Saturday, March 22, 2003

A Milestone Week THE QUOTE "If you would help me at all, let go of your fear." ~ ~ Mahatma Ghandi ANOTHER THOUGHT "When all fear is gone, what you have is love." ~ ~ a friend THE AUDIO DOWNLOAD Beastie Boys new free & quickly released single "In A World Gone Mad" http://download.nullsoft.com/pub/music/BeastieBoys-InAWorldGoneMad.mp3 Printed lyrics are at: http://www.beastieboys.com/song_lyrics.html THE VIDEO DOWNLOAD System Of A Down's New Music Video with help from Michael Moore An awing but not shocking collage of recent protests around the world. http://www.systemofadown.com/montage.html THE WEEKEND PROTEST TIP If you're going to get Arrested for PCD (Peaceful Civil Disobedience) consider wearing a Santa Claus, or Easter Bunny, or Clown, or Childhood Hero costume. The image of the arrest will be more powerful. Compliments of The Flying Snail http://www.flyingsnail.com RHINO HERE: I believe Thursday was a milestone in the inter-cultural drift of the planet. I've been through 1) quiet  2) sadness 3) anger & 4) prayer I have a weekend blog offering,  for each of these states of mind. And then THE BOTTOM LINE, an excerpt from Friday's "Democracy Now" report, MILLIONS TAKE TO THE STREETS AROUND THE GLOBE quiet Keeping Quiet Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still. For once on the face of the earth, let's not speak in any language, let's stop for a second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in a sudden strangeness. If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead in winter and later proves to be alive. Now I'll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.   ~ Pablo Neruda ~ sadness In an interview in the NY Times Magazine (Feb. 23, 2003), US Poet Laureate Billy Collins was asked, " If you could hand Bush or Cheney a poem right now, what would it be?" He answered, Wislawa Szyborska's, "The End and the Beginning." The End and the Beginning After every war someone has to tidy up. Things won't pick themselves up, after all. Someone has to shove the rubble to the roadsides so the carts loaded with corpses can get by. Someone has to trudge through sludge and ashes, through the sofa springs, the shards of glass, the bloody rags. Someone has to lug the post to prop the wall, someone has to glaze the window, set the door in its frame. No sound bites, no photo opportunities, and it takes years. All the cameras have gone to other wars. The bridges need to be rebuilt, the railroad stations, too. Shirtsleeves will be rolled to shreds. Someone, broom in hand, still remembers how it was. Someone else listens, nodding his unshattered head. But others are bound to be bustling nearby who'll find all that a little boring. From time to time someone still must dig up a rusted argument from underneath a bush and haul it off to the dump. Those who knew what this was all about must make way for those who know little, And less than that. And at last nothing less than nothing.                                               ~ Wislawa Szyborska ~ anger God Of War Dear God of War whom we consider most holy, Please be with us as we embark upon our mission of destruction to appease your appetite.   Let us loose our hellions upon our enemies, let our bombs rain down upon their heathen cities let our laser-guided missiles penetrate their hiding places   Let our tanks roll through their gates and destroy their homes let us reduce to rubble their ancient shrines Let us rip their flesh asunder.   Let us grind their bones under our tread let us tear their flesh from bone let us string their bowels in thy glory   let us fill their air with radioactive dust let no living thing abide there ever again let us suffocate their children let us mangle their women   let us bury them alive beneath our plow be with us as we offer up to you their blood   May our casualties be minimal and may our boys come home without a scratch and may they not be tormented the remainder of their days for what they have done in your name   and deliver us from evil amen.                          ~ Vic Glover ~ Prayer ...I am also saying prayers for our troops,that the Lord will give them wisdom to protect themselves, strength to endure the hardships, compassion when the time is needed, a friend in time of need, eyes to see the dangers before them.   I pray for their safe return home and for those who don't, the memories of their family and loved ones and a friend in their final hours. as well I pray for the Iraq citizens, that the innocent will be protected, that the families stay close to each other, and  for the strength to endure. I pray for a quick change of power now because I know that the battle won't stop until this is accomplished...                                                               ~ a friend ~ 8:44:47 AM    comment

