Shitdisturbing?
Okay, how far can we/should we go to change what's wrong within our workplace/community/society? How much is enough? Where do we begin and how do we know we are on the right path?
I think MfD contributors call it Shitdisturbing and Henry David Thoreau called it Civil Disobedience. We have come a long way from the early days of organizing/unionizing for our basic survival and the right to just be a "human being"! The face of our oppressors has changed but their hearts are still the same, only camouflaged a lot of times by our own consumeristic lifestyles. The need for "stuff" keeps us within the prescribed parameters of the powerful few.
I have discovered through the years that although there are many who are willing to discuss the injustices, there are few who will physically place their well-being on the line in order to fight against these injustices. Don't get me wrong, because I understand the
need for providing for the family and their well-being. Placing my family into a position of discomfort because of my convictions would be wrong wouldn't it? My loved ones shouldn't have to suffer because of my actions should they? Or is it my obligation/responsibility to my family/humanity to do everything possible to make this world a more just and humane place to live? Not just for my family, but for the future families of our world.
Taking action on our beliefs is a very powerful thing as the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan puts it:
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Sheehan cites 58% of the American population as against the war, but she qualifies this statistic citing the disconnect between those that are against the war and those taking action on their belief: "We are preaching to the choir, but not all are singing. If all were singing this war would end," says Sheehan.
The importance of direct action can be found in this excerpt from the book Voices of a People's History of the United States, which is edited by Anthony Arnove's:
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"Everyone has a turning point in their life when they realize that action is necessary," says Arnove. This turning point is reflected in a speech by Yuri Kochiyama, "Then Came the War." She says that she grew up as a Japanese American, very "red, white, and blue." But once her family was interned she began to question the American government and realized this: "If we can see the connections of how often this happens in history," Kochiyama says referring to Americans being putbehind walls," we can stem the tide of these things happening again by speaking against them."
How do we go aboutreclaiming our lost legacy of civil disobedience?
As most of us find out, usually the hard way, there are problems within our society and at some point in time, we all face The Trouble with Authority
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Now we find ourselves in a moral conundrum. Should just people obey unjust laws? Should they obey authority that does not have their own welfare at heart? Should they be loyal to authority that takes from the poor and gives disproportionately to the rich? Should they lend their support to a military industrial complex that uses them as cannon fodder in wars in which they have no stake? Should they obey the authority of heartless and soulless corporate entities-legal fictions-who behave like sociopaths but write many of the laws governing corporate behavior? The answer is a resounding NO!
Once we realize the importance of becoming active and fighting for our beliefs, we must ask ourselves how do I begin? Well, there are many options we can use to Get Active:
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If all of us demand control over what we do and what goes on around us, if all of us do what we can to make life exciting and fair for everyone, things are bound to change. A lot of people know that we don't live in the best of all possible worlds, but persuade themselves that it's hopeless to try to improve things because they're afraid to commit themselves, to take any risks. But it's that lack of ambition that is the biggest risk of all-for what if you do nothing, and nothing happens, and we lose our chance to make this world the paradise it should be? Don't be shy or timid-there's nothing more exciting than taking an active role in the world around you, and there's nothing more worthwhile!
An understanding of what direct action means and what it doesn't mean is necessary to overcome what the few in power have been force feeding us. There have been many Myths concerning what direct action really is:
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Direct action-that is, any kind of action that bypasses established political channels to accomplish objectives directly-has a long and rich heritage in North America, extending back to the Boston Tea Party and beyond. Despite this, there are many misunderstandings about it, in part due to the ways it has been misrepresented in the corporate media.
Like Sheehan said, I am probably preaching to the choir here at MfD, but I just felt a need to share a few links and thoughts and let everyone know they aren't alone; we all are trying to beat the hogs away from the trough in order to make this a much better world! And I basically am writing this for my own supportive interests, bacause I need rejuvination and support a lot of the time. So this was as much for me as anyone else. Thanks!
And I really like the term "shitdisturbing! 
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Okay, how far can we/should we go to change what's wrong within our workplace/community/society? How much is enough? Where do we begin and how do we know we are on the right path?
