"The
White House and the Pentagon look so innocuous, yet behind their
innocent facades lurk sinister forces which have unleashed much misery
and suffering upon the world," I thought as I scrutinized each of
them armed with an insight gleaned from many hours of study.
I
arrived home on Sunday from the peace and social justice rally in
Washington
DC
and began reflecting. As my mind sifted through the barrage of
information which came at me over the course of the weekend, and the
information I absorbed while reading on the plane, I began to reach some
conclusions and to connect some dots.
Your
Master is Calling....
My
first conclusion was that their weak coverage of an event of this
magnitude deepened my belief that the mainstream media is merely an
instrument of its corporate masters and of the obscenely corrupt
US
government. The
Washington
Post under-estimated the
number of people at the demonstration and provided relatively limited
coverage. The Washington Times
relegated their coverage to the bottom of the front page and grossly
exaggerated the impact of the pro-Bush counter-demonstrators. And this
was an event that happened in their city! I felt even more
disgusted by The Kansas City
Star article which awaited me when I returned home. It consisted of
about ten short paragraphs on paged two of the front page section. They
included one small photograph. Beyond the print media, I struggled to
find minor mention of the event on television news.
Obviously
these "sacred purveyors of the truth" and members of the
Fourth Estate determined that the best way to frame this political issue
was to minimize the fact that hundreds of thousands of people descended
upon Washington DC to protest the illegal US occupation of Iraq and to
demand social justice. The mainstream press could not summon the
courage to provide a realistic amount of coverage to a significant
challenge to their corporate masters and the Bush regime.
Perspective
of a Participant
I
was there for the march on 9/24. Based on what I observed and
experienced, the
Washington
DC
police chief's estimate of 150,000 people was extremely low. My
wife and I marched at the end of the procession, which followed a 1.4
mile course, including a pass in front of the White House. We carried
our mock coffin draped with an American flag. (Ours was one of about 150
other mock coffins which enabled the American public to finally see at
least see a representation of the Americans who have died in
Iraq
). It took us six hours to complete the march. We moved quite slowly due
the number of people joining the procession along the way. The people
leading the march actually got to the White House before we even started
to move. Along the route, I saw throngs of thousands of supporters
lining the streets. The Ellipse, the area surrounding the
Washington
Monument
, and several adjacent parks were filled with demonstrators, before,
during and after the march. ANSWER, one of the demonstration's
organizers, estimated that there were 300,000 participants. Truthout.org
put the number closer to 500,000. Based on what I witnessed, I estimate
the number fell somewhere between the two.
As
for counter-protestors, I saw a mere handful. To state there were over
two hundred would be a very generous estimate. Yet ironically,
their signs (and shouted rhetoric) indicated that they were "the
majority". I struggled to determine how they arrived at that
conclusion. On 9/25, the pro-Bush, pro-war faction staged their own
demonstration in DC, which involved about 400 people. It boggles the
mind contemplating how they could truly believe themselves to be in the
majority.
A
diverse crowd, which included the elderly, the disabled, minorities,
military veterans, families of military personnel in
Iraq
, social activists, Methodists, Quakers, Buddhists, people of Middle
Eastern descent, and many other groups comprised the multitude on
Saturday. Joan Baez, Cindy Sheehan, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and two
Congresswomen spoke and marched. On the flight home, I met Congressman
Emanuel Cleaver, who represents a district in
Kansas City
. He told me that he had not participated in the demonstration, but that
he was part of an anti-war coalition in Congress. A broad spectrum of
Americans want peace and social justice, and are eager to see Bush and
the corrupt who dominate the US government out of office.
One
of the articles I read in the mainstream media stated that there were no
police wearing riot gear at the demonstration. I beg to differ. I
counted at least seven men wearing black pants, white, generic-looking
shirts with what appeared to be cloth gold badges stitched to them, and
military boots. They each had riot helmets with visors, riot shields
which were marked "Police" (yet their uniforms bore virtually
no resemblance to those of the DC police), and they were equipped with
truncheons. As I marched by them, I wondered if they were some of the
Blackwater security people, hired mercenaries whom the Bush
administration has used in
Iraq
and now in
New Orleans
.
Despite
his absence, Bush's fortress was heavily defended by police on the
street and by snipers on the roof of the White House and surrounding
buildings. Bush exhibited his usual spinelessness. He spent part of
the day in
Colorado
, where he would not have to face the hundreds of thousands of his
constituency who were calling for peace, social justice and his
impeachment. He was also well out of potential harm from Hurricane
Rita. Later in the day he did find the nerve to travel to
San Antonio
, but even there he was still well out of harm's way.
