march on the White House Dec 16th -- to end the wars!

[mhgaffney]

If you are within 500 miles of Washington on Dec 16th, don't miss this act of collective resistance...

Join the largest U.S. veteran-led civil resistance to war December 16.

Rally at Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., at 10 am
March to the White House for civil resistance action

for more details...
http://www.stopthesewars.org/

[mhgaffney]

No Act of Rebellion Is Wasted

By Chris Hedges

December 13, 2010 "Truthdig"

I stood with hundreds of thousands of rebellious Czechoslovakians in 1989 on a cold winter night in Prague’s Wenceslas Square as the singer Marta Kubišová approached the balcony of the Melantrich building. Kubišová had been banished from the airwaves in 1968 after the Soviet invasion for her anthem of defiance, “Prayer for Marta.” Her entire catalog, including more than 200 singles, had been confiscated and destroyed by the state. She had disappeared from public view. Her voice that night suddenly flooded the square. Pressing around me were throngs of students, most of whom had not been born when she vanished. They began to sing the words of the anthem. There were tears running down their faces. It was then that I understood the power of rebellion. It was then that I knew that no act of rebellion, however futile it appears in the moment, is wasted. It was then that I knew that the Communist regime was finished.

“The people will once again decide their own fate,” the crowd sang in unison with Kubišová.

I had reported on the fall of East Germany before I arrived in Prague. I would leave Czechoslovakia to cover the bloody overthrow of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. The collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe was a lesson about the long, hard road of peaceful defiance that makes profound social change possible. The rebellion in Prague, as in East Germany, was not led by the mandarins in the political class but by marginalized artists, writers, clerics, activists and intellectuals such as Vaclav Havel, whom we met with most nights during the upheavals in Prague in the Magic Lantern Theater. These activists, no matter how bleak things appeared, had kept alive the possibility of justice and freedom. Their stances and protests, which took place over 40 years of Communist rule, turned them into figures of ridicule, or saw the state seek to erase them from national consciousness. They were dismissed by the pundits who controlled the airwaves as cranks, agents of foreign powers, fascists or misguided and irrelevant dreamers.

I spent a day during the Velvet Revolution with several elderly professors who had been expelled from the Romance language department at Charles University for denouncing the Soviet invasion. Their careers, like the careers of thousands of professors, teachers, artists, social workers, government employees and journalists in our own universities during the Communist witch hunts, were destroyed. After the Soviet invasion, the professors had been shipped to a remote part of Bohemia where they were forced to work on a road construction crew. They shoveled tar and graded roadbeds. And as they worked they dedicated each day to one of the languages in which they all were fluent—Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish or German. They argued and fought over their interpretations of Homer, Virgil, Dante, Goethe, Proust and Cervantes. They remained intellectually and morally alive. Kubišova, who had been the most popular recording star in the country, was by then reduced to working for a factory that assembled toys. The playwright Havel was in and out of jail.

The long, long road of sacrifice, tears and suffering that led to the collapse of these regimes stretched back decades. Those who made change possible were those who had discarded all notions of the practical. They did not try to reform the Communist Party. They did not attempt to work within the system. They did not even know what, if anything, their protests would accomplish. But through it all they held fast to moral imperatives. They did so because these values were right and just. They expected no reward for their virtue; indeed they got none. They were marginalized and persecuted. And yet these poets, playwrights, actors, singers and writers finally triumphed over state and military power. They drew the good to the good. They triumphed because, however cowed and broken the masses around them appeared, their message of defiance did not go unheard. It did not go unseen. The steady drumbeat of rebellion constantly exposed the dead hand of authority and the rot and corruption of the state.

The walls of Prague were covered that chilly winter with posters depicting Jan Palach. Palach, a university student, set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square on Jan. 16, 1969, in the middle of the day to protest the crushing of the country’s democracy movement. He died of his burns three days later. The state swiftly attempted to erase his act from national memory. There was no mention of it on state media. A funeral march by university students was broken up by police. Palach’s gravesite, which became a shrine, saw the Communist authorities exhume his body, cremate his remains and ship them to his mother with the provision that his ashes could not be placed in a cemetery. But it did not work. His defiance remained a rallying cry. His sacrifice spurred the students in the winter of 1989 to act. Prague’s Red Army Square, shortly after I left for Bucharest, was renamed Palach Square. Ten thousand people went to the dedication.