The answer, in my mind anyway, is as far as we need to go to establish the kind of workplaces/communities/society that we want. Enough is when we've achieved that goal and we'll know that we're on the right path if the goal is getting closer.
My view is that if we are to make progress toward a more humane, more equitable society, we are going to have to change economic relations (and a big part of that is workplace relations) in very fundamental ways. The "norms" of the workplace basically socialize people to accept the current economic paradigm. This happens through the acceptance of certain core beliefs (like "your role in society is to be a producer and a consumer", "your worth is measured by your wealth", "happiness can be purchased", and so on).
You are quite right that consumerism is a distraction to all but the most committed.
This is why the surge of protest and civil disobedience that occurred in the 1960's fizzled out: Economic relations didn't change and there was very little focus on changing workplace relations (the mainstream labor unions and their leaders were not particularly supportive of the social and political movements of the 60's - most sort of sat the whole thing out mumbling about pinkos and commies).
Consequently, when the young activists of that era got a little older and went off to work, they quickly came to conform to the "norms" and became distracted with the "need" to consume.
Since then, things have only become worse. The availability of credit, the "need" to consume have created a situation where many young people enter adulthood with the need to get to work, hang on to whatever job(s) they can get and conform, conform, conform.
This, in turn, limits the numbers of activists who might be inclined to engage in civil disobedience or other community-building activities.
One of the things that I've noticed about our current situation versus that of the 1960's is the absence of a thriving community of expression. Where are the writers, artists, etc. whose ideas have sparked movements and rebellions? They're out there but they're too busy attending to consumption-oriented activities and feeding the machine.
It's that much more important that those of us who feel, for whatever reason, that we are unable to conform and who don't mind making the time to engage in activism whether that involves civil disobedience or simply expressing ideas - do it.
Just perhaps, there is a new form of art which most of us continue to overlook due to the fact we're so busy riding the train of consumerism? What about the Art of Nothing? Would this qualify as a radical art form as it surely deviates from the norm?
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Henry David Thoreau wrote of having a rock for a paperweight at his cabin by Walden pond. He threw it out when he discovered he had to dust it.
Have you heard of John Zerzan who resides in the northwestern U.S. and promotes anarchism via Primitivism. Zerzan is also an editor for Green Anarchy. It seems the extreme northwestern states and probably southwestern Canada is fertile ground for the seeds of r-evolution. Although out of Berkeley from where the Freedom of Speech Movement was born, we now have Free Radio.
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This ideological view of our past has been radically overturned in recent decades, through the work of academics like Richard Lee and Marshall Sahlins. A nearly complete reversal in anthropological orthodoxy has come about, with important implications. Now we can see that life before domestication/agriculture was in fact largely one of leisure, intimacy with nature, sensual wisdom, sexual equality, and health. This was our human nature, for a couple of million years, prior to enslavement by priests, kings, and bosses. -Zerzan
Most of this is just too extreme for most of us consumeristically adapted humans I believe!
All this thought of r-evolution and the sixties has brought on a touch of nostalgia. I think it's always a good thing not to forget our history, so how about Chicago (1968) and Kent State (1970).
And then there was the memo from the director of the F.B.I., J. Edgar Hoover, to all field offices which initiated action against the new left:
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FBI MEMORANDUM 5/14/68
FROM: Director
TO: SAC (Special Agent in Charge-Albany)
Counter Intelligence Program: Internal Security: Disruption of the New Left
The purpose of this program is to expose, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize the activities of the various new left organizations, their leadership, and their adherents. It is imperative that activities of those groups be followed on a continuous basis so that we may take advantage of all opportunities for counter intelligence and also inspire action where circumstance warrant. The devious maneuver, the duplicity of these activists must be exposed to public scrutiny through cooperation of reliable news media sources, both locally and at the seat of government. We must frustrate every effort of these groups and individuals to consolidate their forces or to recruit new or youthful adherents. In every instance, consideration should be given to disrupting organized activity of these groups and no opportunity should be missed to capitalize on organizational or personal conflicts of their leadership.
Offices which have investigative responsibility for KEY ACTIVISTS should specifically comment in the initial letter to the bureau regarding these individuals. These offices are aware these individuals have been identified as the moving forces behind the new left.