Before
the march began, I spoke with a woman with the Friends Committee on
National Legislation and signed a petition to lobby members of Congress
to pass a resolution for the
US
military to withdraw from
Iraq
. This group is not asking for a specific time-table. The Friends
Committee simply wants a commitment that our multi-trillion dollar war
machine will leave
Iraq
once the situation there has stabilized. I agree with those who have
stated that it would be irresponsible for the
US
to pull out of
Iraq
immediately and leave the country in a chaos that our military
industrial complex created. However,
Iraq
is a sovereign nation, and at some point in the not too distant future,
the
US
needs to withdraw. I gladly carried a sign on behalf of this Quaker
organization as I bore my half of the mock coffin adorned with the
American flag.
As
we passed the US Treasury a man riding a bicycle was using a portable PA
system. What was his message?
"Pay
no attention to this building. It is the treasury. It is empty. It has
been looted."
With
the volume of money flowing into the coffers of corporations with
incestuous ties to the Bush regime and a $7.5 trillion deficit, it would
be difficult to dispute his contention.
Saturday's
march for peace and social justice and against corporate dominance,
imperialism and tyranny was powerful for several reasons. The sheer
number of 300,000 who participated in the demonstration reveals that
many in the
United States
have made al wathbah, or "the leap". In Bush in
Babylon,Tariq Ali wrote about "the leap" of mass
consciousness the Iraqi people made in 1948 as they realized that their
puppet leaders sold out their interests to British imperialists. Slowly,
many Americans are overcoming the lies they have been
"programmed" to believe since they were able to fashion
conscious, coherent thoughts. While the 300,000 demonstrators represent
a small minority of the
US
population, Bush's abysmal approval rating provides evidence that the
300,000 were but a fraction of those in the
US
ready to dissent against the perverse regime "leading"
the nation. Ali called the British proxies who ruled
Iraq
during the early and mid Twentieth Century "An Oligarchy of
Racketeers".
America
's lackeys in the newly formed Iraqi government are more than capable of
assuming that "glorious" mantle.
Speakers
at the rally called for increased rights for blacks, women, gays,
Hispanics, and other minorities. They decried the
US
military's use of torture and indefinite imprisonment of suspected
"terrorists" with no legitimate trial. They decried the
excessive power of US corporations here and abroad, and called for
renewed government restraints to squelch their excesses and abuses.
Several made strident demands to end the blatant racism and
US
government neglect of the poor highlighted by events in Katrina. They
called for support of Hugo Chavez and Castro. Bush may not have been
listening, but his constituents were talking to him in large numbers,
and will continue to do so. If he and the
US
aristocracy continue to ignore the will of We
the People, things will not end well for them. In the non-violent
tradition of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, We
the People will take our government back from the plutocracy. The
wealthiest nation in the world has moral obligations to be a world
leader (rather than a bully) and to care for its poor, and if the
incumbent administration is not willing to fulfill these obligations, it
needs to be replaced.
Frequently
throughout the march, I heard and read the slogan "power of the
people". The unfortunate reality is that for now, the ultimate
power in the
US
rests in the hands of a select few aristocrats, and has in varying
degrees since our nation's founding. I saw ample evidence of that fact
as my wife and I toured the Smithsonian's
American
History
Museum
the day before the march. The decadence in which many of the
presidents and first ladies engaged was truly disgusting to see. I saw
the outrageously expensive clothing, china, jewelry, art, and White
House furnishings and realized that I was witnessing evidence that the
US
is as much an aristocracy as the monarchy from which our founding
fathers severed themselves. Further fueling my nausea, I saw that
Barbara and Laura Bush were enshrined in the section of First Ladies who
have made significant contributions to social justice in the
United States
. The Bush wives honored alongside Eleanor Roosevelt, a giant in the
pantheon of those who have advanced social justice? The Smithsonian
curators have a very sick sense of humor.
Mr.
Bush, good luck selling your fairy tale of democracy and equality to the
victims of Katrina, to many others in
America
, and to the rest of the world. Your criminal neglect of New Orleans and
the poor in general, your lies, your theft of the 2000 election, your
numerous violations of the public trust, your cronyism leading to
incompetents like Michael Brown causing thousands to suffer or die, and
your war profiteering combine to make you the biggest felon to serve as
President of the United States (Note to Bush: as an "elected"
official, you are merely a public servant, not a monarch. You belong in
one of the many penitentiaries which are a part of the prison industrial
complex).