We, like those who opposed the long night of communism, no longer have any mechanisms within the formal structures of power that will protect or advance our rights. We too have undergone a coup d’état carried out not by the stone-faced leaders of a monolithic Communist Party but by the corporate state. We too have our designated pariahs, whether Ralph Nader or Noam Chomksy, and huge black holes of state-sponsored historical amnesia to make us ignore the militant movements, rebels and radical ideas that advanced our democracy. We opened up our society to ordinary people not because we deified the wisdom of the Founding Fathers or the sanctity of the Constitution. We opened it up because of communist, socialist and anarchist leaders like Big Bill Haywood and his militant unionists in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

We may feel, in the face of the ruthless corporate destruction of our nation, our culture, and our ecosystem, powerless and weak. But we are not. We have a power that terrifies the corporate state. Any act of rebellion, no matter how few people show up or how heavily it is censored by a media that caters to the needs and profits of corporations, chips away at corporate power. Any act of rebellion keeps alive the embers for larger movements that follow us. It passes on another narrative. It will, as the rot of the state consumes itself, attract wider and wider numbers. Perhaps this will not happen in our lifetimes. But if we persist we will keep this possibility alive. If we do not, it will die.

All energy directed toward reforming political and state structures is useless. All efforts to push through a “progressive” agenda within the corridors of power are naive. Trust in the reformation of our corporate state reflects a failure to recognize that those who govern, including Barack Obama, are as deaf to public demands and suffering as those in the old Communist regimes. We cannot rely on any systems of power, including the pillars of the liberal establishment—the press, liberal religious institutions, universities, labor, culture and the Democratic Party. They have been weakened to the point of anemia or work directly for the corporations that dominate our existence. We can rely now on only ourselves, on each other.

Go to Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, at 10 a.m. Dec. 16. Join dozens of military veterans, myself, Daniel Ellsberg, Medea Benjamin, Ray McGovern, Dr. Margaret Flowers and many others who will make visible a hope the corporate state does not want you to see, hear or participate in. Don’t be discouraged if it is not a large crowd. Don’t let your friends or colleagues talk you into believing it is useless. Don’t be seduced by the sophisticated public relations campaigns disseminated by the mass media, the state or the Democratic Party. Don’t, if you decide to carry out civil disobedience, be cowed by the police. Hope and justice live when people, even in tiny numbers, stand up and fight for them.

There is in our sorrow—for who cannot be profoundly sorrowful?—finally a balm that leads to wisdom and, if not joy, then a strange, transcendent happiness. To stand in a park on a cold December morning, to defy that which we must defy, to do this with others, brings us solace, and perhaps even peace. We will not find this if we allow ourselves to be disabled. We will not find this alone. As long as a few of us rebel it will always remain possible to defeat a system of centralized, corporate power that is as criminal and heartless as those I watched tumble into the ash bin of history in Eastern Europe.

Chris Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. His newest book is “Death of the Liberal Class.” You can find out more about the Washington protest at www.stopthesewars.org

[Pony Boy]

Oh Crap.....I think I'm getting my tires rotated that day

[W*GS]

I'd like gaff-o to end his war on sanity, reason, facts, and evidence.

[mhgaffney]

It wasn't long ago that W*gs swore he would never respond to my posts, ever again.

Obviously he cannot live without the sound of his own shrill voice ringing inside his empty head.

MHG

[Requiem]

Chris Hedges, my mom always reads his stuff. Loves the dude.

[Garcia Bronco]

You can't march to the White House anymore, but I suppose you'll still be able to see it.

[elsid13]

Well the good news it supposed to be 26 degree with wind chill of 10 degrees with a chance of snow on Thursday. That will make it a ****ty ass walk

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by elsid13

Well the good news it supposed to be 26 degree with wind chill of 10 degrees with a chance of snow on Thursday. That will make it a ****ty ass walk

We'll see the surface resolve I suppose.

[spdirty]

Sorry, I'd love to join your cute lil get together, but with such late notice I've already made plans to dig holes Thursday.

[epicSocialism4tw]

[That One Guy]

Did anyone actually show to this nonsense that wasn't homeless and trying to keep the circulation going in their toes?

[cutthemdown]

So how big was it Gaff?

[TDmvp]

Originally Posted by cutthemdown

So how big was it Gaff?

It looks like a good time was had by all











Today, in what was billed "the largest U.S. veteran-led civil resistance to war," hundreds of protesters took their demands for "Peace Now" to the fence of the White House. Police reportedly arrested 131 activists during the antiwar demonstration to "Stop These Wars" which culminated the Veterans for Peace gathering.Among those arrested was Daniel Ellsberg, renowned military analyst who leaked the Pentigon Papers to the press during the Vietnam War era. Protesters attempted to chain themselves to the White House fence, but were charged with "failure to obey lawful order," a misdemeanor.During the action the protesters also "delivered" postcards to President Obama, whom they said did not accommodate their request to meet with him personally to hear their grievances. The activists sailed the postcards over the White House fence, through the wintry Washington afternoon air. See video of the action (above).The protesters' rally at Lafayette Park this morning drew at least 500. Speakers attacked the war and defended WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning, the army officer suspected of leaking secret State Department cables to the website.