No counter-intelligence action may be initiated by the field without specific bureau authorization.
The bureau has been closely following the activitites of the new left and the Key Activists and is highly concerned that the anarchistic activities of a few could paralyze institutions of learning, induction centers, cripple traffic, and tie the arms of law enforcement officials. All to the detriment of our society. The organizations and activists who spout revolution and unlawfully challenge society to obtain their demands must not only be contained, but must be neutralized. Law and order is mandatory for any civilized society to survive. Therefore, you must approach this endeavor with a forward look, enthusiasm, and interest in order to accomplish our responsibilities. The importance of this new endeavor, cannot and will not be overlooked.
(edited: succumed to feeling of nostalgia)
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Most of this is just too extreme for most of us consumeristically adapted humans I believe!
That's exactly why it's important that we discuss alternative social and economic orders. Not only are they possible, they've actually existed here on the planet earth. And they did't end because they were inadequate or wrong - they ended because the priests, kings and bosses imposed their own preferred orders to advance their own interests.
We are about 200 years into the current order. That's a long time. Successive generations have been brought up believing in the myths of the marketplace and the sub-myths about the role of people relative to markets. During the past 100 years or so, the brainwashing has been particularly intense. So people think there is no possible order that is better or that can exist because they just don't know any better.
Yet if we look back at our own history (the history of the community of workers) it is evident that the early generations - the ones who were around when the current order was just becoming established - recoiled from what was being foisted on them.
Over the past few months, I've been immersed in the study of the history of our community during the 18th and 19th century and it's really quite remarkable what a backlash there was. The riots and protests of that era make today's mainstream labour protests look like photo opps (well, they are). And what's really telling is that it wasn't just wages and working conditions that people were protesting about - it was the system of social and economic relations that was being imposed on them - a system that treated them as less than human.
The most extensive protests during this early part of the industrial age were about that and those were also the ones that met with the most egregious reaction from the state and the bosses.
As time passed, these early rebels against inhumanity were eventually silenced or marginalized. The community was pulled into the new order thanks to the combined efforts of the bosses and the state and, in no small measure, a new tool of the state and the bosses called the business unionists.
So yes, by all means, let's raise awareness of the alternatives. While a purist version of the kind of order advocated by the Primitivists is unlikely to ever establish itself (and I'm not sure that this would be a good thing - some of our technology is very beneficial), the values like respect for the environment, equality, balance, etc. - are all important elements of sustainability. Maybe that's an entry point for discussion about alternative social/economic orders. It should not take many people by surprise (at least it's been discussed at length for the past couple of decades) that if we humans allow the current crop of priests, kings and bosses to keep us on our current trajectory, we will destroy the earth. If we want to sustain the earth, then a different order must emerge. The sooner we can collectively get our heads around that, the better.
That was an excellent post rv, and i couldnt agree more. Though only issue i take is that i think the current system we operate under has actually been around a little longer than 200 years-more like 400, but not quite as prevalent and not quite as dominant.
great post.
FYI, Alternet just published an interview with Howard Zinn.
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The author of 'A People's History of the United States' talks about falling into academia, his new book and the people making tomorrow's history today.
This is a fascinating discussion to follow and one that has a questionable (at least for me) note to it.
I've mentioned this before, but i think it is worth repeating. Art Shostak and i were rooming together at the 2004 World Futurist Society Conference. In my portion of the presentation i proclaimed the rebirth of labor would come from the bottom of the heap, not the top.
After the session Art and i were chatting and he said he just doen't see it. He talked about how though the numbers of people below the poverty line were growing, the way people were living certainly didn't show them to be in dire straights. Casino's were bulging, cigarette sales at $4 a pack were strong and bars were booming. People were buying more than ever in their history.
Four months later i was in New Orleans, so that was 10 months before Katrina. Harrah's Casino was in the heart of downtown. Virtually every nite they were busy, but on weekends you couldn't move in the place. I don't mean to sound judgemental, but the vast majority of folks looked like they were struggling to get by.
Then i look at my self and i have to admit i live very good. While that opens me to criticism, i would ask each of the posters, how are you living these days? Is life all that bad? Or, on a personal note, is it pretty good?
