetic of them, said he thought it might be possible, over time, to work out some kind of compromise that would allow the material and equipment to stay in the Plaza and perhaps a "protester" or two could stay in the Park overnight to make sure it was safe. Then the councilmember for the downtown district decided to claim that the occupation wasn't peaceful because a police officer was bitten by a dog in the Plaza. She was nearly roasted over a spit, and she demanded to be heard. She wanted a flood control levee for her district, but she couldn't get one because of Republican earmark rules, and the Occupation can help in that situation somehow. She had talked to the Occupiers for a while. She knew what they wanted. She would work with her colleagues on crafting a compromise.

The Occupiers demanded loudly that the arrests stop. The Mayor said no. He would spend two or three days at the Plaza in dialogue, and then perhaps something could be worked out, a compromise perhaps, in due time. Perhaps. They must dialog first. The Mayor then designated an Occupier as his point person with whom he would coordinate his visitations of the Plaza; some people were not happy with that arrangement at all. By that time, people were so furious, it hardly mattered.

They were played. This is how this council works, which is something they might have been told in advance by some of those who had been through that wringer (who, me? Well, I have said something, but there's a great unwillingness to believe won't work out for the best.)

The Occupation will not get what it wants. It probably won't get anything except "dialog" -- which could go on literally for years with no resolution, nothing. That's what the Safe Ground people discovered. The city will actually spend hundreds of thousands of dollars commissioning studies and running task forces and hiring people to write reports that will be presented by staff to Council and Council will direct some modest followup study and report and might even get so far as to have staff draft an ordinance or revision, and then it will sit, "dialog will continue" indefinitely. That's the course they've decided on.

Obviously, the Council is taking this episode as a really big deal, because what they are doing is attempting to defuse the protest by co-opting the Occupation through the selection of certain "players" with whom to "dialog." Apart from the fact that the Mayor is sitting down with a representative of the Occupation -- which is a basic splitting tactic -- nothing is happening. Nothing will be done beyond the "dialogue" apart from hiring consultants, who will produce glossy reports that will be ignored --or that may result in the establishment of, say, an "Occupation Commission" which will be an advisory body to Council, possibly even with staff support, though not any time soon. The whole point is to corral the energy of the Occupation and channel it into something productive for the Council. After all, the most supportive of the councilmembers wanted to be sure the Occupiers were shopping and dining at local small businesses. They need the support. As one of them said, "We would, but we can't afford it."

There are preparations under way for arrests tonight, but they are still sorting out volunteers. Cindy Sheehan was back to give moral support and to testify at the council hearing. She said she couldn't stay tonight, but she was planning to come back as soon as she could. OccupySacramento is her "home base" Occupation because it is closest to her home in Vacaville. She and the young folks get along great, by the way.

There is talk of bringing in Cornell West (he was raised here), but I doubt anyone will hold their breath. Meanwhile, word has come that Bay Area Occupations, especially Oakland's, will be sending representatives on visitations.

This is good. This is very good. The more contact between Occupations, the better. And it would be good to send OccupySacramento people to visit as many other Occupations as they can.

What I had been warned would happen (a unanimous negative vote) did not happen, and so the internal split I expected to result from it didn't happen either. Instead, the city is going to try to co-opt the Occupation by splitting it from the outside.

At this point, I doubt it will work, but my Magic 8 Ball has long been on the fritz.

They're packing up now, getting ready for the arrival of the police armadas. The police come in large contingents, 60 or 70 typically; there there according to the Livestream, and it isn't even 10:45. They're taking up positions around the Plaza, paddy wagons at the ready. They've had as many as three dozen patrol cars, two paddy wagons, 70 officers in riot gear, CSI vehicles, etc. etc., making the whole operation way overkill.

I'll watch the Livestream. The tension is rising.

This Is Wrong and They Know It -- "The Whole World's Watching"

Photo by Jeremiah Mayhew, who has been doing brilliant work photo-documenting what's been going on.

Last Night's Arrests

What a strange sensation to get up this morning and find the OccupySacramento Facebook page filled with extended arguments on the value of using precious police resources to get your ass arrested for some unfocused cause.

Up to last night there had been approximately 35-40 people arrested over the course of the Occupation for "failure to disperse" at the rather flexible closing time of the Plaza.

Last night, I'm not sure of exactly how many demonstrators were arrested -- these numbers always change after a while in any case -- but those who were arrested were not the Usual Suspects. They included Cindy Sheehan, Karen Bernal, and Russell (whose last name I forget, but he is in a wheelchair and is part of the internet committee/working group for the Occupation). There are reports that several officers were in tears as they conducted these needless arrests, carrying out orders from On High, but to what object?

Night after night, people in Sacramento get arrested -- voluntarily, let the record show -- on behalf of the First Amendment guarantees of free assembly, free speech, and petitioning for redress of grievance. They know the reason they are out there, why they are resisting, and they pretty much know the consequences for doing so (though, of course, Authority can and does change those consequences to suit itself.)

The arguments that seem to have become intense last night have to with the fact that so many people have been arrested over so many nights; it was a media circus last night because of Cindy Sheehan (who has been arrested many times for civil disobedience connected with the Imperial Wars of Aggression); and because some people believe it doesn't work to make your point.