THE BOTTOM LINE - Amy Goodman Democracy Now report THE BOTTOM LINE Amy Goodman's Democracy Now report of Friday 3/20/03 http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow.html An Excerpt 1,500 ARRESTED IN SAN FRANCISCO AS MILLIONS MORE TAKE TO THE STREETS AROUND THE GLOBE And millions of people across the globe took to the streets yesterday to protest the U.S. led war in Iraq. Police in riot gear arrested more than 1,500 anti-war demonstrators in San Francisco: the most arrests in a single day protest in that city in 22 years. Momentum built throughout the day as spontaneous protests erupted in different parts of the city. Many of the arrested were held in open-air pens erected in the streets. A man jumped to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge after handing police a note that reportedly contained a declaration opposing the war. 107 people were arrested for blocking the federal courthouse in Philadelphia. Thousands of demonstrators snarled traffic along Chicago's main arteries, breaking through lines of police on horseback. Student protestors at UC Berkley occupied the main administration building for more than two hours. 120 students were arrested. During rush hour in New York City, demonstrators pushed past police barricades in Times Square halting traffic on Broadway for two hours. Also in New York, "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" marched against a war they felt was unjustified and illegal. 100 demonstrators shut down a major bridge connecting Virginia to Washington D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood. Protests were also reported in dozens of cities throughout the nation including Seattle, Portland, Houston and Pittsburgh among others. U.S. based anti-war groups like United for Peace and Justice, International ANSWER and Stop the War Coalition in Britain are planning large demonstrations in New York and London on Saturday. The U.S. has closed several of its consulates in Australia, including the one in Sydney, as a second day of anti-war protests gets underway there. 25,000 people have taken to the streets in Melbourne. Outside the Victorian state Trades Hall thousands wait in drenching rain to hear anti-war messages from union leaders, a Gulf War veteran and local celebrities. In Melbourne, activists chanted "U.S. Please explain, why did you install Hussein" while in Sydney there are reports of rowdy demonstrations and clashes with police. Australia has contributed more than 2,000 troops to the U.S. led coalition. Protests in Athens and Cairo attracted between 150,000 and 200,000 people. There are reports of violent crackdowns against protestors gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. More than 250,000 people in Germany marched against the war. In Berlin alone, more than 50,000 students walked out of their classrooms during a peaceful march to the U.S. embassy there. Thousands of French students also left their classrooms to march through Paris- where 60,000 protestors gathered in the Place de la Concorde for a peace rally. Tens of thousands of protestors in Rome participated in a torchlight march to the Coliseum. Similar protests were reported in Milan, Turin and Palermo. Students and schoolchildren gathered outside the House of Commons in London. The demonstrations there went into the night. In Spain, anti-war protestors handed parliament a petition signed by 1.2 million people denouncing the U.S. led attack. Thirteen U.S. Embassies and Consulates were shut down due to security concerns and others throughout the world were on heightened alert. Clashes were reported between police and demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey and Damascus, Syria, where several hundred protestors tried to storm the U.S. embassy. Belgian police used water cannon to repel hundreds of angry stone throwing protestors outside of the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. At least a thousand student protestors in Amman defied government edicts prohibiting anti-western protests in Jordan. Riot police charged a crowd of several hundred protestors in Warsaw, arresting 30 people. Demonstrations were also held in Vienna, Delhi and the Morrocan capital of Rabat.              OTHER STORIES AT http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow.html TENS OF THOUSANDS OF U.S. TROOPS RACE THROUGH SOUTHERN IRAQ AS THE BOMBING OF BAGHDAD CONTINUES: A REPORT ON CIVILIAN CASUALTIES FROM BAGHDAD THE "NEW" AFGHANISTAN? U.S. LAUNCHES A MAJOR ATTACK IN AFGHANISTAN AND IS OUTFITTING MILITIAS: WE SPEAK WITH AN AFGHAN-AMERICAN WOMAN IN KANDAHAR WHO IS INVESTIGATING WHY 19 MEMBERS OF HER FAMILY WERE KILLED IN U.S. BOMBING 8:15:33 AM    comment

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