So
What?
In
skimming my 120 emails I received while I was away for the weekend, I
discovered that ANSWER, one of the demonstration's organizers, has
apparently been accused of being Maoist Communists who are virulently
anti-US and who advocate supporting any group which opposes the
US
government (i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Khmer Rouge). My
response to that is that I do not care. United for Peace also sponsored
the event, and to my knowledge, they have not been targeted as
"anti-American". I am not a member of either group and
regardless of how extreme their positions may be, this event served a
valuable purpose. It demonstrated the strength of the movement in the
United States
for peace and social justice, and the depth of the desire amongst
Americans to remove the avaricious, tyrannical, and criminal Bush
regime from power.
"Terrorism"
Cuts Both Ways and Imperialist Acts Have Consequences
Going
out on a limb (as I usually do), I am going to state that while I do not
condone terrorism (which I am defining as the act of killing innocent
civilians to achieve a political purpose), I understand the viewpoint of
some of the groups whom the
US
mainstream media and the Bush regime have labeled as terrorists. Bush
and his ilk, and many of their predecessors (including
Clinton
via Kosovo, Bush I via
Iraq
, Reagan via
Central America
, and Nixon and Johnson via Vietnam.) have engaged in the most lethal
state terrorism imaginable, killing millions they label (and labeled) as
"collateral damage". The
US
government also has a nasty habit of supporting ruthless dictators (when
they support US corporate interests) who kill tens of thousands of
their own people. I do not support violent acts committed by either
side, but the
US
government is no nobler than those they have labeled as
"terrorists" because they have dared to resist
US
supremacy by fighting back.
On
the plane trip home from DC, I started reading Tariq Ali's Bush
in Babylon: the Recolonization of Iraq,
and started to see the Arab point of view more clearly.
I discovered that
Iraq
is a nation/region which has been subservient to foreign powers in some
fashion since the 13th Century. Coupling the predatory intentions of the
US
government with
Iraq
's history, I can fully appreciate the front cover picture on Ali's book
which shows an Iraqi child urinating on one of his
US
occupiers. To the Iraqis, the
US
is another in a long line of tyrants, no better than the British,
Turks, or their predecessors.
The
US
is attempting to implement "democracy-at gun-point" in a
nation embroiled with ethnic and religious tensions. The Iraqi people
know why the
US
government is killing their people and destroying their cities, which
makes their resistance quite logical. They realize that a cruel and
greedy imperialist government needed to assert its military might on
what they anticipated would be a weak target so it could begin
implementing the Bush Doctrine and the Project for the New American
Century. Halliburton, Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, and many other cogs in
the military industrial complex were itching to see their profits
skyrocket, and
Iraq
appeared to be a ripe plum for the picking. Most importantly, oil
was too valuable of a commodity for a self-respecting Twenty-First
Century world power bent on global domination to leave in the hands of
"mere Arabs". Why wouldn't the Iraqis feel enraged and resist
invaders, plunderers, and thieves?
US
troops in
Iraq
number over 140,000. The occupation started in March, 2003. The Bush
tyranny continues to refuse to commit to an eventual withdrawal of US
forces. Bush and his minions lied to Congress to launch the
invasion, defied the UN and international law, and, according to John
Pike of GlobalSecurities.org, are establishing 12 of what the Pentagon
propagandists call "enduring bases" in
Iraq
. To translate from "Pentagonese" to English, an
"enduring base" is a permanent base. Despite the hollow
propaganda of spreading freedom and liberty, the
US
government's actions smack of those of a tyrant intent on colonizing the
sovereign nation of
Iraq
.
Your
True Colors are Showing
The
disguise is slipping as the
US
government has slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi
civilians. Hurricane Katrina revealed the hypocrisy behind their
"noble cause" of spreading freedom and liberty. Those abstract
concepts exist in the
US
on a very limited basis. The
US
government has been, and is increasingly dominated by a select few
plutocrats and aristocrats who are groomed for public office from birth.
The elites of
America
place their carefully prepared candidates before an American voting
public rendered apathetic by the mainstream media and years of
government corruption. The Democratic/Republican Duopoly ensures that
only two candidates have a real chance of winning public office in
virtually every election, and each candidate is beholden to corporations
and the
US
aristocracy. Sometimes decent people sneak into Congress and the
Judiciary, but there are few real choices for middle and working class
Americans, particularly when one factors in the stolen Presidential
election of 2000. Jimmy Carter, one of the few former Presidents
known for his honesty, recently publicly stated his certainty that Gore
won the 2000 election.