That's the most interesting argument to me. How can people, many of whom say they are sympathetic with the movement, insist, apparently sincerely, that civil disobedience doesn't work to make your point? It boggles the mind. Aren't these people aware of any history of social progress at all? Is it even possible that any substantial portion of Americans do not know of the long tradition in this country and all over the world (thank you, Mahatma) to engage in civil disobedience when the other avenues of politics don't work?

Nobody who is doing this in Sacramento is doing it frivolously. This is one of the most mindful group of civil disobeyers I've ever personally witnessed. They know what they are doing. They know why. They are not following a leader into the paddy wagon. Most of them have no personal agenda at all; they are consciously doing this solely for the benefit (they hope) of all.

And yet, the argument rages: "It doesn't work, you're wasting resources, do it the right way..."

No. When the situation reaches the point where civil obedience no longer works, the Right Way is to resist. Engaging in civil disobedience is correct and at this point, it's necessary. It may or may not lead directly to some desired change in the status quo -- in this specific case, honoring the Constitutional First Amendment protections instead of trying to restrict civil rights. And while the distinction may be a fine one sometimes, these actions are on behalf of honoring civil rights as opposed to civil liberties.

I can't argue with that.

The underlying issue here is the Occupation itself. As I've said, the OccupySacramento is not yet an actual Occupation. It is what I call a "coming-and-going" because the bulk of the Occupiers do vacate the Plaza every night at closing time; they break down the camp and store it in a panel truck parked at the corner (with permission from the city) and then they set it up again every morning. The people who are most involved in this logistical process get very little sleep, they are very tired -- because it is physically exhausting to keep doing this -- and we all wonder why the city manager hasn't used his independent authority to waive the restrictions on access to the Plaza after some arbitrary hour. It is a simple thing. It could have been done at the outset (many cities are cooperating with their Occupations without any civil disobedience at all; others aren't); it could have been done at any step along the way. Instead, the City Manager continues to order the arrests, and so we have the startling sight of dozens of police vehicles, up to seventy police officers -- in light riot gear -- confronting a dozen or so sitting (or sometimes prone), absolutely nonviolent and often silent, passive resisters, who get relatively gently zip-tied, hoisted up, and escorted to the paddy wagons and taken to jail, where apparently they are "guests" in the tanks until they're released the following morning or afternoon.

Some of them have been arrested over and over, but others volunteer for the first time every night, and the police stand there with tears in their eyes, batons at the ready, wondering what the fuck they're being ordered to do this for.

Then there's the guy on the hunger strike -- into his sixth day.

Why can't they just leave the Occupation alone?

That's the question being asked of Authority and clearly internally by Authority everywhere.

Before I went to my comfy bed (talk about privilege!) last night, I was watching the preparations for clearing the Occupation in Chicago from Grant Park. Oh the memories, some of which I mentioned earlier. It was a similar scene but not the same scene as the DNC police riots of 1968. It's in almost the same location as the nighttime tumult of 1968, so the site itself is evocative. The police -- so far as I could tell from the livestream feed until it abruptly went dead -- were not at all inclined to riot, and the Occupiers were engaged in classic nonviolent resistance: they linked arms in a circle around the tent encampment, and then they sat down. "♫We will not be moved♪." The police then formed a standing line around the perimeter of the demonstrators. There were reports of preliminary arrests. But there were also reports of very positive relations with the Chicago police, nothing like the fury and animosity of the past. There was no sign of violence before the feed went dead, and I haven't had a chance to check the news yet for updates.

The arrests in New York yesterday at the CitiBank branch are looking more and more bizarre the more info and video is coming out. I watched the action on the Livestream as it was happening, but the camera was outside the perimeter established by the police which was quite a distance from the bank entrance. So the story of what happened is still being pieced together. What we saw was stupid in the extreme. People were literally being arrested and hauled away for nothing; that is, they had done nothing that would be wrong in any rational world. Whether they made any kind of ruckus inside the bank I don't know, but from what I've seen, they didn't. They were, for the most part, quiet outside the bank as well, at least until the arrests began. At which time they protested, loudly. From all appearances, the arrests were made because CitiBank customers were trying to close their accounts.

And people will ask, "Why are you protesting that way? Why don't you do it the right way?"

This will be a perpetual argument, I think. Everyone wants to be a critic. How well I know. And everyone seems to want to be the Authority.

And then there's the issue of direct democracy in the Occupations which is triggering a whole other layer of dispute. "It's a MOB!!!! Eeek, run away!!!"

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200 Arrests in Chicago over night:
Some pictures from Chicago last night (Facebook album link)


Santiago de Chile yesterday:

The BART Protests

BART Protests Shut Down Several Stations: "A protest has shut down three BART stations in Downtown San Francisco on Monday. Protesters are upset over a recent decision to shut down cell service to thwart a previous demonstration. Joe Vazquez reports."