The point being, how do you start a revolution if the majority of people are okay with their lives? Asking people to get out of their comfort zones is virtually impossible. Forget holding a sitdown strike in a city building, you would be further ahead getting people to read an article on the growing wealth disparity; the changing bankruptcy laws; or at least lay the underpinnings for an awakening.
Living in Sun City and being retired, i have life by the balls. That's not bragging, i thank God every day for my good fortune. The funny thing is, i almost always talk to people who live here. As the world's most successful commune, almost all agree. The vast majority of folks are retired workers, people of average means. We have built our own little community where volunteerism is the key to our existence. I've never seen another place on earth like it.
So the conundrum is; is life that good, or that bad? Are we all praddling on about how life is a bitch when none of us is hurting or down and out? Really, who wants to admit life sucks? Did you ever stop and think about how the fools that coined the phrase "don't worry, be happy" influenced a nation and made chumps of us all.
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The point being, how do you start a revolution if the majority of people are okay with their lives?
According to the Census Bureau, there were 35.9 million people living below the poverty level here in the good 'ol USA back in 2002. The number living in extreme poverty (incomes below half of the poverty line) numbered 15.3 million. Averaged out, that means that one out of every three Americans live at, or below, the poverty line. No, it's not a majority, but one third or actually 34.2%!! And that was back in '02 and we know what's been happening while GW has been in don't we? There are many, many, so called third world countries with lower poverty rates than the US. Not that the US is any more important than anyone else, because poverty doesn't discriminate!
I know there are millions who are fortunate enough to live above the poverty level, and I am one of the fortunate ones....although not far above the line and I have to continually give up something in order to get something, always have and I'm sure I always will! Broadband internet is one of those luxuries! But the thing is this; there are no guarantees that I or anyone else will remain where we are. As the levels of poverty continue to grow, the one's who happen to be comfortable now will find their buying power continuing to wain. It's that damn pyramid thing!
And quite frankly, I have to look at myself in the mirror at least once a day and the vision is ugly enough without painting it in an apethetic, emotionless, uninterested hue! My life isn't great, but it can, and has been, much worst! I'm much better off just because of the fact I have internet access which is dearly important to me and I do share what I hear and learn from the net with my community.
According to a poll done by Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates back in '02, nine out of ten Americans believe the federal government has a responsibility to alleviate poverty. So if 90% of the population believe our government should take responsibility to alleviate poverty, why do you think they haven't placed the poverty issue at the top of the "to-do list"? Maybe it has something to do with their comfort zone and that damn pyramidal thing? 
Seeing through my magnifying glasses, my life is not bad. Life is what you make of it. Sometimes, the cards you are dealt are not aces, but you gather them up and shuffle, get back in the game. The game is that of learning. You learn from your past mistakes (hopefully).
As you mention, Bill, you are retired. Your needs, wants, and desires are very different than that of one who has a mortgage, a wife, and three kids to feed. Life is different out there now. Good grief, we did not have a television in our home until I was nearly 8. Can you imagine life without television? Not that I own one, but life without your cell phone? Life without computers?
I live in a very rural community, it is Paradise. I am not certain on the volunteer issue. I know, if I get myself in a position where help is needed, it will arrive in the blink of an eye.
I believe what goes around, comes around. You treat people like shit, shit will hit you in the face bigtime. Perhaps, not today or tomorrow, but it will catch up with you and you'll wonder ~ how/why did this happen to me. Then, you learn.
Sometimes you just have to loosen up the buckle in your heart and start to chuckle . . .
Just a short while back when Katrina hit the gulf coast, it seemed the veil of poverty had been lifted and there may actually be hope for a social uprising among the people. But there seems to still besome Stormy Weather for Liberal Advocates
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It took only several days for an insensate storm to attain what thousands of nonprofit advocates, toiling for decades, had been unable to achieve. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. media brimmed with affecting images of the poorest of America's poor, and for several weeks public opinion appeared to turn in their favor. Everywhere in the nonprofit sector there was a sense that poverty and race had finally emerged from the shadows of neglect and hostility. Not since Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty had so many people been so conversant about the challenges facing poor, inner-city Blacks.
