Thursday, June 12, 2003

Revolutionary Nonviolence QUOTE OF THE DAY "We are all expected to do good, to seek justice and to resist evil. We will have to resist war for the rest of our lives. But this new responsibility will breed all sorts of life-giving, salvific benefits in our lives. It will create the new human person, the new creation, the just social order." - - Philip Berrigan JUNE 12th IN HISTORY: 1962 -- Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the group that pioneers the 60s protest movement, meets June 12-16th. 59 people, mostly students, gather at Port Huron, Mich., to draft a platform called simply The Port Huron Statement which catapults SDS to national prominence by popularizing the idea of "participatory democracy." 1964 -- Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment for "sabotaging" South African government. 1982 -- In NY Central Park & LA Rose Bowl: hundreds of thousands sing Lennon's "Imagine". Crowd estimated are from 750,000 to 2 million New York's Central Park to support nuclear disarmament during UN Special Session on Disarmament -- the largest anti-war demonstration in US history. Part of massive worldwide protests against arms. A rally at Peace Arch Park, on the British Columbia/Washington border, draws 50,000. President Reagan opines that the Commies are behind it. RHINO HERE: Yesterday I mentioned the amazing speech that Bill Moyers was said to have given  at the "Take Back America" conference last weekend in Chicago.  The text of that speech is now posted at: Acceptance of America's Future, Speech by Bill Moyers http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16127 The conference was a unique meeting of the left leaning minds of America. Here's a sampling of the organizations represented:  Campaign for America's Future, MoveOn.Org, Emily's List, Common Cause, United States Student Association, National Education Association, President of People for the American Way, League of Conservation Voters, National Organization for Women, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, United Steelworkers of America, Transport Workers Union of America, NAACP, Win Without War, AFL-CIO, Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, TransAfrica, Rainbow/Push Coalition And here's a link to an in depth  description of the conference posted at OpEdNews.com: Report from the 'Take Back America' Conference Take Back America Mother Jones magazine has announced a new email newsletter, "Informed Dissent" which once a month will offer suggestions for getting more involved in the issues raised by the magazine's articles. It's free. Subscribe to Mother Jone's "Informed Dissent" at: http://www.motherjones.com/about/services/informed_dissent.html Here's a sample: CRISIS IN IRAQ Iraqis struggle to restore the livelihood of their communities in the aftermath of both 1991's Gulf War and this year's brief but devastating war in their homeland. With destroyed oil wells, contaminated water supplies, and toxic ecosystems punctuating the landscape, the outlook for Iraqi sustenance is bleak. The Mother Jones article "A Ravaged Land", by Ross Mirkarimi, is a MotherJones.com web exclusive. Devastated by war and isolation, Iraq now faces a humanitarian and environmental crisis 12 years in the making. A Ravaged Land How can you make a difference? 1) Groups like Environmentalists Against War are fighting to eliminate the detrimental effects of combat against our planet. They offer their top ten actions for preventing war, including supporting efforts to prevent the military exemptions from environmental legislation and reducing your dependence on oil. For these helpful suggestions and more, read: 10 Things You Can Do to Help Prevent War 2) A swift and effective Iraqi aid campaign cannot be successful without broad international support. Urge Secretary Colin Powell to ensure that the relief and reconstruction of Iraq be directed by the United Nations, rather than the US.    Petition for multilateral reconstruction: UN Should Lead Relief and Reconstruction in Iraq 3) Support UNICEF in their efforts to supply food, medicine, water purification supplies and other emergency aid to Iraqi children.  Give to the cause: Help UNICEF Save Children's Lives in Iraq RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is written by John Dear, a Jesuit priest, peace activist, & author/editor of 20 books on peace and disarmament, including "Living Peace"; "Jesus the Rebel"; "Disarming the Heart"; "The God of Peace," and "Seeds of Nonviolence." He lives in New Mexico. For more information: http://www.fatherjohndear.org 7:35:23 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Revolutionary Nonviolence RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE Revolutionary Nonviolence by John Dear, CommonDreams.org, 6/2/03 In the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, our relentless pursuit of global domination, nuclear brinkmanship, corporate greed and silent oppression of the world's poor, I turn again to the great peacemakers of history, from Jesus of Nazareth and Francis of Assisi to Dorothy Day and Mohandas Gandhi for wisdom to practice revolutionary nonviolence against imperial America. Our government, the Pentagon, its warmakers and corporate rulers have set out with renewed energy to control the planet. The public by and large has been terrorized or pacified to accept every new imperial pronouncement with passive indifference, whether the loss of civil liberties, the threatened use of nuclear weapons, or "regime change." The empire would have us believe that democracy and peace have been fully realized, when instead, we have reached Orwell's permanent war. Nonetheless, people of integrity and conscience need to dig deeper into that revolutionary nonviolence which sows seeds for a future of peace. This revolutionary nonviolence seeks the fall of imperial, nuclear America and the birth of a new nonviolent, democratic society dedicated to global disarmament, justice for the world's poor, and peace for the whole human family. Our peacemaking ancestors gave their lives for this vision. They did not live to see it come about, but that did not stop them from sowing the seeds which have blossomed within us. We too have to commit ourselves again to that long haul work of sowing the seeds of peace and justice, knowing that we can contribute to a harvest somewhere down the road. This work requires withdrawing our cooperation from imperial America; resisting imperial America through steadfast, nonviolent action; building a new society within the shell of the old, through constructive work for racial and economic justice; and envisioning a new world of nonviolence beyond imperial America... READ IT ALL AT: http://commondreams.org/views03/0602-08.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 6:24:28 AM    comment

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