Protest at the Civic Center BART station July 11, 2011

BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit; it's the subway system that serves San Francisco and the surrounding area, and it's recently been in the news for a number of unpleasant incidents in which the transit police have seen fit to fire their side-arms into the bodies of... well... Negroes [and others]

[Note: One loses track of all the shootings. Kenneth Harding was shot and left to bleed out by SFPD officers on July 16, 2011 at the Hunters Point-Bayview Muni Station, allegedly after failing to pay his fare. I initially confused him with Charles Hill, who was shot and killed by a BART policeman at the Civic Center BART station on July 3, 2011. Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a BART policeman at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland on January 1, 2009. His killer, Johannes Mehserle, resigned from the BART police force, was tried for second degree murder and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years, and was released in June of 2011.]

This has caused more than a little consternation among certain BART riders who have taken to protest, on a fairly regular basis, especially after the shooting of Charles Hill on July 3 of this year at the Hunter's Point Civic Center Station, ostensibly for not paying his fare. (Exactly how that would be done, I'm not too sure because you can't get to the trains without a ticket unless you jump over the turnstiles like they do in New York.)

A protest planned for last week, August 8, was apparently thwarted when BART officials ordered cell phone service to the Civic Center station turned off, in what is apparently the first such effort to interfere with cell service by a public agency on record.

A protest of that action, as well as the police shootings of Charles Hill and Arthur Oscar Grant was scheduled for Monday evening, August 15, at 5pm at the Civic Center Station, but rather than shut off phone service, the BART authorities decided to close the station instead. They also closed the rest of the Downtown San Francisco BART Stations and suspended MUNI (bus) service in Downtown.

In addition, as they have done at other BART protests, the Authorities deployed their heavily armored, black-clad riot squads in close formation and threatened the protesters with swift and sure dispersal and/or arrest.

Meanwhile, the notorious international hacker squad called Anonymous retaliated for August 8th's cell phone shut down by gaining access to and publishing online the personal information of some 2000 BART riders and calling on participants in the August 15 protest to wear red and Guy Fawkes masks. If you click on the link at the very top of this installment, you'll go to a video of live coverage of the August 15 protest, and you will hear commentary to the effect that few were wearing red and that the mask is supposed to represent some British 17th Century revolutionary.

A fairly comprehensive news story appears in this morning's Chron -- though it was actually more comprehensive last night when posted shortly after the Downtown stations were reopened.

It appears that the majority of BART riders in Downtown San Francisco were seriously discommoded during rush hour by the disruption of service brought on by the protest and the police reaction to it. But at least cell phones weren't interfered with. So there is that. From the comments I've read and heard about last evenings action, the riders were not amused.

I've long said that discommoding the powerful is essential for protest demonstrations to have an effect rather than being dismissed out of hand. That may mean, for example, actions that result in shutting down subway stations, streets, bridges, shutting off or disrupting communications, or what have you.

In the "cat-and-mouse" of yesterday's protest (as the Chron puts it) discommoding tactics were employed both by citizens and by the authorities, with the upshot being a standoff. According to reports and videos I've seen, the protesters marched above ground from the Ferry Building to the Civic Center Plaza (those familiar with San Francisco know these locations well) on Market Street, shutting the thoroughfare down; once they found they could not enter any of the BART stations along the route, they remained assembled at Civic Center Plaza (surrounded by Robo-cops) while a splinter group marched back to the Ferry Building chanting slogans and carrying signs.

For all the rage that is being expressed right now over the inconvenience to commuters, let alone the privacy invasion by Anonymous, in fact, the tactics being employed by the demonstrators are the kind of non-violent civil disobedience measures that are necessary for a protest to have an effect, and further, they are persisting in protest despite being thwarted in reaching their initial objectives.

This is how it is done, and no, one doesn't "like" it. These kinds of protests are disruptive and inconvenient, they disturb one's routine, and they interfere with one's comfort and convenience. That's what has to be done. The argument against this sort of non-violent disruptive protest is that it "punishes the innocent." Well, one might want to take that issue up with the corpses of Oscar Grant and Charles Hill.

BART cops have become notorious for their excessive use of force and for their very itchy trigger fingers. They have long been known for thuggishness toward a certain class of rider, ie: Black men, but they have become murderous, much as the Oakland police department did during the hey day of the Miami Vice-ified drug war. They'll shoot your ass to this day. Ordinary people seem to intellectually understand this is "wrong," but they don't want to be unduly inconvenienced, so they also declare these protests "wrong" because the protesters are getting in the way of their comings and goings. Yet getting in the way -- of ordinary people and the powerful -- is one of the few ways that Americans have left to them that can actually cause the Authorities to change their deplorable behavior.

"But the protesters are behaving deplorably!" Nonsense. Complete nonsense. They are bringing attention to issues and people that are important to them, and they are demanding positive changes in the behavior of Authority. One of the chants they use is: "We are all -- Charles Hill! We are all -- Oscar Grant!" I don't know if you have to live in the Bay Area under oppression to understand the deep emotion such a chant can touch, but it is very effective. What happened to Charles Hill, what happened to Oscar Grant can most certainly happen to anyone the BART cops target -- you, in your narcissistic bubble are not immune.