Then it happened. Predictably and inexorably the media window began to close. Tired of too much consciousness, the American public sank back into its consumerist-fueled nescience.
The blame for turning a blind eye to our troubles here in the US can be placed right in the lap of our elected officials, and it's past time to change this and we all need to start Speaking Truth to the Power Elite.
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Something to think about in the struggle for the reality that government has been largely ineffective, as government now exists - it doesn't represent the people, it doesn't govern through consent or through democracy, it doesn't live through the rhetoric of its ideals, and it makes little headway to resolving injustice, repression. Recently we can add 'crisis' to that list. Although government has some noble traits - that it can create infrastructure, purchasing power and a level of social justice, bias and corruption just gets the better of its stated aims.
When it will happen, I really don't know, but I do know the day is coming when the people will rise against the injustices being piled on them and when that battle of the masses begins, Surrender is not an Option.
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The Bush regime knows that America's days as the world's superpower are numbered. The eclectic conglomeration (i.e. the obscenely rich, mammoth corporations, lobbyist groups, Israeli interests, the Religious Right), which holds the true power in our nation behind the facade of a federal republic, is painfully aware of its impending demise under the existing paradigm. Desperation has led them to commit criminal acts of the most heinous variety. Defying international law and shredding the US Constitution, our rogue government has made the Patriot Act domestic law, has instituted torture as a policy of the US military, has launched an illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation based on lies, has increased the magnitude of our nation's egregious acts of state terrorism, is sweeping away what is left of Posse comitatus, is utilizing Jose Padilla to eliminate the right to due process and habeas corpus, has raised the nation's debt to incomprehensible levels, has increased military spending to the point of insanity, and has begun the starvation of the dreaded 'welfare state'. Good-bye American Dream. Hello to the American Nightmares of Social Darwinism, overt imperialism, unconcealed tyranny, and relentless state terrorism.
Non-cooperation with a structure we believe to be unjust and immoral is where it begins, and the people will begin to meet, discuss, and lay down strategies for the war of justice. Hell, they may already be doing this! Take this Appeal to Conscience as just one example.
Not that I beleive it's representative of people in poverty but I wonder if given a choice of starvation, poor health or frost bite I wouldn't be tempted to risk turning my one last dollar into 10. I'm not saying it's the smart thing to do, but I would think that a person's priority trumps change dramatically in poverty and/or approaching destitution.
"Poverty" doesn't travel in the same circles as middle class. Poverty doesn't drive the freeways. Poverty isn't in crowded malls. Poverty isn't in the workplace. That doesn't mean that poverty is overstated. I think it explains why many of us are stretched to understand how truly bad it is.
This screwed up economic system is fairly adept at keeping poverty out of view, much easier to believe it isn't as bad as we know it is, if it's not in our everyday face.
Fighting a gag order imposed in December of '04, concerning torture charges against Dubya, Canadians claim a small victory towards the Prosecution of Bush for Torture. Shitdisturbing Extraordinaire! 
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On Monday, the Supreme Court of British Columbia quashed an order banning publication of everything having to do with the case. In a secret hearing held December 6th 2004 in Provincial Court, the charges against Bush were rejected on the basis of arguments by the Attorney General of British Columbia that the visiting president was shielded from prosecution by diplomatic immunity. The ban on publication of anything to do with the proceedings was imposed at the same time......
On Monday, Justice Deborah Satanove of the Supreme Court of British Columbia quashed the publication ban after government lawyers failed to come up with any argument to defend it. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association had intervened on the side of LAW against the ban.
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Bush torture charges back in court Friday November 25th
The torture charges against US President G.W. Bush are back in court on Friday November 25th.
The hearing will be held in a Vancouver courtroom at 10:00 a.m. at 800 Smithe Street before Justice Deborah Satanove of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Lawyers Against the War laid the charges last year when Bush visited Canada. They concern the notorious cases of torture carried out by U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, first exposed in a series of gruesome private photos that scandalized the world in early 2004. The charges were rejected when government lawyers asserted Bush's immunity as a head of state. Lawyers Against the War appealed that decision.