http://www.allvoices.com/contributed...top-these-wars

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by TDmvp

It looks like a good time was had by all Today, in what was billed "the largest U.S. veteran-led civil resistance to war," hundreds of protesters took their demands for "Peace Now" to the fence of the White House. Police reportedly arrested 131 activists during the antiwar demonstration to "Stop These Wars" which culminated the Veterans for Peace gathering.Among those arrested was Daniel Ellsberg, renowned military analyst who leaked the Pentigon Papers to the press during the Vietnam War era. Protesters attempted to chain themselves to the White House fence, but were charged with "failure to obey lawful order," a misdemeanor.During the action the protesters also "delivered" postcards to President Obama, whom they said did not accommodate their request to meet with him personally to hear their grievances. The activists sailed the postcards over the White House fence, through the wintry Washington afternoon air. See video of the action (above).The protesters' rally at Lafayette Park this morning drew at least 500. Speakers attacked the war and defended WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning, the army officer suspected of leaking secret State Department cables to the website.

I dont know if the word "pathetic" really expresses just how embarrassing that is.

These are the people running the left these days.

No wonder voters are running from them like they are carrying the plague.

[sirhcyennek81]

So Beck's rally in August draws over 100,000 + people, Stewarts rally drew about 75,000 people in October...and this brings in 500.

Maybe people are tired or rallies. Or maybe its because Beck and Stewart did it when the weather was still nice and people did not have to plan for the busiest holiday of the year...

Or people are more worried about the economy, lack of jobs and the inability of our government to create jobs with this supposed "recovery"...its not like its 2006. ****. Cindy Sheehan had more than 500 people out at Crawford, Texas and its hot as balls in Texas in the summer.

[mhgaffney]

These people are putting their bodies on the line to end the wars. What have you done lately?

Swill beer in front of the tube?

You are the pathetic ones. These people are heroes. If our species survives on the planet -- it will be because of activists like these.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by mhgaffney

These people are putting their bodies on the line to end the wars. What have you done lately?

Swill beer in front of the tube?

You are the pathetic ones. These people are heroes. If our species survives on the planet -- it will be because of activists like these.

I think normal people's definition of hero and your definition of hero are wildly different.

[mhgaffney]

Polls show that most Americans oppose the wars. Most agree with me -- not you.

Dan Ellsberg was the ultimate insider. His office at the Pentagon was two doors down from Robert MacNamara-- Sec of defense.

What an incredible distance Ellsberg has come from being a hawk on the war in the early 1960s to releasing the Pentagon Papers which showed that the federal government had lied to the American people about every facet of the war...

to now being arrested in civil disobedience at the White House.

Ellsberg knows full well that if we don't end these wars -- we will face a much bigger disaster in the near future. The wars are destroying our nation just as surely as they are destroying the nations and people of Asia.

The only people who benefit are a small group of bankers and industrialists. Every one else loses.

[JJJ]

Originally Posted by mhgaffney

Polls show that most Americans oppose the wars. Most agree with me -- not you.

Dan Ellsberg was the ultimate insider. His office at the Pentagon was two doors down from Robert MacNamara-- Sec of defense.

What an incredible distance Ellsberg has come from being a hawk on the war in the early 1960s to releasing the Pentagon Papers which showed that the federal government had lied to the American people about every facet of the war...

to now being arrested in civil disobedience at the White House.

Ellsberg knows full well that if we don't end these wars -- we will face a much bigger disaster in the near future. The wars are destroying our nation just as surely as they are destroying the nations and people of Asia.

The only people who benefit are a small group of bankers and industrialists. Every one else loses.

70% of the people were against the surge. But it ended the Iraq war.

The Afghan/Pakistan actions are the proper amount of dose to counter the threat.

[mhgaffney]

Threat?

From whom? The Taliban? You must be kidding.

As for Iraq -- if you think the problems there are over -- you are sadly mistaken.

[orinjkrush]

is it just me, or did it look like most of those folks were original Vietnam protesters? i thought i saw Hanoi Jane.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by orinjkrush

is it just me, or did it look like most of those folks were original Vietnam protesters? i thought i saw Hanoi Jane.

Yeah, thats one of the reason why it pegged "pathetic of epic proportions" on the patheticometer.

Those morons probably dont even know what they were protesting.

[Dukes]

Originally Posted by mhgaffney

These people are heroes.

**** YOU, you little pissant!

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by mhgaffney

These people are putting their bodies on the line to end the wars. What have you done lately?

Swill beer in front of the tube?

You are the pathetic ones. These people are heroes. If our species survives on the planet -- it will be because of activists like these.

Well, by the look of that group...they'll all be off the social security roll over the next decade.

They dont even realize how they have marginalized themselves with their insanity.

Take you for instance.