The protesters themselves are behaving effectively. Which is, of course, a threat to The Powers That Be, which is why such an overwhelming and uncalled for police reaction force is deployed to intimidate the protesters and -- theoretically -- to reassure ordinary BART riders that the Authorities have got their backs. No, that isn't what this deployment of overwhelming and unnecessary force communicates at all. WTF, they've got automatic weapons. No one in the crowd -- so far as we know -- is armed, and there is no hint of a threat of physical violence of any kind by the protesters -- unless of course you consider "protesting while Black" such a threat, which is just stupid.

This overreaction by Authority is one of the characteristics of The Powers That Be when they know they are being shamed and they refuse to take the shame and correct their evil ways. BART is a public agency and they are accountable to the People. They have done everything in their power to avoid accountability -- or shall we say to divert accountability -- in the ongoing struggle against police brutality and overall high-handedness and contempt of the public by the Agency.

I'm sure the BART (and area-wide civic) authorities are well aware that murderous brutality and high-handed contempt of the public by representatives of Authority are sure-fire triggers of civil unrest and disorder, not simply peaceful protest. (We saw this in Britain recently, eh?) BART seems intent on pushing the envelope just as far as they can, pushing the public's rage and reaction buttons to such an extent that there are riots (which there have already been -- on a small scale -- over Oscar Grant's killing and the blank-stare reaction of the BART honchos in their defense of the transit police.)

There are many lessons to be learned in the ongoing struggle against the Police State being imposed on Americans from above. BART is only a tiny corner of the whole, but unless there is significant, persistent, and effective protest, nothing will stand in the way of its expansion.

Those Robo-cops are a threat to everyone.

In the immortal words of MDC (Born to Die):

No War
No KKK
No fascist USA

Chris Hedges Explains It All For You (Again)

That's it. He says it all.

Go to DC October 6, participate, make your voices heard, stand your ground, discommode the Powerful and their Servants.

That's truly all we have left.

Ian Welsh on Cuomo and the NY Gay Marriage Thing

This is so true and it cannot be made any clearer:

• 1) The left sells each other out for either small tactical gains, or nothing at all (hello national NARAL) all the time, so why shouldn’t the gays promise to help Cuomo in his next election for giving them gay marriage, even if it screws unions and helps an austerity governor?
  
  
• 2) The reason gays get anything is that unlike the rest of the left, they did two things: they cut off the donations, and they got ugly in people’s faces. They stopped playing nice. They stopped playing by the rules. They stopped worrying about whether people in power “liked” them (hello National NARAL) and started playing rough.
  
  
• 3) Given that the left doesn’t hang together, which means that the choice is “gay marriage + austerity”, or “no gay marriage + austerity”, well, why not gay marriage plus a shitty economy?

Of course it is impolite to say so. It is always impolite to point out that on the "left" there is no solidarity, only a competing series of discreet interests, vying for the Royal Nod, and in the case of gay marriage, it's been obvious for years.

(I've never been a fan of gay marriage as an issue at law. Marriage, in my humble opinion, is fundamentally a religious sacrament -- banging that Old Tyme Catholic gong, don't you know -- that has no place in Law. If religious/faith practitioners want to sanction same sex marriage, I say hurrah. Some have been doing just that for decades. No, these marriages have no legal standing in most jurisdictions, and that's a problem. But the way to deal with that, in my opinion, is to get the Law and the State out of the marriage business altogether. To the extent the Law and the State need to recognize and/or sanction marriage unions, it is solely as a civil matter, without regard to religious interests or issues. Therefore, the only legal and state interest should be in gender neutral "civil unions". That's it, period, nothing else at law. That way, religious freedom and custom is preserved and protected, and so is the interest of the people, community and the state. The whole push for gay marriage has in my view been off base -- and intentionally offensive to traditionalists. But that's not actually what Ian is pointing out...)

No, what's he's getting at, which I essentially agree with, is that the New York Gay Marriage measure is effectively a trade for votes, votes for policies that will cause great harm to millions of New Yorkers by advancing 'Austerity' and Bankster Protection. But, hey! Gay folk can get married now! Yay!

Ian's view about it may be too sour by half, but at the same time he's right.

Oou, I Like It Like That

The stories that are emerging from the Dance Party @ TJ's Event yesterday are kind of thrilling in a certain "You're not the boss of me!" way. Of course, it's only meaningful in the context of a Police State® running rampant, and what has been happening at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial -- dancing, fack! -- is about as minor an act of Civil Disobedience as can be imagined.

But the point is to get to Critical Mass. Everyone who actually practices in the field understands that. No individual act by itself in isolation IS that Critical Mass (as even Rosa Parks knew full well) but the cumulative effect of them over time, and the ability of these acts to spontaneously (well...) generate more, to act as a catalyst in other words, is the thing.

How can Forbidden Dancing ("El baile prohibido?") be that kind of catalyst? Is it even, reasonably speaking, civil disobedience?

Sure it is.

And despite his professed Libertarianism, apparently Adam's Actions at the TJ are Marxist no less! Well, after all, he's a featured installation artist at Russia Today, the notorious Soviet Commonist Television Station which hardly any Americans have access to.

I love it.

A performance artist. A provocateur. A rabble rouser. That's Adam and his buddy Medea.

Yes.