For
more, click on:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Carter_says_Gore_won_2000_el_0922.html
The
flood-waters of Katrina unmasked the depraved engineers of the runaway
train called the
United States
. Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld and Cheney have been exposed to the world as
malevolent profit seekers who regard humanity simply as a means to
enhance their wealth and power. I need only look at the T-shirt I bought
at the march on Saturday as a reminder. My shirt is emblazoned with a
picture of a suffering, elderly Black American woman in New Orleans who
has bundled herself in the American flag for warmth. Bush and his
war-mongers have perverted the meaning of a once sacred symbol of the
ideals of a true republic to one of hatred, criminality, brutality, and
imperialism. I hope it served her well as a blanket. Some members of
Congress want a Constitutional amendment to prevent flag desecration.
Too late! The criminal acts of the Bush administration have already
grossly defiled the American flag.
Resisting
the Path of Violence
Many
readers have emailed me with their opinions that non-violent movements
are ineffective. I disagree. While non-violent movements generally
involve significantly more time and will-power than violent revolutions,
they can be effective. I cite the examples of Martin Luther King, whose
peaceful movement significantly advanced civil rights in the
US
and of Gandhi's non-violent revolution, which led to
India
's freedom from its imperial oppressor,
Great Britain
.
For
more evidence on the efficacy of non-violent movements or Velvet
Revolutions, see Timothy Garton Ash's article about the bloodless
rebellions which brought Communist tyranny to an end in
Eastern Europe
. He makes a very convincing argument against armed rebellion:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1560394,00.html
What
Are Some Potential Aspects of a Velvet Revolution in the
US
?
1.
If enough Americans become conscious to the inhumanity of our leaders
and join a non-violent movement comprised of the poor, the working
class, the middle class, minorities, intellectuals, those in the
government who are not a part of the corruption, and artists, sheer
numbers of people demanding change could overwhelm the ruling
plutocracy, who are clearly a numerical minority.
2.
We the People need to form a
third political party of the people which will have the support of
enough Americans that it can rival the corporate-controlled Democrats
and Republicans. This party will need to base its principles on the
needs and desires of the common people rather than on those of
corporations and the elite.
3.
Unions need to fight to regain the strength they enjoyed during the
Twentieth Century. This will unite workers and restore their power in
negotiating with giant corporations. Despite what they would have
America
's citizens believe, corporations are not "kinder and gentler"
entities with the interests of their workers and customers at heart.
They are merely wolves who have donned sheep's clothing to make it
appear so. They are motivated by profit and the fear of lawsuits. The
will of the people imposed through organized labor needs to motivate
corporations to take a deeper interest in the welfare of employees and
customers.
4.
We the People need to push
for passage of the ERA and an equal rights amendment for gays.
5.
We need to work for permanent implementation of the Voting Rights Act.
6.
Writers with a social conscience need to continue to publish books and
essays advocating social justice, spreading truth, and
dissenting against our corrupt oligarchy by any means we can
find.
7.
Christian
Churches
need to spend less time and money squabbling over seemingly eternal and
irresolvable issues like abortion and focus their efforts on demanding
the social justice Jesus Christ would have insisted upon.
8.
Educators need to stop teaching the white-washed history of the United
States, which virtually ignores the genocide of Native Americans, barely
scratches the surface of the depth of the cruelty and immorality of
slavery, maintains silence on the topic of the American apartheid system
which Katrina brought into the spot-light, and which glorifies an
imperialistic, war-mongering government. It is incumbent upon educators
to teach their students the truth about
America
, past and present.
9.
We the People need to
boycott major corporations like Wal-mart and McDonalds as frequently as
possible by shopping at local businesses owned by individual
entrepreneurs. Hit the insatiably greedy corporatacracy where it hurts
them the most: in their wallets. My wife and I have not spent a penny at
Wal-Mart or McDonald's for over a year.
10.
Progressive taxes on the rich and on corporations need to be increased
while regressive taxes on the poor and working class need to be
decreased to move the
US
toward a society with a more equitable distribution of wealth.
11.