What they do does not necessarily directly lead to positive change any more than what Cindy Sheehan did directly led to the collapse of American support for continued war in Iraq and the other Imperial provinces and satrapies. What they do brings attention to a problem that needs to be addressed. In the case of the TJ Dance Parties, the problem is the overwhelming stupidity and brutality of the Authoritarian State we've been living under for some time.

When attention is brought to the problem, something can then be done. Without public attention, through the media and elsewhere, if something gets done about a problem, it is generally through backchannels, and ordinarily not in the Public Interest.

In that regard, it is interesting that when millions of people marched and carried signs -- repeatedly -- around the world in protest of the invasion of Iraq, it had no effect whatever on the actions of the High and the Mighty, whereas one woman -- and a few sweaty friends -- sitting by the roadside beyond the gates of Bush's "ranch" in Texas seemed to shake the Powerful to the core, no matter how much they mocked and disparaged her and her actions. They could ignore the millions but were caught short by one.

So it may be with the Dance Party Movement.

Oh yes, much more is planned, and the Fourth of July has been designated as Nationwide Dance Party Day. Protesting everything that the State has been doing to Stifle the People.

Long row to hoe, eh?

But you can't get to the end without taking that first step....



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Just as a style note, these people need some serious Latin Dance lessons. Pots and pans are good for rhythm, too. Also, they need to learn to get the chants right, id est: Individual: "Show me what Democracy looks like!" Group: "This is what Democracy looks like!" Of course, good luck with that with a bunch of Libertarians ("There is no 'we', this is a spontaneous collection of 'I's'". Groupthink is the Problem, not the Answer.") But give them time...☺

Without Further Comment

The Dance

Above is the image on Adam Kokesh's teeshirt when he was arrested at the Jefferson Memorial last week for "dancing." It is of course an image of Gandhi, a name bloggers have a long-time tendency to misspell -- not that I'm such a great speller myself these days -- and along with the misspelling, there may some misinterpretation of the Gandhian quest and message.

Well, of course the notion of disobedience of the tyrannical and the unjust is fundamental not only to the efforts in Mother India to dispense once and for all with British rule, but everywhere else in the world where oppression and tyranny and injustice prevail.

Disobedience of Authority is hardwired in some of us, as is... submission.

It is my understanding that the Dance Party at the Jefferson is to resume today at Noon time. I'm sure the Authorities will have prepared for the Disturbance, as the continued disobedience represented by dancing at the Memorial has been well advertised since the arrests last week. So the Park Police will probably shut the Memorial down, forbid access to anyone, and threaten to beat the shit out of anyone who tries to storm the barricades and dance beneath the statue of the Author of the Declaration of Independence.

The only question is whether a prohibition on "dancing" at the Jefferson meets the standard of tyranny and oppression and injustice, and whether the brutal crackdown by Authority on the "dancers" was warranted.

The matter is disputed.

Get Down Tonight



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UPDATE: As I expected, the Memorial was shut down after the Dance Party @ TJ's had been going for a half-hour or so. The SWAT team, of course, was called upon to maintain "order," but there were no arrests.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/04/jefferson-memorial-closed-by-police-over-free-speech-dance-party/

I love the note that supporters of Republican presidential candidates Ron Paul and Gary Johnson were part of the festivities. Libertarian darlings all.

Here's my question: why do so-called Libertarian candidates run as Republicans? Just wondering.

Whatever Shall We Do About Civil Liberties?

The latest Civil Liberties OUTRAGE!!!!™ is the Memorial Day Weekend Incident at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, in which a number of activists, including Medea Benjamin and Adam Kokesh were violently assaulted and arrested (literally, "put down") by DC Park Police for -- get this -- "dancing."

There are many videos of the incident, but Adam's posted version seems to be getting the widest currency:



What utter Police State® crap. This is not America!!! Except it is. We know it is. And we don't know what to do about it.

Civil Liberties are being extinguished in this country right along with the Republic itself, and while there may be some alarm from time to time at what is happening, most people seem to understand that it has been worse, far worse, in the past.

The Liberationism that came to fruition beginning in the 1960's was an anomaly. In fact, the history of the nation is one of constant oppression and repression -- when it hasn't involved genocide and conquest. Civil Liberties have historically been more theoretical than real, at least for vast swaths of the People, and even if we don't know the History, I think Americans know in their DNA that in many ways there is more Liberty now for more Americans than there has been at pretty much any time in the past.

It sure doesn't seem like it, though, when we witness scenes like the one in the video above. That kind of official violence against non-resisting or mildly-resisting citizens is far more common than we'd like to believe. Certainly the people involved, Medea Benjamin and Adam Kokesh among others, are well aware of just how routinely violent American Authorities can be and often are.

What is their Problem, for cripes-sake? Authority seems to be terrified that unless they treat the public with such contempt and violence they won't be in control and and won't be "respected". Certainly this kind of violence toward citizens (and much worse than this) is more and more routine, enabled, even encouraged by officials terrified that some how their safety and security will be compromised if the Police aren't brutal enough often enough.

Certainly any American of not-so-white a hue can testify that this sort of police behavior has been employed relentlessly against People of Color since before the Founding of the Republic and it is still going on, day in and day out, in many marginal -- and some not so marginal -- communities.

Nevertheless, to see this kind of Police State® behavior at the Memorial to the author of the Declaration of Independence, over something as trivial as flash-mob dancing, is shocking and more than a little absurd.

The natural response of any sentient being is "WTF!?"

Yeah, well. Note, however, the sheep-like response of the civilians in the Memorial when this aktion went down, not intervening, not even saying "Stop!" but simply watching the show -- and some recording it -- as if it were some kind of performance art or entertainment. And when they are told to leave, they do.

With nary a word. Not even a "Baaaaah." (At least in the airport security lines, I've occasionally heard the patrons delicately "Moo" as they are herded along.)

What do you do under the circumstances? Of course, what Adam and Medea and others are trying to do with "installations" like this is to raise the consciousness of a somnolent Public to the real brutality and threats to the simplest Civil Liberties the People are under from a Government and its Stormtroopers who are out of control.

But I look at this incident and know that the People have seen these sorts of aktions by the Polizei over and over again and their response is either a blank stare or even approval of the police action against unlawful citizen activity.

One wonders if there is any "consciousness" to raise among such dullards, but one shouldn't fall into the trap of blaming the victims for their own plight. It is too easy to say they are too stupid to live and write them and their fate off to their own fault.

What Medea and Adam are doing is actually what has to be done, persistently and relentlessly, to trigger those consciences that can be -- and will be -- triggered when the out of control Authority is confronted again and again with scenes of such simplicity and absence of threat.

It's a simple statement -- over and over again -- that this kind of Authoritarian bullshit is WRONG. You can't just say it, you have to show it. Over and over and over again.

And the message clicks.

Apparently this incident was triggered by a judge declaring that "dancing" at the Jefferson Memorial (or "public facilities") in DC was illegal. So, Civil Liberties Activists decided to challenge Authority on the matter and this is what happened. It wasn't exactly the Incident at the Edmund Pettis Pettus Bridge, but still.

The way to deal with these Civil Liberties breaches is to demonstrate the insanity of Authority, just as these people -- and so many others -- have done throughout our history.

Authority will be shamed and Authority will yield. Though it may seem to take forever. And ever. And ever.

------------------------------------
UPDATE: The Jefferson Memorial Dance Party will continue next Saturday at Noon. All you DC denizens, be there!

Police State USA: Adam Kokesh: 'Dance party next Saturday at Jefferson Memorial!' - May 29, 2011 Vidéo mirrorthis2010 sélectionnée dans Actualité

BTW, wat.tv where this is from is a ton of fun. Check it out sometime. Oh, those Yurpeens.

A Tour of the State Capitol in Madison with Harriet Blair Rowan

The Teaching Assistant's Association at the University of Wisconsin has been the core of organizing the protests and keeping them going all this time.

This Democracy Now! interview and tour of the Capitol in Madison with a senior at the University of Wisconsin is informative and inspirational.

Lift every voice and sing...

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/25/wisconsins_uprising_a_guided_tour_of

Go forth. Do likewise. Prosper.

In Any Event

It started quite a while ago, but I love all the people who claim that any event is a "distraction" from all other events. In the case of the Wisconsin Thing, it is a matter of the rights of labor "distracting" from the sale of public assets (presumably to the Kochs), and then of course, there's the matter of the sale of public assets "distracting" from the BadgerCare cuts. All this -- and more -- contained in the so-called Budget Repair Bill now stalled in the legislature due to Democratic State Senate defection, which, naturally is also a "distraction" from the important matters of good governance.

I wonder what the North Africa flare-ups and the protests in Yemen are to people who see everything as a matter of "distraction" from what's really important, you know.

As for the New Zealand Earthquake, I can't imagine they can even begin to comprehend it.

And there are just so many other things going on...

Were they never taught to walk and chew gum at the same time?

This tendency to claim all things "distract" from all others appears to be one of the core blogospheric quirks, and since that's one of my periodic topics, I mention it here.

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

Like 1848? 1968?

1848 Paris


"There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear..." -- Buffalo Springfield, 1967

1968 Chicago


2011 Cairo


They say it's a class rebellion, a youth revolution, spreading through the Arab world, demanding an end to autocratic regimes, a clean up of corruption, democracy, social and economic justice, freedom of conscience, dignity, justice.

Europe was wracked with revolutions -- all of which were put down more or less brutally -- in 1848, driven by weariness at rotting autocracy, rising class consciousness, the ruinous results of nascent capitalism and the industrial revolution, starvation arising from crop failures, and many other factors. The Revolutions of 1848 were not a success for the most part, but they laid the groundwork for the revolutions and upheavals to come and gave rise, most notably, to "The Communist Manifesto," which was to become the central revolutionary organizing document for the 20th Century.

1968 saw youth rebellions all over the world as the halls of power shuddered, while in China, where the rebellious spirit was as strong as anywhere else, Mao channeled that energy to consolidate his own revolution through the "Cultural Revolution." The rest of the rebellions of 1968 were put down more or less harshly by the powers that be as well.