The
US
government spends $600 billion per year on defense, including funding
for the Iraqi Occupation and money for ancillary functions. It is time
to truly bring the troops home from
Iraq
(over a period of time to allow stabilization to occur) and from the 700
military bases in over 56 countries around the world. We will save $64
billion over twenty years by closing 33 domestic bases under Donald
Rumsfeld's plan. Imagine the money we would save (besides the $5 billion
per month from ending the occupation of
Iraq
) in closing 700 bases. To my knowledge, there are no foreign military
bases on
US
soil. If We the People are
intent upon retooling the
US
into a nation focused on the needs of its people with enough military
simply to defend our nation rather than enough to dominate the world, it
is time to remove the
US
military from foreign soil. Removing
US
military bases from their nations is one of the legitimate demands of
those the
US
government has labeled as "terrorists".
12.
The
US
needs to relegate the notion of repealing the estate taxed to the
dustbin of history, where it belongs. Eliminating the estate tax would
further ensure the perpetuation of the American Aristocracy and
virtually eradicate the already extremely slim chance that a poor
American can realize the Horatio Alger dream.
13.
We "Commoners" need to demand a system of national health care
(or implement it once our third political party has become a power
capable of rivaling the existing Duopoly). The
US
holds the shameful distinction of being the only industrialized nation
without a guarantee of healthcare to each of its citizens. What a
dubious distinction for the wealthiest nation in the world! With money
derived from cuts in defense spending and increased taxes on the wealthy
and corporations, the US could readily implement a national health care
system comprised of a synthesis of the best features of the systems of
other nations. To make the system affordable, those Americans whose
income exceeded a particular thresh-hold would pay premiums based on a
percentage of their income.
14.
We need to demand that the
US
government cut
Israel
's umbilical cord. Israelis have received more than enough money and
weapons from the
US
to stand on their own. US support of
Israel
, which, like its benefactor, often engages in state terrorism and has
committed acts of genocide against the Palestinians, continues to
infuriate Arabs throughout the
Middle East
. The
US
has a moral obligation to let
Israel
fend for itself and to see to the establishment of a legitimate homeland
for the Palestinians. There is also the pragmatic consideration that as
long as the
US
supports
Israel
's abuse of the Palestinians, it will continue to feed the rage of many
Arabs.
15.
We the People need to find
and elect a populist leader like Hugo Chavez, who will place the needs
of the poor over the desires of the wealthy elite.
16.
The
US
government needs to respect international law, treaties, human rights,
and the autonomy of sovereign nations, and to participate fairly in the
UN.
17.
The public education system needs to be restructured in such a way that
students across the nation attend schools with comparable facilities,
teachers, and textbooks.
18.
Americans with a social conscience need to insist the
US
pass and enforce restrictions on corporations to protect the
environment. Ending the charade that global warming is a hoax and
signing the Kyoto Treaty would be a tremendous start.
19.
Besides the creation of a powerful political party, boycotts, labor
strikes, marches, providing better education to all American children,
dissident writing, staying informed, demanding accountability of public
officials through the avenues which are still available, joining groups
advocating civil rights and humanity, We
the People have another non-violent weapon at our disposal. When it
is warranted, civil disobedience is a powerful tool to evoke change. For
example, while conscription is not yet a reality, if I am confronted
with a call from the
US
government to participate in one of their imperialist conquests, I will
follow the fine example of Kevin Benderman and refuse, even if it means
prison. If enough people engage in civil disobedience, the plutocracy
will not have the capacity to punish all of us, and will lack the
manpower to grease the wheels of their money-making machines.
The
rally and protest on 9/24 was simply a high water mark for a movement
which has steadily been gaining momentum over the last few years. As one
of the participants shouted to the group:
"Don't
let this end today. This is only a beginning. When you leave here,
continue what we started today!"
While
my brief outline of a velvet revolution is not comprehensive and
represents a simple sketch which would require a great deal more study
and development, it presents a framework of viable alternatives with
which to counter the agenda of the elitist and hegemonist regime which
some Americans still believe is a democracy. With the will, commitment,
and wide participation of We the
People in a non-violent, velvet revolution, the
US
can become a nation with a soul rather than the hollow, inhumane,
gluttonous, and bellicose entity it is now. The ugly face of
America
represents a minority of its populace. It is time for the majority to
impose their will and show the world that the
US
is a nation capable of engaging in truly noble causes.
Jason Miller is a 38 year old activist
writer with a degree in liberal arts. He works in the
transportation industry, and is a husband and a father to three boys. His
affiliations include Amnesty International, the ACLU and the Americans
United for Separation of Church and State. He welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com
or comments on his blog at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.
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