Now we're seeing uprisings and rebellions throughout most of the Arab world, but also across much of Europe -- including Britain. We don't hear so much about the rebellions against economic austerity sweeping Europe, but they are happening just the same.

Economic, social, legal and political injustice are the driving forces of these uprisings. They are motivated by the ruinous economic policies adopted by governments against the will of the People, and by the intrinsic injustice of governments that serve the interests of high and the mighty at the expense of workers, the elderly and the infirm.

Is consciousness rising in the United States? It would be nice to think so. Signs remain mixed at best.

Security Theater Day!!!! YAY!!!!

Patti!!!



[I coulda put up Merman, but it wasn't quite the same after all these years, and then there was a wonderful John Barrowman clip that inadvertently got into the Nudo-O-Scan Thing, but it was way too Gay, so we'll have to go with Patti at the Tonys -- as if that weren't. Ha!]

Yes, well. Theater. doG, I love The Show Business.

I've been strangely nostalgic the last few days. Nostalgic about some of my earliest times in the Thea-tah, as it were, and I found something online about a Grand Reunion of some of the Old Farts I worked with when we were all just Kids Putting on a Show in the Barn.

Wow.

The Reunion happened this summer. I had no idea, nor in fact, did some of the others who were involved with that theater company who I've stayed in touch with over the years. Ultimately something like 300 souls attended. We weren't even invited. I'm not at all miffed about it, though. I'm more intrigued than anything else. The event apparently came to be called "Summer of Healing, Summer of Love." And I'm bewildered and even a little stunned by that title. What... is... that... all... about? "Healing?" "Love?"

The copy that goes with the pictures of the Reunion is singularly uninformative; it's more of a Castle In the Air type of elegy (and surprise that not everybody is dead yet) than an actual description of who was there, what they've been doing, yadda, yadda, and where they are now.

I know what some of them have been up to. If you go back far enough and trace things forward, it's quite a company, perhaps of fools to be sure, but there are plenty many Tony-winners (and nominees, oh, poor Harry, you was robbed again!), Oscar winners (and nominees, here we go again), TV personalities, movie Stahs, comedy circuit performers, and on and on. It was all based on the West Coast, of course, and back in the day, there was a very strong Texas accent to the operations, through connections with the University of Texas, but ultimately it boiled down to a lot of ordinary kids with some kind of talent, putting on shows -- lots of them -- for a very appreciative audience. Some of those kids went on to make their marks in the movies, on teevee or on Broadway and regional theater stages, but a lot didn't. Some are producers, directors, authors, and whatnot, but there are plenty of carpenters and salesmen and lawyers in the mix, too.

I brought a few skills to that experience, but I learned many more, and I will never forget it -- nor will I forget some of the key people who were part of it.

And there I was staring at the pictures of the Reunion, and with a few exceptions, I was saying, over and over, "Who the hell is this?" Just as I'm sure many of those who were there were wondering, sotto voce of course.

Still, it's nice to see that not everybody from those days is dead yet.

That said, one of the key understandings I got out of that experience in the long ago was some sense of the nature of theater itself, and why it was such a key element in Ancient Greek civilization and why it became a key in so many civilizations to come.

The fact that Theater as an Art Form has been in such decline for many years in this country is intriguing, too.

As Theatricality becomes ever more pervasive, the Theater itself goes into sharp decline.

This seems to be a universal truth. As Theatricality spreads, Theater declines.

Which brings us to Today's Security Theater Event, in which numerous passengers are planning on Theatrical Action to disrupt the Theatrical Presentations of Security brought to us by the TSA.

Passengers who don't want to be Porno-Scanned or Groped to get on their flights will appear at the airports in kilts commando, they say (sure they will), or disrobe at the gate, or demand to see a supervisor before they are assaulted and molested, or they will be hauled away by the Authorities, or... well, you get the picture. And the Officers of Airport Security will snap their gloves, and they will yell, and some of them will laugh, and the Domestic Herd will be processed almost as usual, despite all the florid threats to shut down the gates if the passenger-herd acts up in any way.

Theater. It's all a Show.

During the Controversy (Teach the Controversy!!!!), there has been an astonishing amount of grift and hucksterism, very obvious to those who are alert to these things. The whole thing is being played, by all concerned, from the many Libertarian opportunists at the bottom of it all undertaking disruptive "actions" of one sort or another, to the media impresarios who see a profit potential, to the government agents scrambling to catch up.

It's supposedly "all about the Constitution."

Fuck that. No, it isn't. If only it were. But then, if it were, it would be very different. The airports would have been shut down long ago, and the People would have said... "No." They wouldn't put up with this TSA crap, even if it meant the airlines would go extinct. If the Constitution were so very important, it never would have gotten to this point.

But it's not about the Constitution, it's about attention. "Attention must be paid!" Attention must be paid to such a person! He must not be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog... Et cetera. It's a line from "Death of a Salesman" that shreds complacency at What Is. And that's what this protest today is ultimately all about.

Stop and think about what you are submitting to and think about what you have become. Pay attention.

That's the message of the Theater, from its origins in the mists of the past to today. And today, the Theater ain't what it used to be, and Theatricality is everywhere. Pay attention.

Not to the Show so much, but to What Is. The Show is only there to help you See.

Pay attention.

[Here's Mitzi! What a sweetheart... Jeebus, until I saw this, I had almost forgotten about the summer that included turns by Mitzi, Lena, and Debbie. Those were the days...]

Jemez Hot Springs -- Excerpt from The Realist, Nov/Dec 1969

"We arrive at Jimez Springs about 4 o'clock in the morning vroom vroom one bus after another slipping into berth in its roadside parking lot... Now dig this, who should we come upon but these short haired sweet vanilla type Albuquerque College kids up on their first acid trip and here in the middle of nowhere comes the Ventura Freeway at 5 o'clock. "Are you God? Are you God?" they gurgled running around in this perpetual circle like candidates for pancake paint."

Clickage to embiggen and go to Realist site

And don't forget the Incomparable Wavy Gravy. An original then, and very much an original now.

Jerry Rubin Explains it All to Phil Donahue (Now With UPDATE!)

This is great.



There are several other segments from the program posted on YouTube. Check them all out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPRO5Lyjbz4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGnkJ7OCrSQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlLihajJhIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjX_yQ30WU

And what I'd like to know is whether watchers today can see any parallels with current events. I can see them. Does anyone else...?

==========================
UPDATE
And of course, the question arises: "Who Killed Jerry Rubin?"

The following article from The Realist, Summer 1995, explores the question.



Click to embiggen, etc, and go to the full article.

Things that make you go, hmmmmm...

Street Fights and People Power

There were protests against American warmongering and imperialism, against the Democrats and the Republicans, against the Bush Regime, and against abortion in Denver and St. Paul during their conventions, and there was an overwhelming police presence in both cities. You really didn't hear much -- maybe nothing -- about the "ordinary" protests, because they were just like any other street protests during the past decade or so, with people marching and carrying signs against war, poverty, and injustice -- or whatever, following their permitted paths, and hearing the usual line up of speakers, and then going home or back to their jobs or whatever permitted activity they chose. No news.

On the other hand, there were "break away" protests in both cities, somewhat spontaneous seeming, but not really spontaneous at all, intended for one purpose: to demonstrate -- by defiance and disobedience -- that we live in an oppressive police state, and that if you "get out of line" in any way, or if you're just watching people get out of line, or if you're watching the police impose their will, you'll get maced, bludgeoned, teargassed, arrested, and hauled off to the hoosegow, and if you announce you're planning any sort of defiance or disobedience of Authority, you'll get your house raided, your stuff confiscated, and if you look likely or have been fingered by an informant, you'll not only be arrested and hauled off to the hoosegow, you'll be charged with terrorism.

This is, after all, America, The Surveillance State, The Security State, The Police State, The Anti-Terror State. Never forget where you are.

Many people in St. Paul were charged with "conspiracy to riot," which is a sort of catch-all charge in Minnesota for any kind of actual or proposed getting in the way of law enforcement or acts of civil disobedience. It's not really a "riot" charge at all. This is in some ways important legally because there was no "riot" in St. Paul, but there were mass arrests, and the only way to justify them is to assert that some of those arrested were planning nefarious activities that could become riots, or that might disturb the public peace, or in some other way inconvenience the Good Burghers of the Twin Cities.

For all the hoopla in the alternative media about what was going on in the Twin Cities, all the police repression and so on, the actions of the dissenting citizens were surprisingly mild, nothing compared to the street fights and open warfare between citizens and police forces in this country in the past, and the not so distant past at that. Of course part of the purpose of the defiance and disobedience of Authority was to show quite clearly what sort of militarized policing was deployed on the streets of Denver and St. Paul, against unarmed and essentially non-resisting citizens who sometimes did not obey "lawful orders."

It was an almost classic demonstration of civil disobedience in the face of inappropriate Authority, and unlike some previous examples of civil disobedience in this country, there was very little "passive resistance." There was very little resistance at all to arrest.

Much was made of the fact that journalists and lawyers were arrested. The emphasis may have been put on their arrests so as to get the attention of other journalists and lawyers who might otherwise be ignorant (by neglect or design) of what the advancement of the Police State really means. Whether that strategy was successful remains to be seen, but it clearly was a strategy.

Because so many ordinary citizens were swept up in the police raids and the mass arrests, many of whom were apparently merely passers-by or at most observers, there will no doubt be civil legal repercussions for the jurisdictions involved. They apparently don't care at this point, and some claim that no complaints have been filed, so they have no intention to respond to any citizen uproar about what they did.

We would do well to ask if this was a prelude to a return to People Power, or perhaps its reinvention, in America. There have been plenty of mass protests in America in the last decade, some of them turning violent, but few have actually utilized the tactics of civil disobedience and defiance of Authority which have been shown to be effective in mitigating, modifying, or even overthrowing repressive regimes world-wide and in this country.

Are Americans coming to understand that passive observation of the "show" simply isn't enough, and that simply voting for a predigested candidate won't necessarily achieve political objectives?

Were these actions by citizens and by police the catalysts for real change in this country, perhaps even a restoration of constitutional self-government and accountable Authority?

Remains to be seen, but it's possible.